The usual happy band of tourists from the Gog Magog GC chose Gwynedd, North Wales for their May Tour this year, and were blessed with amazing weather throughout - bright, sunny, and (sometimes) very breezy. Perfect conditions for seaside golf, with evidence of spring growth everywhere.
There can't be a better place in the world to begin a golf tour after a five hour drive than Aberdovey on a lovely May afternoon. 6100 yards from the yellow tees, but with enough charm and beguiling challenge for the most demanding visitor. Lovely running conditions with fabulous, subtle greens and (on this occasion) with the much shorter front nine played into a decent 2-club wind. There has been a lot of coverage of Aberdovey on GCA before, notably
https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,43564.msg1705839.html#msg1705839so I won't add to that now, other than to observe (again) that this part of what used to be Merionethshire is conspicuously more affluent than the parts further north, with a lot of Brummie money coming down from the English midlands, some of which feeds into Bernard Darwin's favourite golf place in the world.
We then drove to our base for the week, the Royal Sportsman Hotel in Porthmadog, which I can thoroughly recommend as a golfer's base for a party too big for the Harlech or Aberdovey dormy houses. The next day was, sadly, the one disappointment of the trip, as Abersoch GC showed itself (as had been rumoured) a classic instance of a lovely old seaside nine spoilt by the addition about forty years ago of nine more holes, five of which were in essence flags in a sloping field only reached after a significant walk from the 13th green..
Abersoch is one of the swankiest resorts in North Wales, easily reached from Manchester, but the golf club is small with a tiny green staff, and has had real problems with leatherjackets, with a few fairways really bare and patchy. In addition SSSI restrictions mean that the rough can only be cut very sporadically. In a strong 3-club wind this made some of the carries from the tee pretty terrifying, and a very long way from the old sense of 'holiday golf'. Around the clubhouse four fairways have been squeezed into tumbling ground suitable for two at most, and so our collective sense overall was that this was a course that (as currently presented) doesn't really work. A great shame, as there are a handful of lovely, challenging holes by the sea and some fabulous views.
From Abersoch we progressed to Harlech, to which I shall return, but skipping forward our final day was at Porthmadog, another seaside course that has happily been Arbled for GCA
https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,33936.msg681108.html#msg681108Sean's comments remain absolutely valid, and Porthmadog is likewise suffering from general issues of conditioning. The club has spent quite a bit of money on a very comfortable and busy clubhouse (clearly a main local social centre) but does perhaps need now to invest in its course: again a very small green staff is trying hard to keep things going as well as they can, but even in late-May preferred lies were essential, perhaps especially on the seaward side.
The view from the 13th back tee at PGC has to been one of the greatest in British golf, and it is a real shame that the preceding 12th can no longer be played as its design intends, with a full drive over the bay. That tee looked to have been given up. It's important to both Aberdovey and Harlech and Welsh golf in general that (in terms of tour itineraries)
the other courses in this part of Gwynedd are fun and interesting and playable, within reason, and hiring green (and catering) staff is clearly a big problem for all the clubs in this area, with visible implications.But back to Harlech, to conclude. Obviously I am massively biassed, as current Pres of RStD, but my friends did think that (after some ups and downs in recent years) this historic, atmospheric old links was in fabulous condition, with the new irrigation system installed in 2022 already having a big impact. It also remains a proper test of a good golfer, even though the water-induced removal of some greenside bunkers from 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 11 has meant that it is arguably a shot easier overall than it used to be - something the club is going to address over the next few years. Twenty years ago I would have said that RStD easily matched Porthcawl for difficulty, but probably not now. That said, RStD does remain a great test of Bobby Jones' two fundamental skills - the ability to drive, and the ability to putt. Anyway, it was a properly memorable day for all, with a (very) proper lunch, and by general consensus the highlight of the tour.So in successive days we played 18 holes at Aberdovey, 30 at Abersoch and 36 both at Harlech and Porthmadog, for much of the time with Ran's friends from Golf Magazine the Dutton brothers in hot pursuit: I had the great pleasure of showing Mike and Jeff around Harlech after the Gogs party had departed, and they would also recommend to GCA readers a game at Pwllheli (between Abersoch and Porthmadog), which we had sadly missed. Overall a cracking trip, with still some of the best value green fees in the UK and very friendly and welcoming staff and members everywhere. Any GCA ers planning a trip to the area, do please get in touch.