Merthyr Tydfil Golf Club was formed on the 20th November 1909 when ten local businessmen met at the Bush Hotel in Merthyr Tydfil. They decided to call the club “Cilsanws Golf Club (Cefn Coed)”. At the same time they decided to engage Mr. Bradbeer, the professional at Pontypridd, for a fee of one Guinea to meet them on Cilsanws Mountain to discuss the Designing and building of the course.

On the advice of Mr. Bradbeer, a Mr Helland from Burnham was then engaged as the professional at the club at the rate of 25 shillings per week. The course was then constructed by Mr. Helland and two labourers working under the instructions of the committee.

The original course subsequently constructed consisted of ten holes with holes 1 and 2 being played once and a loop of 8 holes being played twice to constitute the full 18 holes. The 18th green at this time was some 800 yards from the clubhouse.

The first Captain of the club was Mr. T. Aneurin Rees who was the town clerk of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. He must have been an outstanding sportsman, as he played in the first rugby international between Wales and England at Blackheath in 1881, and also played cricket for The MCC.

In the late 1970′s two additional holes were added to bring the 18th green closer to the clubhouse and in 1997 the course was extended to 18 holes. This was only achieved after a 3-year battle with the planning authorities because they were reluctant to allow planning permission for golf purposes on common land. The extension consisted of 7 new holes and the alteration of two existing holes. The new layout was designed by two club members: the former Secretary Mr. Vivian Price, and Mr. Richard Mathias.

Over the years the course has had a number of name changes, and today the official name is Merthyr Tydfil Golf Club, but it is also widely known as Cilsanws because of it’s location on Cilsanws Mountain.