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Anglesey Golf Club is a golf course in the village of Rhosneigr, Anglesey, Wales and is considered one of the best links courses in the country. The golf course is a flat but challenging par 70 links course, for golfers of all standards and is playable all year round due to the exceptional sandy soil which drains exceedingly well.

Course
Challenging 18 holes links course set amongst sand dunes and heathland renowned for its excellent greens and numerous streams. The whole course boasts an abundance of wildlife and is an important conservation area. This golf course is used for North Wales county championship matches and because of its even nature, it is a fair test for golfers of all abilities.

History
The Anglesey Golf Club is the oldest golf club on the Isle of Anglesey, originally as a 14 hole course but changed to 18 holes in 1914. Situated in the fashionable resort of Rhosneigr since its inception, its establishment came at the very end of the period in which sport had become a pursuit for all.

It was formed as a collaborative project between a number of local notables and first amongst these, was Charles Henry Palethorpe and James Ravenscroft. These two, in common with two other local businessmen – Charles A. Mills and Dr. H. Stinton Lowe – arranged to rent an area of Common Land (from the Conservators) and employed Harold Horsfall Hilton to create a golf course. Hilton was a native of Cheshire and a golfer of stature. He won the Open in 1892 and 1897 and was the US Amateur Champion in 1911. In October 1914, the Anglesey Golf Club opened as an eighteen-hole links course.

The club gradually acquired all of the trappings of the modern golf establishment so familiar to us today. This included its first club professional, Bert Berry, who had a house constructed just a few hundred metres away from the Club in 1931. As with Palethorpe and H. Stinton Lowe, Bert Berry’s name lives on in the form of an annual club ‘board’ competition. By the time of the outbreak of the Second World War the club had a healthy membership, with the annual subscription fee being some 3 Guineas (£3.15), and a busy schedule of competitions.

A number of very good golfers emerged – not least the scratch golfer Dr. John Wilson who, as ‘Doc’ Wilson became a fixture in and around AGC for half a century. He was particularly noted for his kindness to junior members many of whom he coached. His work was recognised with the “Doc” Wilson Memorial’ trophy contested each year by the junior members.

In the Second World War ‘Doc’, in common with many AGC members, served in the armed forces. ‘Doc’ served as Medical Officer on Mountbatten’s ill-fated HMS Kelly. Len Andrews survived terrible privations as a prisoner-of-war in the Far East. John Charter won the Military Cross and the much-decorated Joe Forbes served as a “tankie” in the army. Ken Rees served in the RAF and was a central figure in the real ‘Great Escape’ of 1944.

The Second World War brought great changes to AGC as the course was fundamentally re-shaped. The requirements of the Royal Air Force meant that the course lost 14 of its original holes in 1943. Undaunted, the course was re-fashioned and 14 new holes were constructed (‘Under the bridge’ as the phrase has run ever since). The period after the Second World War has seen periodic bursts of re-birth, expansion, contraction and recovery. Much of the expansion was the work of few great individuals and one of the greatest was Sidney Brand (of writing paper fame). Brand’s energy and generosity were very largely responsible for the Clubhouse that AGC boasts today. His sudden death was a terrible shock for all and he, too, is commemorated by annual competitions at both the senior and junior level.

AGC holds a proud place amongst the golfing community of both Anglesey and North Wales. Every year its best players compete for the Dr. Lowe Shield against those of Baron Hill, Bull Bay and Holyhead. AGC has produced many amateur champions and Dave Maclean, a winner of the Welsh amateur title too many times to count, still hits a mean ball from tee to green.