New captains at Ruthin-Pwllglas Golf Club have impressive sporting background

REPORT: ALISTAIR SYME OF CEIDIOG PR

The two new captains at Ruthin Pwllglas Golf Club have some impressive sporting credentials behind them.

New club captain Garry Teeson was a nuggety hooker who never took a backward step as he helped Ruthin Rugby Club to North Wales League and Cup titles while lady captain Ann Ellis Hughes is a former Ladies Club Champion and has an impressive golfing pedigree.

Garry, married to Ceri and a father of two who runs his own groundworks contracting business, played 329 times for Ruthin’s first team, and only started playing golf on a friendly basis about eight years ago.

The 16-handicapper said: “It started as a bit of fun with my mates, Mike Halsall, Huw Price and Elgan Roberts, but I never thought it would get this serious. It was just to get out and enjoy myself.

“But I got the bug and then we started entering competitions and I am a competitive person but you try your hardest out there and then when it’s finished, it’s like rugby, you have a laugh and a drink in the bar.

“My best moment in golf came last year though in the Captain v Vice-Captain’s match when I sank a putt on the 17th to win against the then captain, Vince Gill. He’s a great guy but I enjoyed that.”

Garry started his own business back in 2006 and now employs 15 staff but he’s relishing his year as captain and he added: “I’m looking forward to having a game with Ann, the new lady captain, and to helping the club go forward.

“It’s a small club but a very friendly one and I just like to see people enjoying themselves and I’ll do the best I can to make that happen.”

Lady captain Ann Ellis Davies, a music teacher who is married to former Ysgol Glan Clwyd Headteacher Martin Davies, is originally from Porthmadog and first played golf on Porthmadog Golf Club’s testing Morfa Bychan links, designed by the great five-time Open Champion James Braid in 1905, the same year that Pwllglas was founded.

Her mum and dad, Oscar and Liz Williams, were members at Porthmadog and her dad actually built a set of steps on the garden wall so he could climb over onto the fifth fairway to play.

Her grandfather, Ellis Jones, was a founder member at Morfa Bychan and a picture of him, resplendent in plus fours, smoking a pipe and wielding a hickory-shafted driver, hangs in their clubhouse.

Ann, a ten-handicapper before she took a break to bring up her children, is now off 20 but has a hole-in-one to her credit while on holiday in France, and hopes to help increase the number of women playing at Pwllglas.

She said: “It’s a very helpful and welcoming club and lovely to play and I want to encourage more women and girls to take up the game.

“We have a New2Golf plan and have a special day on April 5 with some ladies who do Nordic walking and Pilates who are walking up from Pwllglas to do an hour’s golf with us and on April 16 we have a taster Golf and Prosecco session in the evening for ladies interested in starting to play.

“We’re lucky to have such a lovely and friendly club in such a splendid setting and hopefully we will see more people taking advantage of it.

“I always enjoy the first hole. You have plenty of room and I’m not always a very straight hitter but it’s a lovely approach up to the green and there you’re right at the top of the course with all these wonderful views all around you.”

This year’s men’s vice-captain is Dei Hughes and the lady vice-captain is Nia Wynn Davies, sister-in-law of the lady captain – Ann’s husband, Martin, and Nia’s husband, Noel, are brothers.

The captains drove in to office at the weekend for the annual Captains v Vice-Captains match with the Vice-Captains coming out on top 8-6.

Anyone interested in joining Ruthin-Pwllglas can contact the club at https://ruthinpwllglasgc.uk/