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A Welsh Dream Eighteen

By td ⋅ October 14, 2009 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Note: This piece was commissioned by Travel Wales. For this version I have added some of my own photographs.

Whether it’s choosing the best holes they’ve ever played, the toughest, or the most beautiful, golfers love creating composite courses. Wales, with its diverse array of courses–from classic links to cliff-top adventures to modern championship layouts–is the kind of destination that lends itself well to such an exercise. The challenge, in this case, was to select one (and only one) distinctive hole from eighteen different Welsh courses. This was difficult enough in its own right as some places, like Royal Porthcawl, are bursting at the seams with brilliant golf holes, but on top of that I also decided to select only one hole for each number in the routing. Indeed, given the country’s wealth of, say, brilliant sixteenth holes, removing this restriction would produce a very different list! The first at Southerndown, for example, may not be the best hole on that course, but it is a fine representative of what a strong opening hole in this part of the world might offer.

I know this imaginary course would be a blast to play, but spend some time touring around Wales with clubs in tow and you’ll doubtless want to create a “Dream 18” of your own. The best part is, whether you go for bruising challenge, strategic puzzlers or good old-fashioned eye candy, I can promise your list of favorites will be quite different. And that’s what golf in Wales is all about–there’s something for everyone.

Let’s head to the first tee…

<– First hole at Southerndown. Par 4, 367 yds. (www.southerndowngolfclub.com)
First holes on courses throughout the UK are often a means to move the golfer away from the clubhouse and onto the best ground on the property. They rarely serve with distinction. Southerndown’s stout uphill opener is an exception. As Henry Cotton once described it: “Bracken to the left, bracken to the right, and a fairway rising to the sky.” There will be no “friendly handshake” to begin this “Dream 18”!

Second hole at Royal Porthcawl. Par 4, 451 yds. (www.royalporthcawl.com)
First-time visitors to Porthcawl could be forgiven for overlooking the greatness of this hole – it comes so early in the round that some might not be prepared for the thrills it offers. With tall grass and out-of-bounds running the left-hand length of the hole, a slightly downhill tee shot over broken ground must find a narrow, gently leftward bending fairway in order to set up a good look at the undulating, two-tiered green. Surrounded by beach fence on two sides, the seaside green is one of Porthcawl’s most charming spots, though some will doubtless head to the next tee with undue haste after the punishment this exacting hole so often doles out.

^– Third hole at Clyne. Par 5, 499 yds. “Clyne Wood” (www.clynegolfclub.com)
Few holes offer a better chance to open the shoulders and let loose than this dramatic short par-five. This one has a little bit of everything. A pinnacle tee that affords smashing views of the Gower Peninsula and serious hang time for the drive. Down in the valley fairway, a pair of archaic coffin-like cross-bunkers menace the second shot. It has a large, two-tiered green with difficult-to-access back hole locations. And – as befits rugged, rustic Clyne – the occasional bovine observer might just wander around during your backswing.

Fourth hole at Tenby. Par 4, 436 yds. “The Bell” (www.tenbygolf.co.uk)
What would golf in Wales be without a blind shot now and then? This gem of a par four, which hunkers down in the dunes running parallel to Tenby South Beach, has two of them. The approach, played over a small hill to a punchbowl green, is particularly tricky to judge. This hole concludes Tenby’s run of remarkable opening holes–the course is front-loaded with highlights, an atypical situation in a country where many courses feature stronger second nines.

<– Fifth hole at Borth & Ynyslas. Par 4, 347 yds. (www.borthgolf.co.uk)
Borth is one of the oldest courses in Wales (it was founded in 1885), and certainly one of the country’s most underrated. This is the stark definition of links golf rather than the romantic one–flattish terrain, a routing that forges miles out to the high dunes near the Dyfi estuary, and the ever-present “Borth Breezes” howling in the player’s eardrums. For all the tough golf, though, the fifth is a quirky charmer–an array of mounds and bunkers scattered around the landing area ensure that the short-iron approach to this peekaboo green will always be interesting.

Sixth hole at Conwy. Par 3, 177 yds. (www.conwygolfclub.com)
Conwy is one of those rock-solid courses that seems to be greater than the sum of its parts. The par-three sixth doesn’t leap out visually, but it is a strong mid-length hole that plays dead into the prevailing wind. Forcing a shot into the breeze frequently means a visit to one of the pot bunkers fronting the undulating green. It’s a challenge characteristic of this stern links, which has in recent years incorporated new stacked-sod bunkers from the British architect Donald Steel.

<– Seventh hole at Pennard. Par 4, 351 yds. “Castle” (www.pennardgolfclub.com)
Pennard is a cross-country adventure on a grand scale–a rustic course that lets the wild heaves and rolls of its natural terrain serve as its primary defense. This is certainly the case with the shortish two-shot seventh, as strong drives are kicked this way and that by a sea-swell of a fairway, leaving golfers with blind approaches that are usually played from some manner of strange hanging lie, or from one of the small bunkers protecting the centerline of the hole. A heavily contoured green only adds to the drama, especially if the flag is set on the shelf in the back left corner. This is the rare hole that, after putting out, tempts the golfer to scurry back to the tee to play it again. As if that weren’t enough, the ruins of Pennard Castle stand just off the right side of the fairway. Be sure to make a detour to visit them–Three Cliffs Bay from this vantage point is one of the most spectacular vistas in Wales.

<– Eighth hole at Ashburnham. Par 5, 542 yds. (www.ashburnhamgolfclub.co.uk)
Ashburnham is historically one of the pre-eminent tournament courses in Wales, and as such has a wealth of long, strong holes. One of its most notable is the double-dogleg par-five eighth. Playing into the stiff headwind that is common throughout the outward nine, the hole begins with a drive made somewhat uncomfortable by an encroaching ridge that runs parallel to the fairway on the left. Then the second shot must either carry or skirt a high mound that intrudes from the right. A fine challenge.

Ninth hole at Bull Bay. Par 4, 347 yds. “Dyffryn” (www.bullbaygc.co.uk)
On the Isle of Anglesey, Bull Bay is a rough and remote downland course with a top-notch architectural pedigree–it was designed by Herbert Fowler, of Walton Heath fame. The course is notable for its extremely clever use of the site’s natural rock outcroppings, as at the short ninth, where golfers play a tricky short iron approach from a valley fairway to a small green on a gorse-covered rocky perch. In other places, Bull Bay’s rugged terrain is used to create forced carries or split-fairway options. Well worth a visit.

First Nine: Par 37, 3,517 yards.

Tenth hole at Llanymynech. Par 3, 177 yds. (www.llanymynechgolfclub.co.uk)
Llanymynech, the mountainous mid-Wales layout where Ian Woosnam learned the game, is famous for its high ground–one hole sees the player teeing off in Wales and finishing in England, while another aerie boasts views of seven counties–and this exciting par-three certainly fits with the theme. It finds the golfer hoping to carry a deep ravine to a long but somewhat narrow green.

<– Eleventh hole at Pyle & Kenfig. Par 5, 509 yds. (www.pandkgolfclub.co.uk)
P&K’s eleventh is a short par-five on the card but it can be a bear in the wind. The hole describes a long, graceful dogleg to the left. Depending on the quality of one’s tee shot (or the lie one draws in this humpy-bumpy fairway), the player must decide whether to challenge a pair of spectacle-like pot bunkers about 80 yards short of the green. For those who lay up, there’s a long bank on the right side that can funnel a crafty knockdown shot toward the flagstick. It’s a terrific hole, and as one approaches the green the excitement gathers with the realization that the eleventh marks the beginning of P&K’s entry into a dreamy stretch of high-dune linksland.

<– Twelfth hole at Aberdovey. Par 3, 149 yds. (www.aberdoveygolf.co.uk)
Perhaps the UK’s version of the 11th at Shinnecock Hills in New York, which is sometimes described as the “shortest par-five in golf,” Aberdovey’s twelfth requires a mid-iron to a green benched high in the dunes overlooking the beach. The wrinkle is the persistent wind, which threatens to blow any less-than-pure shot far off to the left–the golfer must therefore either aim the tee shot unnervingly far out to sea or fight the breeze with a high, hard fade. The club is currently mounting an effort to protect this brilliant short hole from the effects of coastal erosion.

Thirteenth hole at Nefyn & District. Par 4, 405 yds. (www.nefyn-golf-club.com)
Quite simply one of the most breathtaking golf holes in the world. Those who make the pilgrimage to Nefyn know they’re in for a rare brand of edge-of-the-earth golf, but they can’t understand the sheer majesty of the place until they forge out onto the diamond-shaped peninsula and stand on the thirteenth tee, contemplating the chasm at their feet and the sea all around. The hole itself, a dogleg left, is actually fairly simple strategically—bite off as much as you can of the cliff-to-cliff carry to gain a short iron approach, or bail safely out to the right and have a longer second shot.

^– Fourteenth hole at Porthmadog. Par 4, 378 yds. “Himalayas” (www.porthmadog-golf-club.co.uk)
The back nine at Porthmadog sends golfers out into some of the wildest links country in all of Wales. The tenth through the thirteenth are each highlights in their own right, but the fourteenth is a knockout. From the tee, all the player sees is a rough, high ridgeline with an enormous blowout bunker to the left. A solitary directional marker is the only hint that safety awaits on the other side. The yawning hazard must be carried, and only one’s best will do. Once cleared, the hole flattens out somewhat, but the approach must still be true if the well-defended green is to be found.

Fifteenth hole at Royal St. David’s. Par 4, 427 yds. (www.royalstdavids.co.uk)
Royal St. David’s, or Harlech, as it’s known locally, is renowned for its collection of long, bruising two-shot holes–very few par-69 layouts are capable of holding professional events as this links does. The fifteenth is Harlech’s finest. It seems always to be shying away from the golfer–the drive must flirt with dangerous ground on the right to open up a decent angle for the second shot, which is otherwise blind, and the fairway recedes to a narrow sliver as one approaches a green tucked away in the dunes. A classic.

<– Sixteenth hole at North Wales (Llandudno). Par 3, 141 yds. “O.L.” (www.northwalesgolfclub.co.uk)
North Wales Golf Club, in the seaside town of Llandudno, is fortunate to possess one of the best sets of par-threes in the country. After playing a short hole that goes by the name of “Hades”, one might be surprised to learn that the toughest one is yet to come. But it’s true. The view from the sixteenth tee presents an almost comically threatening vista–a pair of rough-encrusted dunes loom straight ahead, with a pot bunker placed rudely in the gap between them. The green is nowhere to be seen, only the very top of the flagstick indicates the direction to aim. It would be nice to just flip a nine-iron down into this natural bowl and perhaps have a look at a makable birdie putt, but alas, “O.L.” plays dead into the prevailing wind. For golfers who’ve made a hash of this one, the good news is that the next hole, another par-three, offers a chance at redemption, as the friendly reversal of initials, “L.O.”, would indicate.

<– Seventeenth hole at Langland Bay. Par 4, 399 yds. “The Bays” (www.langlandbaygolfclub.com)
Langland Bay is a lush meadowland course with spectacular views of the Gower peninsula and its coastline. Though the sixteenth–a testing par-three aptly nicknamed “Death or Glory”–is its most famous hole, the next one is just as much of an adrenaline rush. Drives seem to hang in the air forever from this high, exposed tee, but that only means mistakes are amplified, as well. The safest area of the fairway seems to be straight ahead, but with the drop in elevation a well-struck shot can easily go through it, so it takes confidence to play far enough out to the right. Once safely in the fairway, the approach must navigate around a nest of three greenside bunkers.

<– Eighteenth hole at Celtic Manor (2010 Course). Par 5, 613 yds. (www.celtic-manor.com)
This epic adventure begins high on a hillside overlooking the Usk river valley, where the heart of the new Twenty Ten course is situated. The three-shot hole practically cries out for a long drive, but golfers must be careful to avoid a pair of bunkers in the left side of the landing zone. The terrain then plunges toward a swath of low ground where most mortals will play a heart-stopping third stroke–a short iron back uphill to a green defended by a closely-mown front slope that sends any under-confident ball to a watery grave. Given their perfect view of the proceedings down below, spectators at the Twenty Ten clubhouse have already become accustomed to vocally “mourning” such attempts to gain the green. Without a doubt the most lethal finishing hole in Wales, Celtic Manor’s 18th will provide high drama for those Ryder Cup matches that go down to the wire.

Second Nine: Par 35, 3,198 yards.
Total: Par 72, 6,715 yds.

For more information on golf in Wales, visit golf.visitwales.com

Tags: Aberdovey, Ashburnham, Borth & Ynyslas, Bull Bay, Celtic Manor 2010, Clyne, Conwy, golf in Wales, Langland Bay, Llanymynech, Nefyn & District, North Wales, Pennard, Porthmadog, Pyle & Kenfig, Royal Porthcawl, Royal St. David's, Southerndown, Tenby