Tenby Golf Club
Here’s another way under-rated golf course. It does get some “Best of Wales” love as the 5th through 10th ranked course in Wales in any given year but this is to me an unforgettable course. First, it is out of the way in Southern Wales in a little holiday town by the same name. It’s simply part of the town. You go around the corner from the town wall and it is just there. The clubhouse is something you would expect to see in some US muni course. That’s not a bad thing here. The vibe is totally laid back. It lays claim to be the first golf course in Wales founded in 1875 with the original 9 holes designed by James Braid. 1875! Ulysses Fricking Grant was president in 1875!
This is true links golf. My favorite holes are the ninth (pictured above) and the fourth which is along the water with a blind drive and approach. You think it’s going to be a nut buster as the first two holes collectively measure almost 900 yards – both par 4’s – but beyond that, the course shortens up a bit and doesn’t leave you feeling beat up after the round.
I read some old reviews that knocked Tenby for having three parkland holes (the 15th through 17th) on the “wrong” side of the tracks (in this case the railroad tracks that otherwise run along the edge of the course). Ugh those links purists. Again as with other courses I’ve rated pretty highly, I think this adds not detracts from the uniqueness of the course. You play your best ground game, switch over to a parkland-style aerial game then back to a links game. And the view from the 17th to the ocean beyond (Bristol Channel to be exact) and Caldey island is awesome. Caldey island is or was a home for chocolate-making monks and I think a leper colony at one point and I hear you can hire a boat to tour the island.
I played Tenby in 2009 and had a computer crash so don’t have a lot of photos from the course. The hole descriptions on the Tenby site have some good images (https://www.tenbygolf.co.uk/). I’m hoping to get into the old hard drive and pull out what I can but for now I have some of the images I originally posted to Facebook.
Update I recovered two hard drives and only found the bottom two photos. I don’t even know if they are mine. The hunt goes on.
We found Tenby as part of a family vacation where we flew into Dublin. Took the ferry from there to North Wales and drove to London. Then headed back west, stopped at Stonehenge and on the way to the ferry in Pembroke to go back to Ireland, came upon this town and golf course.
If you’re thinking of going to London on vaca and just have Stonehenge scheduled as an out-and-back day trip, don’t. Snoozer. If you don’t mind driving on the wrong side of the road and want to hit a few cities and towns through Ireland, Wales, London and back, like we did, then you’ll drive right by it so by all means stop by but stay in the little town of Tenby (I think there are actually rooms on the course itself).
We unfortunately didn’t stay in Tenby but the fam spent the day touring the town and we grabbed some pub eats (Piper’s) within the walled and walking section of the town. It is a great little town so if you’re coming here, spend time in the town. I included some Tenby town and beach photos here as well as a Stonehenge one too.
Golf Scrapbook 