Links ClassicGreat Value

Tenby Golf Club

Tenby, Pembrokeshire · Designed by James Braid (1907, revised 1913) · Est. 1888

Tenby is the oldest golf club in Wales, with roots reaching back to 1875 and formal foundation in 1888, and a founding member of the Welsh Golfing Union — in every sense the birthplace of Welsh golf. Its links runs over the South Beach dunes beside the pastel-painted Pembrokeshire harbour town, one of the most charming settings in the British game.

Originally a nine-hole course, Tenby was extended to a full eighteen in 1907 by James Braid, the five-time Open champion, who returned to advise again in 1913; his layout has stood largely unchanged for over a century. It is proper old-school links golf — tumbling duneland, blind shots over marram ridges, humps and hollows — playing to about 6,530 yards and par 70, with only three par 3s and three par 5s. Unusually, the round opens with a par 5.

The sea and the monastery island of Caldey fill the horizon, and the wind off Carmarthen Bay is the course's chief defence. What visitors remember is the sense of place: the walk out through the dunes, the blind short hole played over a ridge to a hidden green, and the town of Tenby — a walled Napoleonic harbour town with beaches on three sides — sitting right on the doorstep. For a course of this pedigree it is remarkable value.

Holes worth knowing

11st (par-5) — an unusual opener, a par 5 straight from the first tee over classic tumbling links ground; a friendly start with the sea ahead.
2The blind short hole over the dunes — a shot flown over a marram ridge to a green you cannot see, old-school links golf exactly as it was meant to be.

Highlights

The oldest golf club in Wales (1888); birthplace of Welsh golf
James Braid links, largely unchanged since 1907
Views to the monastery island of Caldey
Right beside the walled harbour town of Tenby

Good to know

→Caldey Island, home to a working Cistercian monastery, sits just offshore; boats run from Tenby harbour in season, and the monks' chocolate, shortbread and lavender perfume are a local institution.
→The links opens with a par 5 and hides a green or two beyond the marram — take a marker line off the blind tees and commit to it; the Carmarthen Bay wind is the real examiner.
→Tenby is a walled Napoleonic harbour town with beaches on three sides; St Catherine's Island and its Victorian fort are reachable on foot at low tide, and the Pembrokeshire Coast Path runs right past the course.
→For beaches, Barafundle Bay and the Stackpole estate down the coast are among the most beautiful in Britain, and neighbouring Saundersfoot has a pretty harbour and good seafood.
→The links has its own railway station a short walk away, so you can reach it by train; pair it with Ashburnham and Pennard for a West and South Wales links run at a fraction of championship prices.