Monmouth

Popular with visiting society golfers, Monmouth Golf Club is laid out over hilly terrain above the town of the same name. The steep climbs and uneven stances on the course certainly don’t appear to deter the large numbers who return here year after year.

It is not the longest course in Wales at only 5,700 yards but it is certainly one of the prettiest – and the club are rightly proud of winning the “Welsh Club in Bloom” award in 2007, a title well merited as the course and its environs are always in lovely condition.

The club was formed back in 1896 and it moved to its present site in 1921. More than 70 years passed before the Archibald Leach Partnership extended the old 9-hole layout to a full 18-hole course with only four years to spare before the centenary celebrations in 1996.

The most difficult hole on the card is the 8th, named “Cresta Run,” which is the only one of eleven par fours on the card that measures more than 400 yards. The hole is almost a double dogleg, played downhill with out of bounds on the right and rough on the left and the approach hampered by the close proximity of farm buildings and trees.

Another couple of tough, uphill holes are the appropriately named “Struggle” at the 7th and “Long Haul” at the 15th. All five par three holes are very good, with many considering the last one, “Devil’s Bunker,” at the 16th to be the pick of the short holes.