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Royal Porthcawl Golf Club is located in Rest Bay between Swansea and Cardiff, on a stretch of coastline that borders the Bristol Channel. Founded as a 9-hole course in 1891 by Royal North Devon's professional Charles Gibson the club relocated 4 years later to its current location with King Edward VII granting Royal patronage in 1909.
Throughout its history, Royal Porthcawl has hosted many prestigious tournaments including the Senior Open Championship, the Walker Cup in 1995, the Curtis Cup in 1964, the British Open in 1961 plus a total of 6 Amateur Championships.
Wales is somewhat overlooked in terms of links golf thanks to the celebrated Open Championship venues in Scotland and England, to the detriment of some truly awesome seaside courses. Royal Porthcawl heads this list, as it is, without doubt, the finest links layout to adorn the windswept Welsh coast.
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Since the club's establishment in 1891, the land has changed little, and is a links course in the purest sense. The original nine holes were scrapped in 1895 and just a few years later, the present championship course was opened for play.
Harry Colt made some adjustments in 1912, Fred Hawtree joined forces with John H. Taylor in 1925 to move a few greens and re-route some holes before Tom Simpson worked on the course in 1933.
The majestic quality of Royal Porthcawl is underlined by the regular award of extremely prestigious amateur and professional events. Exposed to the elements, Royal Porthcawl is a no nonsense test that should be a certain priority for lovers of seaside golf, and is a Royal star on a golf tour along the south coast of Wales.
2014 Senior Open Championship
Bernhard Langer completed a remarkable wire-to-wire victory as Royal Porthcawl hosted the Senior Open Championship for the first time, carding a closing round of 67 (4-under) to win by a staggering 13 shots from Colin Montgomerie. The German finished at 18-under-par, eclipsing Bob Charles’s 1989 record for the biggest winning margin in The Senior Open by six strokes. A final day crowd of more than 10,000 watched Langer’s historic victory, taking the total attendance for the tournament to 43,500 – the second highest in the history of The Senior Open Championship.
Royal Porthcawl is ranked as one of the best courses in Wales
Royal Porthcawl Golf Club is situated between Swansea and Cardiff off the M4, 5 miles south of Pyle train station
Address: Rest Bay, Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan, Swansea, Wales, CF36 3UW
| Par | 72 |
|---|---|
| Designed by | Charles Gibson, Ramsay Hunter, Tom Simpson, Harry Colt |
| Opened for play | 1891 |
| Previously hosted | The Senior Open (2014), British Masters (1961) |
| Black | 7,137 yards | SSS 76 |
|---|---|---|
| Blue | 6,948 yards | SSS 75 |
| White | 6,580 yards | SSS 73 |
| Yellow | 6,303 yards | SSS 72 |
| Red | 5,840 yards | SSS 76 |
| Bronze | 5,464 yards | SSS 74 |
The Dormy accommodation at Royal Porthcawl consists of six single and three twin rooms. The rooms are all furnished with en-suite facilities, TV, Wi-Fi as well as tea and coffee making facilities and offer guests stunning views of the golf course and the coast beyond.
After a round golfers can relax with a post match drink in the impressive clubhouse whilst looking out towards the Bristol Channel and Rest Bay. Guests can choose a light snack from the bar menu while the dining rooms offers breakfasts, fine or informal dining for up to 70 people.
Conor
✓8 Oct 2018
Although basic, it was perfect and the staff were really nice and helpful.
Adrian
✓26 Mar 2026
Anthony
✓6 Sep 2025
Now one of the favourite courses I have ever played. Beautiful views, tough but fair holes; an excellent all round experience.
Guy
✓27 Jun 2025
WOW, this course is amazing and one of the best I have played, as good as any links course in the world. Such great sequence of holes. The hospitality is 10/10, breakfast is a must!
Mark
✓24 Jun 2025
Staff were very friendly and helpful Breakfast was divine Course was amazing
Adam
✓20 May 2025
Exceptional condition, practise facilities amazing and great staff from pro shop to clubhouse. Not cheap but Highly recommend.
Doug
✓13 May 2025
A very good course but I wouldn’t like to play it in the wind and rain! Fortunately we had brilliant sunshine. The scores reflected the difficulty of the course with narrow fairways, hard bounces and lots of bunkers and some pretty unforgiving thick rough! Take lots of balls! A bucket list course ticked off but I am not sure I will be returning any time soon.
Sandy
✓30 Sep 2024
Weather had been quite wet, it was very windy (which we expected) and we had a heavy rain shower towards the end of our round and got very wet. Some of the bunkers were full of water - we lost balls in the bunkers - impossible to find in the water. Exposed sand in the bunkers was completely hard packed - not good. For a course at this price with this reputation, not acceptable, irrespective of the weather. Nice personalised welcome card in entrance to the clubhouse but were quite slow and casual.
Rachel
✓5 Sep 2024
Excellent experience. Pro was very helpful. The course is difficult which was expected with lots of bunkers which are a challenge to get out of!
Darren
✓30 Aug 2024
This is a fantastic and must play course,tight fairways and fantastic greens,we had windy conditions which was expected,the staff and clubhouse were brilliant
Steve
✓10 Jul 2024
Excellent, made welcome by staff, weather and course conditions perfect
