Must play golf courses in Wales?

I'm looking for some golf courses to play over a 3 day period (Fri-Sun) for my 40th in 2012.

I've been told Aberdovey is a must & so is Pyle & Kenfig.

Any other suggestions?

Blimey John 2012, lets get 2011 out the way first. I'M looking to play at Celtic Manor in February or March, besides the fabulous 2010 course they have 2 other fantastic courses as well or so I'M told, so you could play a different course each day, one of them being the famous course we won the ryder cup on. Ive been told its a true test of golf and extremely long.   Happy Birthday John whenever it is http://www.golfshake.com/scripts/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/tounge_smile.gif" title="cheeky" width="20" />

John,

Are touring or wanting to stay in one place?

Take the family and dump them at Hafan -y- Mor for Havens night time entertainment and you play any of ABERDOVEY, ABERSOCH, NEFYN, PORTHMADOG, ROYAL St DAVID'S and others.

TheLyth

Played Aberdovey & Nefyn, both excellent courses. If you're looking for a course further inland try Llangollen, always in great condition & a lovely course.

You've got to play Nefyn John, all 26 holes, just to say you've done it!  A few of us went over this autumn and while the new course is good, the "old" 8 holes are unbelievable.

Myself and Al Bostock also played Abersoch the day before and while the last few holes are clearly added on as they're parkland, the first 12 holes are superb links holes.

I played Royal St Davids in 2009 and let's just say you can't afford an off day - it's one hell of a challenge especially in the wind and rain as we found it!

Chris,

I go to the Celtic every January for my birthday for 1 night & we play the Monty & the Roman Road. Couldn't afford the 2010! The reason for the early digging is that a few friends have said they want to come along so if I can get some prices we can start to save a few pennies each month until the big weekend

Thanks for all the other suggestions, I'll start to make enquiries.

got to agree with james nefyn is a fantastic course

but if you do go and play it watch out for the 2nd hole on the old course,what a crazy hole.

tee off over a hill blind to a 10yd wide fairway that slopes severely right to left then 2nd shot over a public road with cars and pedestrans(i kid you not) to a green about 10 yds short of the sea!!!!!!

spent 15 mins waiting for a gap of ppl/cars on the road before i hit my 2nd crazy

John

I have just received my 2011 brochure from Golfbreaks.com. And having flicked through it i will have to agree with James & Neil that Nefyn golf course looks amazing, so much so that I'M going to try and persuade my mates to ditch Celtic Manor and go there instead. In the brochure they are offering 2 nights b&b, 3 rounds of golf at Nefyn, Royal st Davids & Caernarfon in spring for £225 pp.I will have to say just by looking at Nefyn in the brochure it has to be one of if not the best looking links Ive seen, as some of the holes stretch out into the sea. Order a brochure from Golfbreaks.com and check it out for yourself...!!!    PS. there is maybe one better links course  Pebble Beach.           

Good choice Chris, you'll love it.  If you look at the picture on page 21, you play out and back along that peninsula (on the old course).  There's a tee next to the light house on the right of the picture, which goes downhill to the green that can be seen at the bottom left - fantastic par 3 hole.

I'm sure John Spencer wil be along soon to tell you about "Tigger's Post" on that hole, so I won't spoil his thunder!

Hi John

Im off to celtic manor in March for 2 days......looks amazing.

For what it is its not to expensive either.

I'll investigate the Golfbreaks route.

Will Nefyn & Royal St Davids be suitable for all levels of handicaps (12-20) ??

hi John

If you want to go a bit further into wales, I can truly recommend Tenby. A great links start with a few easier holes towards the end. The 3rd and 4th are as good as any holes i have played anywhere.

Also in the same area is Cardigan Golf club. A lot less well known, but almost as impressive. The views from this course are truly amazing.

The extra miles may well be worth it  as both courses are just about suitable for 20 handicapers

See you at north vs south

Tim

I've narrowed my course search down to the following;

• Nefyn
• Royal St Davids
• Aberdovey
• Porthmadog

The hard part is knowing which course to drop!

If I was to just ring the courses & book tee times, on average 3 rounds is £136. I'm now trying to find a nice B&B that will accomodate us & hopefully bring the price to a nice £200.

John

the one course i wouldn't drop is Nefyn, you have to play the old holes on the peninsula. I checked it out on teeofftimes.com and they were doing it for £22.50 on a Saturday that's less than half price, if i lived a bit nearer i would be going this weekend. I am definitely going to try it out sometime this year though. 

Thanks for that John, that's great advice.

Hi, first time Ive posted, been playingjust over 18 months, my first course played, after a few months on the driving ranges was Royal St David's, lost a few balls but got round eventually, guided by a playing partner who was a previous club captain so that helped.   Now a member of Abersoch GC and living just a few miles from Nefyn, I would think an excellent tour would be Nefyn, Abersoch and Portmadog, this would enable youtobase yourself on the Llyn Penninsula so cutting out long travelling between courses.

Bill Stacey H'Cap 24

John

How did your weekend trip to Celtic Manor go.

Im planning to go to North Wales in March, to play the 26 holes at Nefyn on the Saturday and 18 holes at Porthmadog or Abersoch on the Sunday. { cant wait}....!!!!

Chris,

The weekend was very good.We got slightly wet on the Sunday but I managed to shoot 3 over par on the front 9 (Monty course) before the wetness took hold. Didn't play that well the next day but that may have something to do with the lack of sleep & the slow gin!

Both courses fairways & greens were in very good condition. The rough was very wet & if your ball went in & plugged (which they were most times) you were lucky to find them.

The hotel & food were superb.

Hope your trip goes well & let me know so I can make my plans for next year.

John,

The Par 5's at Pwllheli are something else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Par 4's, no par 5's on the course.

TheLyth

Just booked up my 4-ball golf weekend to North Wales for March 19th & 20th.      

We are playing 26 holes at Nefyn GC on the Saturday and 18 holes at Porthmadog GC on the Sunday, cant wait, been looking forward to this for a while now, just another 5 weeks to go 

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John

the cost of our trip is as follows

staying in a caravan at Haven, Hafan y Mor = £9.50 per person. through the sun's holiday offer, upgrade to luxury plus caravan is another  = £12.00 per person. [a lot bigger & newer caravan]

Electric, Gas, Linen & Entertainment passes = £59.00 for whole stay Friday afternoon to Monday morning, we are coming home Sunday afternoon due to work on Monday.

Day ticket at Nefyn golf course £25.00 per person, if you go before April, then it goes up to £65.00

18 holes at Porthmadog golf course £23.00 per person, again if you go before April.

Total cost = £337.00 for 4 people, £84.25 each, not bad for 44 holes of golf around 2 courses that are in the top 100 in the UK, and there should be some good entertainment Saturday night at the holiday camp, the only down side will be the driving as its about 5-6 hours from where i live, cost of petrol proberly around £120.00, between the 4 of us.

John

Of course, the big name courses which have been mentioned many times are great but I would like to add my vote for Cardigan.  It's a wonderful course with views to die for.

In fact, when Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal, doyen of American golf writers, visited Cardigan he was moved to write,  "With the possible exception of Pebble Beach, the view from the top of the Cardigan course is the finest I've seen anywhere in golf".   On a sunny day he isn't wrong!   Richard

Has anyone played Machynys Peninsula G.C. I think it might be in Swansea, it has 5 different tee positions with the Championship tee's having a SSS of 75. If someone has played it can they give me some info on it and how far is it from Celtic Manor, as I'm already planning next years trip, even though i still have 4 weeks to go before i go on this years trip to North Wales, I'm thinking of going to South Wales next year to play the 2010 course at Celtic Manor and id like to try another completely different type of course, plus South Wales is at least 2 hours closer to my home.

Hi everyone, can someone recommend some good golf courses in South Wales other than Celtic Manor, as I'm planning a trip there soon, Thanks...

Only 10 days to go for my golf weekend in North Wales, cant wait, Ive been keeping an eye on the weather up there and so far it looks good, might even leave my waterproofs at home.

Just got back from my golfing weekend in Wales, and what a fantastic weekend it was.

Stayed at Haven holiday park in Hafan Y Mor, which was a great place to base ourselves as it was bang in the middle of the 2 courses we were going to play, the cost of staying at Haven was only £35.00 each, and that included bed linen, gas & electricity and 4 entertainment passes and a upgrade to a luxury plus Caravan and what a lovely Caravan it was, there was only 4 of us but they gave us a 8 birth Caravan with double glazing and heating in all the rooms. The Caravan it self looked brand new with all the mod cons, we arrived Friday afternoon and could have stayed till Monday if we wanted but had to come home Sunday afternoon due to work Monday, I definitely recommend the Sun's holiday for £9.50 and dont know why we didn't think of it before, now down to the golf, on the Saturday we played 26 holes at Nefyn GC, only cost us £25.00 for the day ticket as its still classed as winter fees in March. All i can say about this course is its amazing, the views along the coastline are breathtaking especially on a day like we had with plenty of sunshine and only 15mph winds, but the best part has to be the 8 holes on the peninsula they are a mixture of mental and imaginative creativity, truly magnificent, you have blind shots 100ft up hills, hitting a tee shot from a coastguard hut 100ft above a 160 yard par 3 and hitting another tee shot across a cliff top to reach your fairway fantastic and if the wind blows you better start praying, its a golf course everyone should play at least once.

Now for the other golf course we played on the Sunday which was at Porthmadog, the weather this day was not so good with showers all day and 20 - 30mph winds. The front 9 holes which are parkland are ok  some good some not so good, but its the back 9 holes where this golf-course comes alive, now Nefyn is a links course as its along the coastline and fairly open and windy but the back nine at Porthmadog is links golf at its best, you have humps, bumps and plenty of gorse bushes, the greens at Porthmadog are also better and more fun than Nefyn as they have more undulation and banks that are right next to some of the greens so if you use a bit of imagination you can use the banks to your advantage, some of the holes are just as crazy as Nefyn's as you also have to hit blind shots 100ft up into greens, and shots across the sandy beach 300ft below to a undulating fairway, this back 9 would trouble any level of golfer if the wind gets up and i have to say are some of the best holes i have ever played even though i struggled for most of the day, hole 18 was abit dissapointing as you come away from the coast and back to parkland.

If  i had to pick which golf course was the better one i would give the edge to Nefyn just, but if you could take the back nine at Porthmadog and put it with the peninsula at Nefyn you would be hard pushed to find a better course anywhere in the U.K.

Thanks for the feedback Chris, I'll deffo use this when making my plans next year.