It seems certain that the land running to the edge of Newton Cliffs has been cultivated for many years. Indeed, the very texture of the grass on the present course indicates how well nurtured the land has been. A map provisionally dated as 1842, shows a maze of small fields running from Newton village down to Langland Bay in the South and to Caswell Bay in the West with no roads South of the village except for what is now Mary Twill Lane, and a steep cart track on the line of the present Brynfield Road. The book A Guide to Gower, published by the Gower Society, says of Newton: "the village stands in the centre of an area of long narrow field derived from the enclosed strips of an early medieval open field settlement". The Clubhouse and outbuildings in 1954 A further map, provisionally dated 1852, shows that a condsiderable change has taken place in the area. The small fields had been merged into larger units;the house, then known as Llan-y-Llan, but now known to us as the Langland Bay Convalescent Home, had been built, together with the numerous coach houses and out buildings which now form the Langland Bay Hotel. It appears that this imposing edifice was built by the Crawshay family, the Mether Tydfil Ironmasters, for use as a summer residence. It is believed that the original drive entrance commenced near what is now Underhill Park, but later maps indicate that it was approached by a road known as Alma Road. Further to the west of this house the 1852 map now shows Langland Farm, which years later is described as Langland House Farm. It seems profitable therefore that the main buildings of our present clubhouse, together with the out-buildings on the line of our new locker room complex were constructed contemporaneously with the present Convalescent Home in the nineteenth century. The limestone for the building of the house and the farm was locally quarried from small quarries on the ste of the house, where the new flats now stand and alongside our present 14th tee, in addition to the larger quarries of Coltshill and Oystermouth. By about 1894 the house Llan-y-Llan had been converted into a hotel-the Langland Bay Hotel-which had among its public rooms a "Restaurant Bar", a "Smoking and Billiard Room", and a "Smoking and Recreation Room" which was next to the "Salle-a-Manger". Certainly there seemed tobe a need for smoking rooms in those days, but it was at this hotel, possibly in one of those smoking rooms, that a very important meeting took place in 1901. Old inhabitants of Newton village have said that golf was played on the cliff top in the nineteenth century, but the first writen mention of golf at Langland is in the Club's first minute book-dated 24th September 1901. The course was officially scheduled to be opened on Saturday, September 10th 1904, when the President, Sir John Jones Jenkins (afterwards Lord Glantawe) was asked-weather permitting-to drive off. The course as it was played in 1904 was all in front of the farmhouse, and the plan was shown on a score card, a copy of which is retained in the original minute book. The founders formed a committee and decided that the club should be called "Langland Bay Golf Club" and they agreed that "the rules of Swansea Bay Golf Club shall be the rules of the Langland Bay Golf Club subject to certain alterations". A century since the first entry in the Minute book, we have a course which is acknowledged to be among the best kept in wales, and is certainly one of the mist scenically beautiful; a comfortable, well appointed and comparitively spacious Clubhouse and a host of friendly, talented and enthusiastic members. Surely everything that those far seeing gentlemen who met in September 1901 could have wished for. Indeed, I am sure if the same gentlemen had been able to see the club enjoy the Centenary year in 2004, they would have felt even better about their efforts to get a golf club established all those years ago. The Centenary year was enjoyed by all the members and many guests and visitors, and more details can be seen on the centenary year page.