One of the courses I played in my recent trip to Wales was the fantastic Royal Porthcawl; generally regarded as the top course in the country.   It’s famous for hosting many amateur championships over the years and one of it’s most well known moments was being the course on which Tiger Woods famously lost to Gary Wolstemholme in the 1995 Walker Cup (his last defeat as an amateur).

After a great lunch, we headed out onto the course to be greeted by fantastic weather and barely a breath of wind.  It was ideal for scoring, but sadly no one decided to tell me as I left more than a handful of putts and some brand new Pro V’s out there, but what a course it was!  It’s not a long course, but it’s far from easy; with subtle hazards, dramatic slopes and fiery fairways and greens, it makes your approach shots extremely challenging.

I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish and it reminded me of some of the great, and more famous, Scottish links courses.  It’s definitely one that should be on the ‘must play’ list for regular travellers to the British Isles, because it is as good as many of the Open rota courses – and with some other excellent links courses nearby, such as Tenby, Pennard, Pyle and Kenfig and Royal St David’s, it would be a more than capable centrepiece for a great trip, be it as a couple or as a group of guys.

To read more information on the course, please click here .

By Keith Baird.  Keith has been with PerryGolf for over 10 years and is one of our Golf Travel Specialists.