A golf club that has holes in Tier 3 in England, where golf is allowed, and in Wales, where amateur golf is currently forbidden, has been asked to close.
Llanymynech Golf Club lies on the English-Welsh border and is the only golf course that has some of its holes in England and some in Wales. The fourth hole is even in both countries.
Its unique selling point has traditionally been that you can play golf in both nations at the venue, but this has proven to be a source of confusion whenever England and Wales have introduced different coronavirus lockdown rules surrounding golf, such as last May and now.
To add to the confusion, Llanymynech Golf Club pays its rates to Powys County Council in Wales but its governing body is England Golf and its postal town is Oswestry in Shropshire.
Police visited the club on January 2 after Powys County Council asked for it to be closed.
Club officials said officers were ‘only there to assist and were not there to enforce the closure’ of the club, and that further discussion over whether it can stay open are likely to take place.
Wales banned golf due to Covid-19 on December 19, for at least three weeks, but Llanymynech was permitted to remain open for the rest of the year as it was judged to be under English rules. On December 31, Shropshire moved from Tier 2 to Tier 3, but amateur golf is currently allowed in all four tiers in England.
Sian Whiteoak, club secretary, said: “Powys County Council have asked us to close for the time being. The police came in a supporting capacity. We’re still in discussion with everybody.
“Our governing body for golf is in England. Our clubhouse has been closed since October. It’s one of those confusing situations because we are half and half (in Shropshire and Wales).”
Shortly before the police visited the club, it posted on Facebook ‘Happy new year, things can only get better!’
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