|
Celtic
Manor is the brainchild of Welsh
entrepreneur, Sir Terry Matthews,
co-founder of Mitel and now chairman
of March Networks Corporation in Ottawa.
In 1980, Sir Terry happened to be
driving past the maternity hospitality
where he was born in Newport. He noticed
the property was for sale, bought
it and turned it into the Manor
House Hotel. Coincidentally, the
Manor House was owned by the world's
first millionaire, Thomas Powell,
who made his fortune in coal; Sir
Terry's high tech industries have
made him Wales' richest tycoon and
its first billionaire.
Today
the sprawling Celtic Manor Resort
includes the 70-room Manor House,
330-room Resort Hotel, spa and health
club, five restaurants and three 18-hole
golf courses—the Roman Road,
the Montgomerie and the new Twenty
Ten course.
Historically,
The Ryder Cup has been a difficult
event to watch live because during
the first two days only four matches
are in play, whereas in Major championships
crowds can be dispersed throughout
a course to watch up to 50 groups
of players.
According
to Celtic Manor's director of golf,
Jim McKenzie, "Not only have
we been able to build in challenges
specifically for the match play drama
of the Ryder Cup —drivable par-fours,
reachable par-fives, tests of strategy,
penalizing water hazards—we have
also created a course which copes
with the needs of the spectators."
Huge
viewing banks in the steep hillside
towering above the closing three holes
can accommodate legions of fans. Indeed
there will be plenty of drama on the
18th, a 575-yard par-five. A good
drive allows the possibility of reaching
the green in two provided that a long
approach shot across water reaches
the elevated green that is defended
by a pair of sizable bunkers eager
to snare anything too ambitious. American
Captain, Corey Pavin, who played the
course last summer concurs that "the
heat will be on from 14 through 18."
Bring
on the gladiators!
|
|
|
|
There
are about 200 more enticements to pack your
clubs and head to Wales, from championship
links to quirky unknown gems. Certainly,
I enjoyed every inch of the 7, 493-yard,
par-71 Ryder Cup course, which is a modern
parkland layout, but I must confess that
my true passion is for the ancient links.
For pampered North American golfers, the
first encounter with a true links course
may come as a bit of a shock. Forget about
wall-to-wall fairways, copious yardage markers
and cart girls. Buggies, as they're called
over there, are few and far between; links
courses were meant to be walked. Expect
to lose plenty of balls in the gorse and
taste the salt in the invigorating air.
Links courses were created mainly by Mother
Nature, carved through dunes linking land
and sea. This is golf at its purest. And
once it gets into your blood, you're hooked
for life.
Pennard,
perhaps Wales' quirkiest course, near wonderfully
named town of Mumbles on the Gower Peninsula,
is called the "links in the sky"
because although it has all the trappings
of a seaside links course, it's perched
high on a promontory overlooking Three Cliffs
Bay. On number seven you must drive over
a deep chasm to find the sunken green alongside
the ruins of a 12th century Norman castle
and church. Wild stallions galloping across
a stone bridge may also come into play.
What
gives Southerndown
Golf Club on the southwest coast its
unique character is the fact that it's covered
with bleating sheep, a reminder that the
course is laid out on common land, so local
farmers have the right to graze their flocks
there. Southerndown hit the news in 1995
when member Peter Croke implanted his ball
from his drive on the 17th into a sheep's
bottom. The startled animal bolted up the
fairway depositing the ball thirty yards
nearer the hole. Croke won the hole by a
stroke.
Royal
Porthcawl, just around the corner, was
founded in 1891, and granted "royal"
status by H.R.H. King Edward VII in 1909.
The first three holes play so close to Swansea
Bay you can taste the salt. On certain days,
when the wind howls and a mist descends,
you may encounter the ghost of the Maid
of Sker on the 17th.
On
the northwest coast, Nefyn
& District Golf Club, dubbed the
Pebble Beach of Wales, is my absolute favourite.
It's a twenty-six-hole track with ten outward
fairways and two separate inward eights
called the Old and the New. From every fairway
you have views of the sea. Maybe one of
the holes fell into the sea! For sheer cliff-hanging
drama, try to play the Old which clings
to the top of a narrow peninsula. One golf
writer remarked that it was "like playing
on the deck of an aircraft carrier."
Perhaps
no other hole in the world confronts the
golfer with the distractions to be found
on number 12 with its blind drive, blind
second shot, public thoroughfare populated
by hikers and a crater-sized pit. After
draining your putt on number 15, follow
a footpath down to the Ty
Coch Inn, located on the beach at Porthdinllaen,
for a quick pint. It's a Nefyn tradition.
Where
to stay? You can't go wrong with Welsh
Rarebits, a collection of 54 properties
dotted all over the country. Each is personally
selected by the gregarious founder, Emyr
Griffith who is also an avid golfer and
will customize golf and hotel itineraries
all over Wales.
11/09
|
