Golf in South Wales

South Wales packs an extraordinary range of golf into a short stretch of coast — three genuine championship links, a clifftop course that many rate the most beautiful in Britain, and a Ryder Cup venue, all within an hour of Cardiff and its airport. It is compact, keenly priced next to the marquee Irish and Scottish names, and easy to combine with a proper city break. For a first Welsh golf trip, this is where most people begin.

The jewel is Royal Porthcawl — the pre-eminent championship links in Wales, treeless and wind-scoured, and unusual in that you can see the sea from every one of its eighteen holes. Its honours board runs from the 1995 Walker Cup to three Senior (Champions Tour) Opens, and the closing stretch into the prevailing wind is as demanding a finish as any in Britain. Book direct and well ahead; weekend visitor times are limited.

A few miles either side sit two more fine links. Pyle & Kenfig is a course of two halves — a gentler front nine and a Harry Colt back nine that plunges into the vast Kenfig dunes, the largest active sand-dune system in Europe. Southerndown, high above Ogmore-by-Sea, is a rare limestone-heath course where sheep still graze the fairways and keep them close-cropped and fast-running — a springy, old-fashioned pleasure with big views over the Bristol Channel.

West of Swansea, the Gower Peninsula — Britain's first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty — is home to Pennard, the famous "links in the sky." It is a clifftop links some 200 feet above Three Cliffs Bay, with the ruins of a medieval castle among the holes and a view down the coast that is, simply, one of the finest in golf. It is not long and not manicured — it is windblown, natural and unforgettable.

For a complete change of pace, the Twenty Ten at Celtic Manor — the only course ever purpose-built to host the Ryder Cup, and where Europe reclaimed the Cup in a rain-soaked Monday finish in 2010 — sits in the Usk valley just off the M4. It is a long, lush, American-style parkland with the famous water holes down the finish: a proper bucket-list round for anyone who watched that week.

Two more parkland courses round out the region. The Vale Resort near Hensol — a former European Tour Wales Open host and one of the longest courses in Wales — is the most complete golf-and-spa base in the south, while Newport, a mature 1903 parkland near Celtic Manor, is quietly rated one of the finest inland courses in South Wales and superb value.

Porthcawlis the natural hub for the links — Royal Porthcawl, Pyle & Kenfig and Southerndown are all within fifteen minutes, and the Gower is under an hour west. If you want a city with it, Cardiff puts Celtic Manor, the capital's restaurants and its nightlife on your doorstep, with Cardiff and Bristol airports both close. For the Gower courses, a night around Swansea or the peninsula itself is worth it.

Porthcawl

The Seabank Hotel sits right on the seafront a short walk from Royal Porthcawl, a grand Victorian pile with big Channel views; the Atlantic Hotel nearby is a smaller, friendly alternative. Just inland, Coed-y-Mwstwr is a country-house hotel in wooded grounds above Bridgend, a comfortable and quiet base for all three links.

Cardiff & the Vale

The Vale Resort at Hensol is the most complete golf base in the region — 36 holes, a spa and 140-odd rooms twenty minutes from the city. In Cardiff itself, voco St David's in Cardiff Bay is the landmark waterfront hotel, while Holm House in Penarth is a stylish small hotel a short drive south.

The Gower

Fairyhillnear Reynoldston is the Gower's long-standing country-house retreat, and the King Arthur Hotel on the village green at Reynoldston is a characterful, well-priced inn handy for Pennard.

Kenfig & Porthcawl

The one unmissable stop is the Prince of Wales at Kenfig — a 16th-century inn beside the golf course and the drowned medieval town, famous across Wales for its history, its ales and its ghost stories. In Porthcawl, Pietro's is a reliable long-running Italian, and the seafront pubs fill with golfers after a round.

Cardiff

Cardiff's food scene has come a long way: Heaneys in Pontcanna (chef Tommy Heaney) and Asador 44, a Basque-style grill in the city centre, are the standouts, with Purple Poppadom for modern Indian. For a pint, the City Arms by the castle is the rugby-day institution.

Gower & Mumbles

Out on the Gower, the Bay Bistro at Rhossili has the best lunch view in Wales, and the seaside village of Mumbles— with its long parade of restaurants and Joe's Ice Cream, a Swansea institution since 1922 — is the natural evening stop after Pennard.

Rhossili Bayand Worm's Head, at the western tip of the Gower, is regularly voted one of Britain's best beaches — a three-mile sweep of sand below the down. Three Cliffs Bay, right below Pennard, is its equal for drama.

In the capital, Cardiff Castle sits at the heart of the city with its lavish Victorian-Gothic interiors, and Cardiff Bay — the regenerated waterfront around the Wales Millennium Centre and Mermaid Quay — is good for an evening. Rugby fans should time a visit for an international at the Principality Stadium, right in the city centre. The open-air St Fagans National Museum of History and the moated Caerphilly Castle — the largest in Wales — make excellent non-golf half-days.

From here it is an easy run into West Wales and Pembrokeshire, or browse the best courses in Wales.