Old Padeswood Golf Club

• Home
• Visitors
  • Green Fees
  • Buggy Hire
  • Application Forms
  • Dress Code
  • OnLine Tee Booking
  • Special Offers
• Societies
  • Fees
  • On Line Tee Booking
  • Special offers
  • Booking Forms
  • Catering
  • Dresscode
  • Forms
• Members
  • News Letter
  • Events
  • On Line Tee Booking
  • Course News
  • Pro's Shop
  • Dress Code
  • Application Forms
• Facilities
  • Map of Course
  • Card
  • Hole By Hole Description
  • Opening Times
  • Catering
• Club History
• Image Gallery

A history.

The first records we have of a golf club at Padeswood is the 1912 OS map which shows Mold Golf Club occupying the land on the right of Station Lane close to Padeswood station. Some documentation however suggests that the Mold club was at Padeswood as early as 1909 and that a match between the Hon Sec and Hon treasurer took place on the 25th November 2009. The first Captain�s prize contested in 1911 was won by J Bradburn Price a name synonymous with Mold. One of the leading Livestock auctioneers and estate agents still trades under this name.

The course remained in use at Padeswood until 1928 when following serious flooding and land being washed away, the members of Mold Golf club decided to move to Pantymwyn. Mold Golf Club is celebrating its centenary as a club, though it will be a few years yet before they can celebrate a 100 years of golf on their new course at Pantymwyun.

The existence of a course today is predominantly down to one man the Late Arthur Joseph who acquired a lease from Mr John (Jack) Evans, Plas Major the then tenant of Mrs Fairbairn-Eyton.

The story goes that Jack was having a lunch snack at the roadside taking a break from ploughing the adjacent field when �Joseph� as he was always affectionately called stopped his motorbike for a chat whilst he ate his lunch. The pace of life in those days was a lot slower and they got chatting and Jack learnt that �Joseph� was a golf professional. Not to miss out Jack was soon pointing out the layout of the 9 holes that had been Mold Golf Club�s course. He was so impressed that he visited Mrs Fairbairn-Eyton and secured a 12 month option for the princely sum of �1.

Sure enough Joseph returned and secured a lease from Mr Evans for �30 p.a. At the time he was the professional at Mellor and Towncliffe Golf Club, Derbyshire, and already had to his credit the design and construction of the 18 hole Great Orme�s Head Golf course at Llandudno (1903) and the Mellor Golf Course (1919). It is also believed that he was the professional at Bury Golf Club in 1913.

Arthur became a tenant at the Bridge Inn, Padeswood in 1932 (now the site of the new house opposite the entrance to the Club). He obtained a lease from John Jones-Evans (Jack Plas-Major as he was known locally) who was a tenant farmer on the Fairbairn-Eyton estate, and a licence for playing golf from Mold Golf Club. He then began the daunting task of draining water from the ground into a stream that to this day runs through the length of the course. Using only hand held tools such as a pick, shovel and rake. Gradually the course took shape and the newly constructed 9 hole course at Padeswood came into being.

Joseph was therefore the proprietor of the club, the professional and the greenkeeper and opened the course for play as from 1st April 1933, being all fools day it is perhaps not surprising that his initial success was limited. Golf in those days was very much an elitist sport and maybe at half a crown the fees had been set too high. The family remember the numerous occasions he was unable to pay the �30 annual rent.

The Situation was to improve as more and more people took to the sport Joseph who had by now passed the lease onto the members of the club must have been overwhelmed at the success of his project and to see his dream come true. He lived in the house to the left of the 18th green. He was regularly seen sitting in a deckchair where the horse chestnut tree is today watching the tee shots of the golfers of the day always willing to give advice on the swing or putting stroke. He lived well ionto his 90�s and in his latter years his eyes were failing him so he had a screen constructed and he would sit behind this with a set of binoculars and he could identify the individual by their swing.

During the sixties golf became less elitist and grew in popularity and the members of all clubs were clambering for courses of 18 holes,9 holes being considered as inferior to a proper course.

In 1970 Padeswood and Buckley golf club, the then occupiers of the course, completed the purchase of Caia Farm, which adjoined the existing 9-hole course, at a cost of �20,250. They proceeded to construct a further 9 holes on the 85 acres they had purchased and the 18 hole course opened in 1971, 9 holes being on the land that is Old Padeswood and 9 on what is now Padeswood and Buckley. The farm buildings were converted and in 1972 the new club house opened.

Old Padeswood golf club was formed in 1977 by Glynne Jones when, following a dispute between various parties, the two courses split and old Padeswood Golf Club was founded with some 60 members.

In 1983 landowners were being encouraged to diversify out of farming so further Land was released from Plas Major Farm to the course and 9 more holes were developed. They were integrated with the original 9 holes to create a challenging 18-hole, par and standard scratch rating of 72, golf course indeed 7 of the original greens dating back to 1909 are still in use today. The extended course was officially opened in 1985 by the Welsh International and former British Ryder Cup Captain, Brian Huggett M.B.E.

The course is built upon undulating verdant parkland, making for a very impressive and aesthetically pleasing place to enjoy a challenging round of golf overlooked by the Clwydian Mountain range and Moel Famau with its monument to celebrate the golden jubilee of George III in 1810.

There was serious flooding in the November of 2000 when the club house was seriously damaged and required total refurbishment. Despite the extent of the flooding, parts being under 20 ft of water the majority of the course was playable again within a week. A number of the sleeper bridges had been washed away and this limited the holes that could be played. The major damage was to the new 10th green which had been reconstructed and had the seed had just germinated but with no roots to anchor the rootzone it was washed down the fairway some 150 yards. Extensive drainage works have been undertaken and the course is now playable most of the winter months.

The course celebrates one of the most difficult opening holes in N Wales and two of the most memorable finishing holes frequently commented upon by visitors to this friendly club.