The View from ‘Over There’

Golf As It Should Be web editor Huw Thomas gets an outside perspective on the Welsh golf scene.

Living here in Wales, it can sometimes be easy to take what we have for granted. We know all about the sheer variety and quality of golf on offer, from modern resorts and historic links to open parkland and hidden nine-hole gems. Sometimes though, seeing Wales through the eyes of an outsider can be an illuminating experience.

That’s why I attended a recent international event staged by Visit Wales. Golf tour operators from all over the world were flown in and given a week-long tour of some of the country’s golfing highlights. I managed to catch up with a few of them at a stop in Swansea to gauge their reactions.

Unsurprisingly, the group’s visit to Celtic Manor Resort made quite an impact. ‘The level of service was excellent and the golf course was exceptional,’ said Landy Blank of Costa Rica Travel Inc. ‘It also offered the advantage of playing more than one course at the same property.’

Stuart Dale of Destination Golf had a similar impression. ‘I enjoyed playing The Twenty Ten course at Celtic Manor as I had never played there before,’ he told me. ‘I didn’t enjoy losing six golf balls there, but I would put this down to the excellent hospitality we had prior to play.’

While Thomas Hamilton of Denmark’s Go To Golf also liked what he saw at the Ryder Cup venue, it was another of Wales’s jewels that really got him excited. ‘The links courses were the highlight for me,’ he said. ‘I loved playing Royal Porthcawl and Conwy and wish we’d had time to play at Aberdovey and Royal St David’s too.’

The famous Welsh hwyl also made an impact on our visitors. We like to think of ourselves as a hospitable nation, so it’s always good to get some positive feedback. According to Stuart Dale: ‘There is no real comparison with other golfing destinations as Wales delivers some unique features that cannot be found at other places, such as Welsh hospitality.’

It’s fair to say that our visitors left with some very happy memories of their time in Wales. I expect many of them will be making a return trip very soon.