Ahead of the Pack

Former Wales rugby captain Ieuan Evans talks about his golfing experiences and Wales’s place on the international stage.

I’m a member at Cottrell Park, The Vale Resort and Carmarthen where I grew up. I’m quite fortunate to have playing rights at three different clubs, but I’m probably at Cottrell Park most often because it’s so convenient for me to just drop in and have a little knock.

It also has nice wide fairways, which is great for me. If you’d seen me driving, you’d understand my need for that. I tend to be quite erratic off the tee. I can be long, but I can also be hopelessly inaccurate.

We’re so lucky to have the quality of links courses that we have in Wales. They are the supreme test for any golfer. I was playing at Royal Porthcawl just last week. It was a beautiful sunny day, the surfers were out and there were people on the beach. When conditions are like that, there’s no finer place to be.

We’ve also got places like Royal St Davids at Harlech. How can you not enjoy playing golf on a course like that? There are so many things to like; the atmosphere of the club, the setting and obviously the quality of the course.

I’ve played golf all over the world, but one thing that stands out here at home is that Wales is such a welcoming country. It’s a very competitive marketplace and that welcome is all-important if you want visitors to come back. The unstuffy attitude you tend to find at Welsh clubs really ties into the idea of ‘golf as it should be’.

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since Wales hosted its first Ryder Cup. The impact the event had on how Wales is seen as a golfing destination was massive and it’s important we keep on capitalising on it. During that astonishing competition last year, the eyes of the golfing world were on The Celtic Manor Resort. The golf that was played on the Sunday and Monday was absolutely jaw-dropping. It really allowed people to understand what Wales was about and gave us a platform that we couldn’t have achieved otherwise. I think we did ourselves proud and we did golf proud