IT may have taken 135 years, but the oldest golf club in Wales has been able to bring its facilities up to date thanks to the Ryder Cup being held just down the road.

Pontnewydd in Cwmbran is only five miles from The Celtic Manor, the host venue of the Ryder Cup later this year, and has backing from the Royal and Ancient (golf’s governing body) that they are the oldest golf club in Wales, with play there dating back to 1875.

However, it has taken well over a century to bring the practice facilities at the club into the modern era, now achieved thanks to a grant of £15,000 from Ryder Cup Wales.

They now have a putting green and chipping area, as well as nets to warm up and work at the longer game. This has allowed them to further develop their impressive junior golf schemes to encourage more youngsters into the game.

“We needed this desperately to bring the course into line with our reputation as the oldest club in Wales, we now have the practice facilities to match our history,” explained club secretary Carl Phillips.

“We were trying to promote ourselves after building a new clubhouse 10 years ago, but did not have a putting green and practice facilities so it was hard.

“Having them in place now has been appreciated by our members and particularly our junior squad, thanks to the Ryder Cup because we could not have done it without the legacy fund grant.”

Pontnewydd has 11 holes, with seven extra tees making up the full 18, and the club has a considerable record of success at the top levels of Welsh golf with their first team having won the Welsh Championship three times and their juniors also being crowned the best in Wales.

Being up the road from The Celtic Manor means the Ryder Cup is literally close to their hearts and they are determined to make the most of the opportunity – they have even laid down a challenge to the oldest club in America to send over a team for a friendly match at the same time.

“I am sure there will be people visiting from the US who will be interested in playing at the oldest golf club in Wales – we have offered courtesy of our course to members of the oldest club in America and even challenged them to a match,” said Phillips.

“This summer is a chance to really push golf in the area. In the past we had to explain that we did not have any practice facilities, but now we have got them.”

The club plan to use the new facilities to have a major drive aimed at encouraging a greater take-up of the sport in the area.