Value golf courses in GB&I: Wales

We've reviewed some excellent value golf courses in an effort to prove that the recession needn't mean you have to cut down on your golf. From Canterbury in the south east to Kirkistown Castle in Northern Ireland, take at look at these 50 value tracks.

Llandudno Maesdu

GF: £28 STATS: par 72, sss 72, 6,545 yards T: 01492 876450 W: maesdugolfclub.co.uk

Few courses around the British Isles can match the panoramic views offered by Llandudno Maesdu, with the Great Orme to your right and Snowdonia to the left plus Anglesey and Puffin Island visible across the bay. Offering a mixture of links and parkland golf, it’s long been a venue for competitive events. Through the 1950s and 1960s the club regularly hosted the Penfold Swallow tournament with stars such as Henry Cotton and Peter Alliss competing. Maesdu hosts an Open meeting every September. Lasting for nine full days, it offers a great variety of competitions – medal, stableford, matchplay, foursomes and fourball.

Pontypool

GF: £30 STATS: par 69, sss 69, 5,963 yards T: 01495 763655 W: pontypoolgolf.co.uk

Founded in 1903, Pontypool was the 22nd official golf club to be inaugurated in Wales. The course is a mixture of heathland and parkland and is set above the town of Pontypool with views of the Eastern Valley and out across the Bristol Channel. Cradoc

GF: £26 STATS: par 71, sss 71, 6,188 yards T: 01874 623658 W: cradoc.co.uk This thoroughly pleasant parkland course lies just outside the Powys town from which the ever-present Brecon Beacons backdrop takes its name. For the most part there’s room to manoeuvre, though not always as you’ll discover on the 11th where precision is the order of the day off the tee. From the tee of the short downhill 12th, the views across to the Beacons are at their most impressive and the overall feel here is very welcoming. Perhaps little surprise then that Cradoc was voted Welsh Golf Club of the Year in 2005.

Where next?

- Golf Monthly's Top 100 - Golf Monthly competitions

Jeremy Ellwood
Contributing Editor

Jeremy Ellwood has worked in the golf industry since 1993 and for Golf Monthly since 2002 when he started out as equipment editor. He is now a freelance journalist writing mainly for Golf Monthly. He is an expert on the Rules of Golf having qualified through an R&A course to become a golf referee. He is a senior panelist for Golf Monthly's Top 100 UK & Ireland Course Rankings and has played all of the Top 100 plus 91 of the Next 100, making him well-qualified when it comes to assessing and comparing our premier golf courses. He has now played 1,000 golf courses worldwide in 35 countries, from the humblest of nine-holers in the Scottish Highlands to the very grandest of international golf resorts. He reached the 1,000 mark on his 60th birthday in October 2023 on Vale do Lobo's Ocean course. Put him on a links course anywhere and he will be blissfully content.

Jezz can be contacted via Twitter - @JezzEllwoodGolf


Jeremy is currently playing...

Driver: Ping G425 LST 10.5˚ (draw setting), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 55 S shaft

3 wood: Ping G425 Max 15˚ (set to flat +1), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 65 S shaft

Hybrid: Ping G425 17˚, Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange 80 S shaft

Irons 3-PW: Ping i525, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 50˚ and 54˚, 12˚ bounce, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Putter: Ping Fetch 2021 model, 33in shaft (set flat 2)

Ball: Varies but mostly now TaylorMade Tour Response