Celtic Manor hosted a memorable Ryder Cup on its aptly named 2010 Course but sadly the venue is, in my view, now just a commercial venture living on its reputation.

The golf course has some thrilling holes which provided plenty of entertainment for a world-wide audience but was built on woefully inadequate terrain. This was former farming land and is unable to absorb the amount of rain which habitually falls in the area.

When we played last week, after a particularly wet winter and spring, the fairways with thick layers of clay just beneath the surface were a quagmire and frankly unplayable. If this had been a private members Club we wouldn’t have been allowed to play. Golf balls were lost by most in our competition that simply landed in the fairway, plugged and then sank without trace. Not surprisingly, I can only assume that clay beneath the areas chosen for the greens was removed in construction and sand laid to a considerable depth, because putting on the good greens was like playing on a different golf course.

Golf at Celtic Manor in these conditions is an ordeal and all we could do was accept this perverse challenge and make the most of it. Some of the holes were more akin to an endless trek through a swamp, but at least the heavy rain relented after about six holes and we were able to appreciate the many tough challenges that the course presented.

I always try to look for good things on a golf course and there are a number of fine holes including the four par threes and the finishing hole, a very long mainly downhill par five to a raised green fronted by water. I also believe that the course would play a lot better after a prolonged dry spell which is more likely later in the summer. The Club house and off-course facilities are first class.

We ended our rounds coated in mud and took solace in the fact that we had conquered the elements, sometimes laughed at our misfortunes and completed the course. I have played golf on many magnificent courses and in beautiful places but Celtic Manor when wet in the green, green valleys and hills of south Wales is not one of them.