Links ClassicHidden Gem

Nefyn & District Golf Club

Morfa Nefyn, Gwynedd · Designed by J.H. Taylor & James Braid (1920s–30s) · Est. 1907

Nefyn & District was formed in 1907, after a meeting held — appropriately for a golf club — at the Tŷ Coch pub on the beach at Porthdinllaen. It is one of the most jaw-dropping clifftop courses anywhere: a links laid out along the top of the Llŷn Peninsula in north-west Wales, with the Irish Sea on three sides and a view of the water from every tee.

A further nine holes were added in 1912 and a third nine in 1933, and both J.H. Taylor and James Braid had a hand in shaping the course between the wars. Today it plays as an 18-hole championship links, with a celebrated alternative nine — "The Point" — running out along the very tip of the headland, the sea falling away far below on both hands. Those Point holes are among the most photographed in Wales.

Half the fun is the setting. Below the course, on the beach at Porthdinllaen, the Tŷ Coch Inn — regularly voted one of the best beach pubs in the world — sits a couple of hundred yards from the links on the loop around the point, reachable on foot for a pint mid-round. Nefyn is not a brutal test; it is pure exhilaration, played on springy turf above the sea, with views that stop you mid-swing.

Holes worth knowing

1The "Point" holes — the alternative nine runs out along a narrow finger of headland with the Irish Sea on both sides; there is nowhere quite like it, and the walk back past Tŷ Coch is part of the round.
2The clifftop stretch above Porthdinllaen — fairways perched on the edge with the beach and bay far below; keep well away from the sea side.

Highlights

Clifftop links with the sea in view from every tee
The celebrated "Point" holes out along the headland
The world-famous Tŷ Coch beach pub below the course
Shaped by J.H. Taylor and James Braid between the wars

Good to know

→The Tŷ Coch Inn sits on the beach at Porthdinllaen, a couple of hundred yards from the course around the point — one of the world's great beach pubs, reachable on foot mid-round. It gets busy on a fine day, so time your loop around the Point.
→Play the Point holes along the knife-edge of headland when the members and the weather allow, keep well away from the cliff side, and enjoy some of the most photographed golf in Wales.
→The Llŷn is a Welsh-speaking heartland of hidden coves: Abersoch is the smart sailing-and-beach town, while Aberdaron and the pilgrim island of Bardsey — the "island of 20,000 saints" — mark the wild tip of the peninsula.
→The National Trust's Plas yn Rhiw, a small manor with gardens above Hell's Mouth bay, is a lovely quiet visit, and the peaks of Eryri (Snowdonia) are an easy day-trip inland.
→Book ahead in summer — the setting draws visitors from all over and members' competitions can close tee times; pair it with Aberdovey and Royal St David's for a Cardigan Bay and Llŷn tour.