words by Sam
I’ve been visiting Porthcawl since I was about 9 or 10 years of age, and there is a certain magic about any club that you see infrequently over what is sadly now more than a quarter of a century. Every time I return I find myself saying the same; ‘it’s the best I’ve ever seen it’ by which I do not mean just the course itself but the club as a whole.
Royal Porthcawl which is situated in the small seaside town between Cardiff and Swansea happens to be famous the world over for their annual Elvis convention that they host. It turns out this is the largest Elvis convention outside of the USA, where pink Cadillacs, jet black wigs, novelty sunglasses and garments that are frankly far too spangly descend on the town at the end of September.
The course at Porthcawl was originally laid out in 1891. A rudimentary 9 hole course was established by Charles Gibson – head professional at Westward Ho! – however it wasn’t until 1895 when the club moved to an adjacent plot of land and Ramsay Hunter developed an 18 hole routing which was soon followed by the club receiving its Royal monacer in 1909 from King Edward VII. The course has undergone some significant changes throughout its history, instantly noticeable as the routing moves around in different directions which ultimately defines the real challenge of the course. This is no ‘out and back’ links where you can settle into a certain shot shape for 9 holes. Colt, Fred Hawtree, John Henry Taylor and Tom Simpson have all had a hand in the development of the links over time and most recently Mackenzie and Ebert have set to work to beef up this golden age classic into what is now a stern championship test, worthy of the worlds best (more on that later).

So why does Porthcawl keep drawing me back, and what makes it a better repeat rather than somewhere to ‘tick off’?
The welcome…
There is nowhere in The British Isles where the house team greet you with the same warm welcome and where you feel instantly at home. Sian, Kirstie and the rest of the team are superb ambassadors for Royal Porthcawl. They know everyone and everything, they sort just about anything and they create a memorable experience from start to finish. This isn’t the sort of service with a capital ‘S’ that you might expect at the most revered golf clubs around the world where everything happens silently around you. This is more like being hosted where their personality, pride in their work and passion for the club shines. Whenever I am down, I usually get to chat to Kirstie who is always telling me about the latest GCMA diploma or industry qualification she is doing, or a club she has visited recently in the quest of knowledge to improve her craft. Porthcawl is simply the best when it comes to the welcome!

The Clubhouse…
There really aren’t many rooms quite like the bar at Royal Porthcawl. The dark floorboards have an unmistakable creek as you enter through the saloon doors. The dark green leather armchairs that swallow you up – and in my opinion at least – are the finest club chairs I have sampled are overlooked by black and white portraits of previous club captains, all uniformly hung and yet each one is ever so slightly crooked which epitomises the clubs’ nonchalant level of perfection. A Hancocks bitter served in ‘a handle’ is the ideal accompaniment as you relax and soak it all in.
The way the clubhouse is connected to the ocean is also extremely unique. The men’s changing rooms are decorated with Walker Cup photos from 1995 (some great vintage Tiger pics), with a large bay window where you can see the waves lap against the shore and you hope no one walks by while you’re wearing your birthday suit! The dining room is another wonderful room. Understated and simple, with a floor to ceiling arched window which looks down the first hole to its elevated green and then finally there is the terrace.
The terrace is certainly one of the happiest places in golf for me. The cacophonous noise of the waves seems to reverberate off the teal shaded paneling while you sit there and enjoy a coffee or (more often than not) something a little stronger. Built in a more recent era, you could imagine the clubhouse at Porthcawl would be covered in glass, and everything would feel sterile. Royal Porthcawl have done a wonderful job in casually showcasing its history and preserving the authentic character of the building.

The one-shotter’s…
In a recent message exchange someone said to me that the par 3 holes at Royal Porthcawl are the best collection of anywhere they have seen, and I wholeheartedly agree. I think this is the strongest collection of short holes you can play anywhere in the British Isles.
The 4th is a beastly hole measuring north of 200 yards, where you play at an oblique angle across the green which is pitched severely back to front. Only a purely struck iron of the right distance will be able to hold the back portion of the green where the pin is generally situated, with anything less feeding back down to the bottom, or even worse repelled into one of its cavernous bunkers.
The 7th is the most brilliantly charming green site. More a work of art than anything else. The pot bunkers that flank the sides of this short 120 yard hole all fold into the ground with the surrounds creating wicked contours that ripple throughout the green.
11 is yet another bunkering masterclass, with no less than 5 severe pot bunkers beautifully arranged from front middle to back left, requiring a laser-like long iron to the right portion of the green where (hopefully) you can watch with a sense of accomplishment as the ball runs and feeds in towards the hole. Anything long or right here will disappear into a deep swale where a scramble for par feels like a futile endeavour.
And finally the 14th hole plays at around 135 yards, with wind whipping across from the left where you are exposed to all of the elements. The green is ample in size however you are acutely aware of the scale of the bunkering which lies waiting to capture any errant shot. It is yet again a truly incredible green site. The par 3’s at Royal Porthcawl are not all long, but they are perfectly formed and all are immensely challenging. Each one offers you a chance of an easy three, but will punish you severely if you find the wrong spot.
The presentation of the links…
I must admit that my earlier memories of Royal Porthcawl are that it was immensely challenging, certainly no entry level links course. A lack of rough management meant that anything off line was destined to be lost. Greens were often very ‘nappie’, and therefore uncharacteristically receptive for a links course, and the ball never released or chased away from you if you didn’t get all of the grooves onto the ball at impact.
The programme of work the club has embarked on in recent years has seen this change dramatically. What appears to be a rigorous approach to rough management means that you will more often than not find your ball when you stray from the fairways and the greens seem to be rich in fine grasses which brings another dimension to the way the course plays. When playing from the rough, you need to be mindful of how the lack of spin will manifest itself when it lands around the green, and therefore finding the fairway becomes critical if you want to improve your chances of a regulation par where you can control the ball and bring it to rest with ease.
Even better yet is the way the holes have all been tied in together to create a sense of continuum. Transitions between green and tee are seamless, with cut height from the apron blending into the nearby tee location. A network of grass pathways now lead you into the next hole from the tee, everything feels so harmonious and the attention to detail is apparent with greenkeepers out with hand mowers at all times of the day tending to some minute task in the search of marginal gains.
It would be remiss not to mention the work by Mackenzie & Ebert as well. An ambitious programme of work to install more rough-edge bunkering has significantly increased the challenge off the tee. These have the aesthetic of time-worn bunkers that may have been left by the likes of Colt & Simpson, and make holes like the par 5 5th a much sterner test if you wish to find the green in two. The 6th is perhaps the biggest change. What was previously a relatively benign mid-length par 4 which meandered towards a simple front to back greensite, has now seen earthworks on the left of the fairway built up to create more shape to the whole, resulting in a blind shot if you take the conservative play from the tee. Further bunker work has again made the longer option off the tee feel much more claustrophobic. This is now a hole which requires thought. It is not long, but it can be fiddly, and if you begin to second guess your strategy then you will almost certainly be heading for a bogey or worse.

The showers…
Finally and somewhat trivially it’s the showers. Geoff Shackelford once wrote about the inverse relationship with signs at the end of the driveway and quality of the club in question, and in a similar way I believe shower pressure to be a leading KPI for clubs to look at. These are not opulent by any means but deliver pressure which could almost take your skin off. Racks of white towels on hand mean you don’t feel remotely guilty about using two which affords you a few minutes to walk around the locker room as you dry off and take in a few snippets of the clubs history like the Simpson aerial sketch of the course from 1933 or some of the Walker Cup images.
One thing that has become talked about in recent years is the possibility of Royal Porthcawl hosting an Open Championship which would mean Wales would be a part of that historic rota of courses, but when you experience the intimacy of the club I find it difficult to think how the legacy of the Claret Jug could do much to improve on what this already has to offer.
Royal Porthcawl is hosting The Men’s Senior Open for the third time in 2023 where Darren Clarke will be defending his title, The St Andrew’s Trophy will be held here in 2024 as well as The AIG Women’s Open in 2025. Only time will tell if the Claret Jug will cross over into Wales in future years, and if it does then the town itself will no doubt undergo some significant investment to its infrastructure, and the course will reach a level of unprecedented fame.
All I know is that it’s a good job the Elvis convention doesn’t happen in July!