Encircled by a selection of outstanding golf courses, Swansea is where the old world meets the new; offering access to a vibrant city, the endless space of the stunning Welsh countryside and of course, a stunning collection of golf courses.
Quantity and quality are prerequisites when it comes to picking a destination for a golf tour and Swansea offers both but as they say, “variety is the spice of life” and thankfully this coastal area of Wales has that in spades as well.
For links lovers, the Swansea area is superb, offering the likes of Ashburnham to the West, Pennard to the South and the more famous duo of Pyle and Kenfig and Royal Porthcawl – the most famous and arguably best golf course in Wales – to the East.
Pyle & Kenfig is next door to Royal Porthcawl and offers a great test of links golf, particularly on the back nine.
Away from the traditional links courses, Machynys Peninsula offers a hybrid of sorts, with strong links accents on show around an American style layout. There are also tranquil parkland layouts lying slightly further inland, with Fairwood Park being the pick of the bunch, especially for those who enjoy a testing game of golf.
With so many options deciding where to play on your next Wales Golf Tour can be tricky and having already sung the praises of the fabulous Royal Porthcawl, which lies to the East of Swansea, we would like to give a lesser known but equally charming seaside gem a big pat on the back and recommend it as part of your next Swansea Golf Tour.
Pennard enjoys a spectacular location and offers both a great test of golf and awesome views from start to finish.
Perched on the rugged Gower Peninsula – one of Wales’ most popular tourist destinations thanks to more than just golf – this area is home to no less than 5 Blue Flag beaches one of which, Rhossilli Bay, is ranked among the finest in Europe – Pennard Golf Club boasts some of the most dramatic views and landscapes in British golf. The course enjoys a stunning cliff-top location and provides an ideal vantage point from which you can enjoy views across to the beautiful sandy beaches of Three Cliff and Oxwich Bay on your way around the course.
Pennard is one of the oldest golf courses in Wales and straddles some stunning links like land, strewn with massive dunes and all the humps, bumps, dips and hollows associated with links golf, some 200 feet above the level of the sea.
Many of the holes at Pennard feature dramatic seaside tee and green locations.
Originally a James Braid design, Pennard has been revised over the years and really only gained any recognition when Tom Doak described Pennard as “one of my all time favourites”. Such lofty praise from one of the world’s best known golf course architects was bound to give Pennard some of the attention it deserves but Doak also said, “I hesitate to recommend it for general consumption, it’s awfully quirky.”
On this note, we will have to respectfully disagree with Mr. Doak because, like Royal North Devon in England, it is precisely Pennard’s quirkiness that makes it so much fun.
Pennard is by no means a championship test but the dramatic layout and the protection it gets from coastal weather conditions means it is by no means a pushover. Brisk winds blowing in from the Bristol Channel provide much of the course’s defence and on particularly blustery days, even the best players will find a good test of their games here.
Numerous blind shots and uneven lies – typical of any good, natural links course – add to the challenge as well…as do the ponies and cattle you find yourself sharing the course with. At times they can be a bit of a distraction!
At Pennard you share the course with some of the local residents!
Signature holes are seemingly all over the course; such is the beauty of the layout, the land on which it sits and, of course, the stunning surroundings. If we were pushed for an answer though, the par 4 7th would be hard to argue against. With the ruins of Pennard Castle in view, the tee shot here is taken from an elevated tee and played over an intimidating abyss to a fairway which appears to be much further away than it actually is. The approach shot can be blind depending on where your tee shot finishes and the green is well protected by menacing bunkers. This is a really dramatic and fun hole to play and sums up the overall feel of the course nicely.
Should you approach the 1st tee at Pennard with realistic expectations of what it will offer you the golfer then you can’t fail to enjoy a round here. Stunning, quirky and a great test of golf for players of all shapes and sizes…what more can you ask for?
Away from the golf course, a Swansea Golf Tour wouldn’t be complete without an evening exploring the Mumbles Mile. Mumbles is a headland sited on the western edge of Swansea Bay and the Mumbles Mile has long been known as a great destination for a bit of a pub crawl. Once home to over 20 pubs, this stretch of road now only boasts 5 but, after a long day on the golf course, that should be plenty!
