7 daysItinerarySelf-drive

A week-long Wales golf itinerary

Wales · Planning

The route

Wales runs roughly south to north, so the natural trip is a one-way drive up the country: start on the championship links of the south, wind through the wild coast of the west and mid-Wales, and finish amid the mountains and links of the north. Fly into Cardiff or Bristol and out of Liverpool or Manchester (or reverse it), and you barely double back.

It is a more scenic, slower drive than the Scottish or Irish routes — the Welsh coast roads are beautiful but winding — so this is a week to savour the journey as much as the golf. Reckon on about 350km all told, a rental car essential, and the great advantage of Welsh golf running through it all: green fees a fraction of the famous names across the water, and tee sheets that stay quiet even in summer.

Day by day

Arrive — settle into South Wales

Fly into Cardiff or Bristol and drive to Porthcawl, forty minutes west of Cardiff — the base for the first two nights, and the heart of Welsh championship golf. Settle in, walk the Esplanade, and look out over the Bristol Channel that will be the wind's highway for tomorrow's round.

See the South Wales guide for bases and the full run of Glamorgan links.

Royal Porthcawl & Pyle & Kenfig

Play Royal Porthcawl in the morning — the finest links in Wales, and unusual in that the sea is in view from every hole. Treeless and fully exposed, it is a proper test whenever the Channel wind gets up.

In the afternoon cross to neighbouring Pyle & Kenfig, whose back nine plunges into a towering dune nature reserve, or the rare downland links of Southerndown, where sheep graze the springy turf above Ogmore.

The Gower — then west to Pembrokeshire

Detour onto the Gower peninsula for Pennard, the “Links in the Sky” laid out 200 feet above Three Cliffs Bay past a medieval castle — one of the most spectacular and memorable rounds in Britain.

Then drive west into Pembrokeshire, about ninety minutes, to the pastel-painted harbour town of Tenby. The Gower's beaches — Rhossili among the finest in Britain — are worth the stop on the way.

Tenby — up the Cambrian coast

Play Tenby, the oldest golf club in Wales (1888) — proper old-school links over the dunes beside the walled town, with the monastery island of Caldey on the horizon. Ashburnham, the championship links of the west, is a short detour if you have the appetite for a second round.

Then take the long, lovely drive up the Cambrian coast to Aberdyfi — allow the best part of the afternoon, and enjoy the run beside Cardigan Bay. See the Mid Wales guide.

Aberdovey — into Snowdonia

Aberdoveywas Bernard Darwin's beloved home links — “the course my soul loves best of all the courses in the world,” wrote the great golf writer. A classic out-and-back links on the Dyfi estuary, steeped in the history of the game.

Afterwards drive north into Snowdonia toward Harlech, an hour up the coast — one of the great mountain-and-sea landscapes in Britain, and your base for the richest golf of the week.

Royal St David's & Nefyn

Morning at Royal St David's, laid out beneath the walls of Harlech Castle with Snowdonia rising across the estuary — famous as “the hardest par 69 in the world,” and one of the great settings in golf.

In the afternoon head out onto the Llŷn to Nefyn, the jaw-dropping clifftop links with the sea on three sides — and time your round so you can climb down to the Tŷ Coch Inn on the beach at Porthdinllaen, one of the world's great seaside pubs, for a mid-round pint.

Conwy — depart

Finish at Conwy, a championship links framed by Snowdonia and Conwy's medieval castle and a 2021 Curtis Cup venue, on the way east. Then fly home from Liverpool or Manchester, both about an hour on. See the North Wales guide for more around the coast.

Getting around

This is a scenic, unhurried drive rather than a motorway dash. The south is quick (the M4 links Cardiff, Porthcawl and Swansea), but the west and mid-Wales coast roads are winding and slow — the run from Pembrokeshire up to Aberdyfi is the longest leg of the week, so break it with a stop. Add time to every estimate and give way to farm traffic on the single-track lanes near the courses.

A car is essential; public transport won't fit a golf schedule in rural Wales. Drive on the left, and concentrate on the first left turn of the morning until the habit locks in. All the great clubs offer hire sets, so there is no need to fly with your own.

What to know before you go

Welsh golf is refreshingly easy to arrange. Almost all the great clubs welcome visitors and take tee times online — many through the BRS system used across Britain — and rarely need booking months ahead. Green fees are among the best value of any quality links in Britain, and the courses stay quiet even in high summer.

Wales uses pounds sterling, and cards are accepted everywhere. The weather is genuinely changeable — pack waterproofs and layers regardless of the forecast, and build in a slack afternoon in case a round is rained off. Late spring to early autumn gives the firmest links turf and the best chance of settled weather.

Short on time? The north alone holds the greatest concentration of courses — Royal St David's, Nefyn, Aberdovey, Conwy and the Anglesey links — and makes a superb long weekend. Our trip planner turns any of this into a day-by-day schedule with hotels; see also the best time to visit and what it costs.