Rest Bay,
Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan CF36 3UW
Office
+44 (0)1656 782 251Pro shop
+44 (0)1656 773 702Fax
+44 (0)1656 771 687Website
Visit websiteGolf pro
Peter Evans (Head Golf Professional)The Course:
18 holes. Seaside links. Undulating terrain - a few slopes to climb.
Surroundings:
Coastal duneland.
Designer:
Original 18-hole layout designed by Ramsay Hunter (1898). Later modifications by various designers, including Harry Colt (1913) and Tom Simpson (1933).
51.491708
-3.725808
19 miles SE of Swansea
Leave the M4 motorway at exit 37. Follow A4229 direction Porthcawl. After 2.4 mi at roundabout turn right into Newton Nottage Rd (which becomes Fulmar Rd) direction Nottage and Rest Bay. After 1 mi road bends sharply left. After a further 300 yds turn right into small road (unsigned). After o.5 mi golf entrance is in front of you.
Royal Porthcawl Golf Club is home to a gloriously definitive links golf course - timeless, challenging and royal in every way. This superb and undulating layout may not have the towering "alpine" sand dunes found on some links courses, but there is plenty of elevation change as the "outer" front-nine circles around the "inner" back-nine. From every hole on the course, bar none, you'll enjoy fine sea views out onto the wide Bristol Channel.
In addition to firm gently undulating fairways, the course is characterised by superb bunkering and wonderful, sloping greens. Stray too far from the good-width fairways fringed by light rough, and ball-finding may not be so easy, especially if the thicker rough and liberal scattering of gorse bushes have anything to do with it.
Rather than an out-and-back layout, the first eight holes take you around the course’s perimeter, with the next ten played inside this ring. There's not one weak hole among them. The heavily-bunkered 7th is one of the best short par-3’s you’ll find anywhere.
In its wonderfully natural setting, Royal Porthcawl is far removed from the distant industrial landscape of Port Talbot, which is occasionally glimpsed over the sand dunes of Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club to the west. Acknowledged as one of the best golf courses in Wales, we'd go further and say Royal Porthcawl is one of the world's finest examples of authentic seaside links golf.
Stay&Play at Royal Porthcawl: onsite Dormy accommodation available in the clubhouse, see Where2Stay section below.
Visitors welcome on weekdays and weekends.
Must book in advance. Proof of handicap required.
Credit cards accepted. Contact club for full details, discounts, packages, day tickets, etc. [Last updated: 2020].
Players generally walk this course.
Good
Edward VII conferred the Royal prefix on Porthcawl Golf Club in 1909. By royal prerogative, two Welsh golf clubs can use the "Royal" title, namely: Royal St David's and Royal Porthcawl.
Royal Porthcawl has hosted numerous top level professional and amateur competitions, including the Walker Cup in 1995 (GB&I 14, USA 10) and the Curtis Cup in 1964 (USA 10.5, GB&I 1.5). For more details view Top Golf Tournaments at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club.
World: formerly ranked 85th best course in the world (GOLF magazine, 2017; not in subsequent editions of this ranking).
GB&I: 25th best course in Britain & Ireland (Golf World, 2020/21).
Wales: No.1 course in Wales (Golf World, 2019).
West Drive, Porthcawl CF36 3LS
+44 (0)1656 782 085
Visit websiteClose to Royal Porthcawl Golf Club and right next to the sea, giving some wonderful views across the Bristol Channel. All rooms have king size beds which can be adapted to suit families or twin rooms. The rooms, all en-suite, ensure comfort as well as practicability.
No
Royal Porthcawl; Pyle & Kenfig
Southerndown; The Vale Hotel (Wales National and Lake courses).
Rest Bay, Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan CF36 3UW
+44 (0)1656 782 251
Visit websiteThe onsite Dormy offers first class accommodation for twelve. There are six single and three twin rooms. Each room is furnished with en-suite bathroom, remote control TV and tea and coffee making facilities.
Royal Porthcawl
Pyle & Kenfig
Southerndown; The Vale Hotel (Wales National and Lake courses).
Tournaments:
European Tour: 2021 marks the 50th and last season of the world renowned European Tour, launched in April 1972 at the Spanish Open. From 2022 the Tour will be sponsored by Dubai-based global supply chain and ports operator DP World, and will be known as the DP World Tour.
South African Open: December 2021 events in South Africa have again been impacted by the Covid pandemic. The South African Open (Dec 2-5) will no longer be played as a DP World Tour event, and the Alfred Dunhill Championship (Dec 9-12) has been cancelled.
Who's Who:
Bernhard Langer: at age 64, Langer collected a record sixth Charles Schwab Cup, the only player to have won the season-long points chase more than twice. He also topped the PGA Tour Champions money-list for the 11th time out of a possible 13 since 2008.
Carlota Ciganda: the five-time Solheim Cup star was delighted to record a fourth Ladies European Tour win in her home national championship, the Ladies Spanish Open.
Lee Elder: Trailblazer, Ryder Cup player, four-time PGA Tour winner and eight-time Senior PGA Tour winner, Lee Elder died on November 28, aged 87. In 1975 he became the first African American golfer to play in the Masters tournament, and in so doing provided one of the pivotal moments in the history of professional golf.
Golf World Top 100: Best Golf Courses in Europe. From France to Spain to the Netherlands and Norway, the Golf World Top 100 panel reveals the places you have to play (published 20 October 2021).
New 27-hole golf complex to be built in southern Belgium
A new golf complex in southern Belgium, close to the border with Luxembourg, will start construction in June 2021.
Marco Simone Golf & Country Club "makes its tournament debut with the hosting of the Italian Open on the European Tour" by Richard Humphreys
Gamble Sands opens short course:
David McLay Kidd’s 14-hole QuickSands short course has opened for play at Gamble Sands in Brewster, Washington.
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