History

Bull Bay Golf Club

Bull Bay Golf Club was founded in 1913. The official opening of the original nine hole course took place on Saturday August 16th 1913 amid great pomp and ceremony and attracted a large and fashionable crowd amongst whom were the Marquis and Marchioness of Anglesey and a distinguished party - according to a report in the Liverpool Daily post and Mercury.

The course was designed by W Herbert Fowler, one of the most renowned golf architects of the “Golden Era” immediately prior to the First World War when many of the world’s great golf courses were built. By this time Fowler had already become recognised as a great golf architect for his work on many of the best courses in Britain. One such course was laid out on land that was part of the Beau Desert (beautiful wilderness) estate in Staffordshire owned by Charles Henry Alexander Paget the Marquis of Anglesey. At the time both Fowler and the Marquis of Anglesey were members at Walton Heath Golf Club in England, probably one of Fowler’s most famous creations, as was David Lloyd George the then Chancellor of the Exchequer and future Prime Minister who was also a keen golfer. Lloyd George was probably instrumental in introducing Fowler to his native North Wales and persuading the Marquis to commission Fowler to create his only course in Wales. The cost of laying out the course and the building of the original clubhouse was borne by the Marquis on whose land the links were established.

To celebrate the opening of the course an exhibition match was played in front of a large audience. In the morning a medal round was played between J H Taylor (the then Open Champion) and James Braid (the ex Open Champion, famous golf architect and club professional at Walton Heath). The result after 18 holes played being Taylor 83 and Braid 87, the latter having taken an 8 at the par 3 third after finding one of the gorse bushes behind the green. The afternoon match saw Taylor partnered by Tom Simpson of Eastbourne (later to become one of the most renowned architects in the world) loose by 3 and 2 to Braid and Fowler in a foursomes match.

The course was an immediate success with visitors flocking to the area by train to the nearby town of Amlwch to enjoy the bracing sea air, the scenic beauty of the coastline, the invigorating rock pool sea water baths at Bull Bay and the growing reputation of the golf course designed on an idyllic piece of ground shaped by the hands of time. Within a short time the course was extended to 18 holes, the new 9 holes being completed from initial design to open for play in less than nine months, which bears testimony to the land that Fowler had to work with.

Since then Bull Bay Golf Club has gone from strength to strength. The original clubhouse which had originally been the cricket pavilion at Plas Newydd (the ancestral home of the Marquis of Anglesey) was extended over the years until it was replaced in 1994 by a new modern and distinctive clubhouse to compliment the excellence of the course. Over the years many famous faces from the world of golf such as Ian Woosnam and Ronan Rafferty together with celebrities from David Lloyd George to Bryn Terfel have faced the challenges of the course - some with greater success than others! The club has frequently hosted county and district championships and inter-county matches and in April 2008 plays host to the prestigious Ryder Cup Wales 2010 Young PGA Professional Open Championship 2008 event to coincide with the launch of the Ryder Cup Wales 2008 season. As Bull Bay Golf Club approaches its centenary in 2013, the history and traditions of the club will be carried on for a further century by the new and younger generations of golfers to follow, which will only serve to enhance its reputation as one of Wales’ premier golf courses.

Herbert Fowler

William Herbert Fowler was a larger than life character in more ways than one. Standing at 6 foot 3 inches and weighing in excess of 15 stone he had a reputation as a mighty hitter of the golf ball.

Born in London the son of a barrister, he was the product of the wealthy and enlightened society of the late Victorian period. Trained in law his first love was cricket and he distinguished himself by playing for Essex, Somerset and the MCC as a contemporary of W G Grace. He first played golf at the age of 23 when he went to Bideford in Devon and on borrowing a set of clubs he took up the game and became a member. He became a member of the R & A in 1894 and in 1902 was elected to the greens committee. Up until this time golf course design had been mainly in the hands of a few well known professional golfers such as Willie Park and Tom Morris. Although only an amateur both as a player and as an architect, Fowler was amongst the first of the visionary golf course designers. One of his first works was the world famous Walton Heath course where he remained as a member until his death, alongside other members such as the Marquis of Anglesey and David Lloyd George. His reputation enhanced by his work at Walton Heath, he went on to design and build many other famous courses such as the Red and Blue courses at the Berkshire, Cruden Bay, West Surrey, Delemere Forest and Saunton.

It is said that Fowler designed his courses with big hitters like himself in mind. He strongly refuted this, stating that his prime concern when designing courses was fairness to all with a premium on straightness and accuracy rather than length. Fowler felt that only side hazards were essential during course construction, hence the present grass bunker on Bull Bay’s present 17th hole ( the 8th on the original nine hole design). He was of the opinion that bunkers should be situated at the sides of greens as he believed that players sliced or hooked more often than they topped a ball.

Fowler’s design at Bull Bay was probably influenced by his previous work at Walton Heath. He was able to use all the natural contours of the land without resorting to artificial hazards to shape the course’s defences and thus was able to create a course which has stood the test of time and is as fair and challenging today as it was nearly one hundred years ago.

The golf historian and writer Kazunori Ohtsuka who writes for Golf Magazine (USA) and is a selection panellist for the magazine’s “Best 100 Courses” is a world renowned expert on Herbert Fowler and the golf courses he designed. In 2006 he visited Bull Bay as part of his research into Herbert Fowler and although the weather was not kind to him on the day when he played the course, he was nevertheless impressed by the hallmark design and style of Fowler’s classic layout.