Discover golf in South Wales

If you’re after golf with the most beautiful of backdrops, the most friendly of welcomes and the most surprising of green fees, South Wales ticks all the boxes

Morlais Castle

I have to say that I feel slightly fortunate to have stolen a march on many by discovering the joys of South Wales golf almost by chance some 25 years ago when my brother was considerate enough to relocate to the Valleys, thus paving the way for some extremely cost-effective golfing breaks. My pals and I took full, shameless advantage, taking in a whole raft of wonderful Valleys layouts that still hold very special memories for me.

One of my favourites was Morlais Castle, a rugged moorland layout just outside Merthyr Tydfil, which I first played when it was still a nine-holer back in the mid 1980s. I remember it well because I was the only one on the course on a Saturday afternoon, the reason for which became all too apparent in the bar afterwards. It was packed to the rafters with members glued to the Wales-England rugby match, bemused as to how anyone could possibly put golf above their national sport!

Okay, there was good reason for the deserted course that day, but my many trips to the region since have taught me that an uncrowded fairway or two is more or less par for the course in Wales. I'd not been back to the now 18-hole Morlais Castle for some years, so was delighted on my recent visit to discover that, other than a few tweaks and improvements, everything was just as I'd fondly remembered it. The magic spell of those magnificent views across to the Brecon Beacons, and the sheer tranquillity of the fairways, still take some beating.

We got that same liberating hilltop feel too at Mountain Ash, a short-but-beautiful heathland track on Cefnpennar Mountain whose final hole plunges back down dramatically, and Rhondda, perched high on the mountain plateaux above the valley, where each hole is named after one of the collieries once scattered liberally throughout these valleys. We also savoured the Rolls of Monmouth, a majestic parkland course east of Abergavenny, so-called not because of the rolling terrain, but for the stirring backdrop to the 18th hole - a splendid manor house that was home to the Rolls family of Rolls-Royce fame until 1987.

 A trip to Morlais Castle Golf Club:

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