Mountain Ash Golf Club

Mountain Ash Golf Club is set above the town of the same name in the Cynon Valley, one of several valleys running north from Cardiff through the old south Wales coalfield. The town grew rapidly during the nineteenth century around coal mining, and like much of the surrounding area it sits in steep, hilly terrain, with settlements strung along the valley floor and open hillside rising sharply on either side. To the north, this high ground continues towards the Brecon Beacons, giving much of the Cynon Valley a backdrop of hills rather than flat farmland. The club's postcode, CF45 4DT, places it above the valley floor, in keeping with a course built into hillside rather than level ground, a pattern common to many valleys clubs founded when this part of Wales was industrial rather than agricultural. Golfers here are playing in the heart of the former south Wales coalfield, now largely returned to grass and woodland.