Category Archives: Golf Club

Langland Bay Golf Club

There are great views and there are great golf courses, and only rarely do they come together with such perfection as they do at Langland Bay. High above the golden Gower sand is a cliff top clearly designed by nature with only one purpose in mind, breath-taking golf.  The elevation brings 360-degree views across the spectacular Bristol Channel in one direction, and the distant Brecon Beacons in the other. This is Langland Bay, where every drive has an astonishing backdrop and every club has a part to play.  Keep your head down? You must be joking. The views are never the same twice, yet always breath-taking. The clubhouse boasts an enviable reputation for its warm welcome and unparalleled outlook over the broad sweep of Langland Bay.

Langland Bay

Langland Bayc

Ashburnham Golf Club

One of the classic Welsh links courses, Ashburnham celebrated it´s centenary in 1994 by staging the British Home International Team Championships. This was the latest in a long line of important tournaments held here since the early 1900´s when Harry Vardon said: “This is the course I like best in Wales.” His sentiments have been endorsed by more modern professionals. Bernard Gallagher, Europe´s former Ryder Cup captain won his first tournament, the 1969 Schweppes, at Ashburnham, and it was here that Sam Torrance also gained his first title, the 1976 Martini.
 
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Overlooking Carmarthen Bay, the course has it first two and final two holes inland near the clubhouse. Holes three to eight strike out, parallel to the sea, straight into the prevailing wind and holes nine to fifteen run back with the wind directly behind.With out-of-bounds and assorted trouble on the right in both directions there is no peace for the slicer. Neither are the fairways of a generous width and the fact that the current course record is no lower than 70 bears witness to the credential of the challenge.

No. of holes: 18
Length: 6627 yards
Par: 72
Course Type: Links

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Pennard Links Golf Club

Pennard Links Golf Club is located 8 miles west of Swansea in the Gower Peninsula, an area of outstanding natural beauty. Golf has been played there since 1896, although the course owes most of its appeal today first to James Braid and then to C.K. Cotton.

The holes at Pennard are routed over classically undulating and tumbling linksland, full of hummocks, hillocks and hollows and pocked with dunes large and small; in sum, exactly what we might hope to find beside the shore.

Pennard Links Golf Club

Yet this exceptional terrain is not beside the shore – it is two hundred feet above it. No wonder Pennard has been called “the links in the sky”.

Pennard Links Golf Club

Pennard has been ranked in the UK´s top 100 courses for the last four years and is currently rated as the fourth best course in Wales.

Pennard Links Golf Club

No. of holes: 18
Length: 6225 yards
Par: 71
Course Type: Short Gorse/Heather

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Royal Porthcawl Golf Club

The course has a magnificent setting sloping down to the seashore. The absence of sand hills usually found on links courses enables the golfer to see the sea from every hole and to enjoy memorable views south to Somerset and Exmoor, and northwest across Swansea Bay to the Gower Peninsula. with holes facing into every point of the compass, the player is always tested by the wind and will probably need every club in the bag.

RP 1 Hole 1

Royal Porthcawl was described as being one of the twelve finest courses in the world by the late Tom Scott, a leading writer on golf and former editor of Golf Illustrated. Since his day the club has acquired a large practice area and further improvements have been made to the course, developments which keep Royal Porthcawl firmly among the world´s top golf courses. The status of the course is sustained by the many amateur and professional events held at the Club over the years. Among others, the Club has hosted the Amateur Championship, the Walker Cup, the Curtis Cup, the European Team Championship, the Home Internationals, the Vagliano Trophy, the Ladies British Open Amateur Championship, the Dunlop Masters, the Penfold, the Ladies European Tour and the Coral Classic.

Royal Porthcawl

Royal Porthcawl

No. of holes: 18 
Length: 6406 yards
Par: 72
Course Type: Heathland/Downland Links

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Royal Porthcawl

Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club

Pyle & Kenfig, affectionately known as P & K, possessing high dunes and deep challenging valleys in a layout that offers plenty of diversity has hosted many important tournaments including the 2002 Amateur Championships and Home Internationals in 2003 and 2006. It has also hosted many national and professional tournaments.

pyle golf club

Originally mapped out in 1922 by H.S. Colt, large areas of the course were requisitioned by the arme in World War II, after which it was decided to move seawards into dunesland that designer P. Mackenzie Ross described as a ´golfer´s paradise´.

pyle golf club

There are two loops of nine holes returning to the cosy clubhouse and the second half regarded as the more challenging of the two, with the final three holes viewed as the hardest. Each over 400 yards and with a daunting tee shot towards deeply-bunkered greens, they promise a demanding finish that helps make a visit to these links a memorable experience. Pyle & Kenfig is a must to include in your South Wales golf itinerary.

pyle golf club

No. of holes: 18
Length: 6805 yards (Championship Tees), 6588 yards (White Tees), 6128 yards (Yellow Tees), 5446 yards (Ladies Tees)
Par: 71
Course Type: Links/Downland

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Southerndown Golf Club

“Bracken to the left, bracken to the right amd a fairway rising to the sky”. Henry Cotton judged the first at Southerndown to be one of the most difficult opening holes in golf.

Nature has been kind to Southerndown and ´natural´ is the word most often used to describe it. No trees or water hazards, just bracken, gorse, bunkers and wind! As you stand on the first tee looking across the sea to Porthcawl and the giant sand dunes, which border the Ogmore River valley, imagine the centuries of fierce sand storms which have given Southerndown its downland-links character – its undulating fairways, fine grasses and tight lies. It´s no surprise that the course drains quickly and rarely closes in bad weather.

When you turn from admiring the view to face the deceptively wide fairway of the first, remember Henry Cotton´s words and keep an eye on the bracken and the gorse, especially on windy days.

Southerndown golf club

100 years have passed since John Alexander took a group of fellow golfing enthusiasts across Ogmore Down. They agreed about the potential of the site and asked architect, Willie Fernie, to lay out a course. Herbert Fowler, Willie Park and Harry Colt all made significant changes to Southerndown´s design and the course is now rightly acknowledged to be one of the finest championship golf courses in Wales.

Southerndown golf club

Among the various attractions of the course are the four Par 3´s, each with its own distinctive character and challenges. Many a card has been ruined by a wayward tee shot landing in a bunker. Harold Gould, Southerndown´s legendary Professional, was once asked, which club to use on the 5th: he answered by giving a demonstration with every club in his bag!

Nowhere is club selection more important than on the 7th hole, the longest Par 3. Wind direction can mean the difference between a short iron in favourable conditions and a driver into a strong South-Westerly.

Even if you have survived all the Par 3´s, a testing finish still awaits you, with 3 of the last 4 holes played into the prevailing wind. Pars on 16, 17 and 18 are always an achievement and a tee shot over the gorse on to the split-level fairway of the 18th will set you up for an unforgettable finish.

Southerndown golf club

No. of holes: 18
Length: 6449 yards
Par: 70
Course Type: Downland/Links

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Machynys Peninsula Golf & Country Club

A world-class golf course in a dramatic setting, Machynys Peninsula brings the unique Nicklaus Design style to Wales for the first time. An exciting and versatile course, Machynys Peninsula has been designed to challenge the best players in championship conditions and yet still be enjoyable for the higher handicapper, by utilising up to six tees per hole. The shaping of the 3.5 million pound course layout has included the creation of 25 acres of new lakes – salt and fresh water – giving it a unique feel for a links-type golf course.

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machynys golf club

machynys golf club

Gary Nicklaus – who has been overseeing the project design on behalf of his father, the legendary Jack Nicklaus – has identified some of the more challenging and interesting holes as the 4th, 5th, 16th and 18th. Naming the fourth, ´the most unique, a short-ish par 4 but a very challenging and a difficult one nonetheless´. He goes onto say: ´The 16th, a par 4 that is played across the lake from right behind the clubhouse is probably one of the most beautiful holes on the course. The view from the green of the whole bay is spectacular, whether the tide is in or out´.

No. of holes: 18
Length: 7100 yards
Par: 72
Course Type: Links

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