Glynhir Golf Course

Glynhir Road, Llandybie,
Ammanford, Carmarthenshire

Glynhir Today
Course Details
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INTRODUCTION

The first golf course in the Llandeilo area was built as far back as 1907, initially as a nine hole course on the Ffairfach side of the river Tywi, near to Tregib Mansion (now Tregib School). At that time golf was still a minority sport, played only by participants from the well-to-do business, professional and gentry communities.

Those who play golf today, however, come from a much more mixed and representative social base than even fifty years ago, and many British golf courses are publicly owned facilities run by local councils. This includes some of the most famous golf courses in the world, notably in Scotland, some of which host the annual Open Golf Tournament. Garnant Park Golf Course was opened in the Amman Valley in the 1990s and it, too, is a public course, owned by Carmarthenshire County Council. (Website: www.parcgarnantgolf.co.uk)

While many golf clubs are commercial enterprises, built and owned by businessmen purely for profit, most are in fact owned by their membership, whose fees maintain the greens and clubhouse and pay the staff. The day-to-day running of these clubs is undertaken by a committee and officers, all elected by the membership on a regular basis.

As the population of Llandeilo and its surrounding villages grew during the twentieth century the nine holes of the original golf course proved inadequate to cater to the rapidly increasing membership and a decision was taken in the 1960s to develop a completely new course at nearby Glynhir. The fields on either side of Glynhir Road near the junction with Llandyfan were purchased, and in 1967 a brand new clubhouse and greens were opened, this time with the full complement of 18 holes, and has proved a popular and thriving golf club ever since. The new course at Glynhir has merely swapped one delightful riverside location for another, for today its inward nine holes follow the banks of the river Llwchwr instead of the river Tywi of the original golf course. Llwchwr is rather a difficult name for non-Welsh speakers to pronounce (where are the vowels, we hear them ask?), so the native Welsh have kindly provided an English version for the English to chew over instead - Loughor. Despite this many English speakers can still find Loughor a major obstacle to pronunciation. The name Llwchwr comes from two Welsh words: llwch, an obsolete word for lake (not to be confused with the modern usage of llwch, which means dust), and dwr, water. The name contains within it the origins of the river itself, which gushes from a nearby underwater lake system through a fissure in a rock known as Llygad Llwchwr (the Eye of the Loughor). Hence Llwchwr means llwch dwr - literally, lake water. Just two hundred yards downstream from Glynhir Golf Course the Llwchwr becomes the highest waterfall in Carmarthenshire when it obligingly plunges thirty feet over a limestone outcrop.

Whatever its name, this heavily wooded river provides a delightful setting to pursue a little white ball for a few hours of leisurely perambulation (some acid-tongued wag once described golf as a waste of a good walk but it's doubtful if he ever said it within earshot of any golfers).

The name of the golf course, Glynhir, means the long valley (glyn = valley and hir = long). However, until recent times this old gentry estate was spelled Clunhir on maps and would then mean the long meadow (clun = meadow). Either explanation is geographically possible as the Glynhir estate stretches along the western side of the Llwchwr valley. And before the land was parcelled out as fields and farms it would have indeed been a 'long meadow' running above the western bank of the river Llwchwr.

Glynhir was originally a seventeenth century mansion with an exensive estate owned by a local gentry family of French Huguenot (ie Protestant) descent called the DuBuissons. The estate passed out of the family's hands in 1921 and has since been broken up. The old mansion house of Glynhir, however, can still be found just a couple of hundred yards from the golf course, a hotel now, its various outhouses converted into self-catering units. The greens of today's golf course were once meadows on the Glynhir estate. And if you like a bit of intrigue while you go about your round of golf, your imagination might carry you back to the Napoleonic Wars when the French-descended DuBuisson family were suspected of harbouring Napoleon's spies in the cellars of Glynhir mansion. As a local historian has written:

Local tradition very definitely asserts that the Du Buissons were in close touch with France during the 1789-1815 period [ie the years of the French Revolution], and this tradition can be safely accepted. But it is difficult to accept the suggestion that the family acted in an unpatriotic spirit.

Local stories suggest that the Du Buissons 'were favourable to' their native land, that arms were made at their factory and smuggled to France and that use was made of pigeons for maintaining treasonable relations with France.

The facts however suggest another explanation, although it is easy to understand that in such a disturbed and tense period it was natural to suspect anybody of foreign origin. Glynhir certainly had a large dovecot but it was not unusual for country houses, until the development of winter feeding for animals, to keep a large number of pigeons as a means of providing supplementary food.

[A Carmarthenshire Huguenot Family: the Du Buissons of Glynhir, Llandebie; T. H. Lewis, M.A., H.M.I.; The Carmarthen Antiquary II, (1945-6), pp.10 - 23]

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GLYNHIR GOLF CLUB TODAY

This Welsh golf course was designed by Charles Hawtree and has been described as a 'little gem'. It is 6,026 yards in length, with a par of 69 for men and 71 for ladies. Located at the foot of the Black Mountain in Carmarthenshire, it is situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty just a mile or so from the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Glynhir is a well-groomed 18-hole mature parkland course 3 miles from the town centre of Ammanford and five miles from the town of Llandeilo, at the western end of the beautiful Brecon Beacons National Park. It is surrounded by fine countryside and beautiful views, with the River Loughor and Gwyddfan brook running alongside its boundaries.

Glynhir Golf Course

It offers a variety of interesting holes that are hard enough to test the best player, yet still provide the beginner with a round that is not too disheartening. The front nine can be quite tough as there are back-to-back par fives running from the fourth. That run sees the only par fives on the card and there are no less than five par threes to look forward to, the best of the lot being the 17th, 'Y Deri' (The Oak Tree), at just 150 yards.

The Club was originally located by the nearby market town of Llandeilo. In 1967 the Club moved to its present location and became the Glynhir Golf Club. The course is located at the foot of the Black Mountain and in addition to this naturally beautiful landscape there is an abundance of wildlife, otters, badgers, foxes and a wide variety of birds including red kites, herons and buzzards, all of which combine to make a visit to the Glynhir Golf Club a memorable and enjoyable experience.

It presents a challenge to all golfers visiting Wales, whether single handicap or high handicap players. The fourteenth hole is a favourite of many members and visitors. The golf club is fortunate to have the services of an excellent P.G.A. Professional offering a full range of services and there is also a covered practice area.