NEWPORT's Celtic Manor Resort is considering legal action against a village club changing its name - to the Celtic Minor.

Management at the Celtic Manor golf course - which hosted the Ryder Cup and the NATO summit with Barack Obama - is furious at the renaming by the small course 53 miles away.

Businessman John Adams decided to retitle the Palleg Golf Club, in the Swansea Valley, as the Celtic Minor to attract more members by mounting a radio advertising campaign.

But the Celtic Manor resort has hit back by warning they will protect their name from any attempt to take advantage of their reputation.

A Celtic Manor Resort spokesman said: "The Celtic Manor Resort would like to make it clear that Celtic Minor Golf Club has no affiliation with the Celtic Manor Resort or its three championship golf courses.

"Celtic Manor is a registered trade mark of Celtic Manor Resort Limited (UK) and we reserve all our rights to protect our name from any attempts to take unfair advantage of our reputation or to exploit our goodwill in these services."

The green fees to play the Celtic Manor's Twenty Ten Ryder Cup course are £89, compared to Celtic Minor's £12 to £20 a round.

Celtic Minor club manager Melanie Eaton said: "We don't get people coming here thinking they're going to be playing the Celtic Manor - but I did get a telephone call from a utility company saying they wanted to come up and play our courses and spend two nights in the hotel.

"I was a little concerned where they were going to stay at the Celtic Minor and what other courses they were going to play.

"John looked into it legally first and there wasn't any issue with it so he just went ahead with renaming the club.

"He's a businessman and it works in our favour.

"You put Celtic Manor into Google and there's the Celtic Minor popping up underneath it so there are advantages of having a similar name in this case."

"The club had been established a long time and initially the members didn't want a name change but the response we get from most of them is brilliant.

"The club was relatively run down when it was bought out and the new owner has spent a of money."