The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and in some cases, one squeaky wheel can even change 110 years of golf history.
Although a historic club in northwestern Wales has been welcoming golf balls to the par-71 course since 1914, members at Holyhead Golf Club are now finished after playing the 17th hole. That’s because the course, originally designed as a 9-hole track by legendary architect James Braid, had a single angry neighbor, one who went to the local council and forced the course to close the finishing hole.
According to a story in the Times, the Isle of Anglesey county council is in the process of a health and safety probe.
A spokesman for the club said: “A neighbor said golf balls were leaving the boundary of the course and going onto their property. He has evidence balls were going into his garden and he raised the issue with the council.
“Even though the course has been here since 1912, we have golf balls leaving the confines and the council got involved. They have issued an improvement notice and we’ve had to comply with that, leaving us with a £75,000 bill for a new golf green.
“There’s only one person complaining and we have never had any complaints before.”
Members of the club and locals are in uproar over the closure, with some suggesting that the homeowner who complained should not have bought a house next to a golf course in the first place.
This has led the club to start a fundraiser to rebuild the 18th green. According to a gofundme post, the new green will cost about $80,000.
Due to this closure, we are now only operating as a 17 hole golf course. We have not had time to plan on how we can sustain and finance this drastic change to our golf course, given such short notice.
We are arranging for contractors to start work and have been quoted a total price of £75,000 for the work to be carried out, at a high standard, which is in comparison to our original 18th green. We are hoping the work is completed by May 1st, 2025 and we will be up and running as an 18-hole golf course.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Wales golf course closes final hole after neighbor complains
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