Wenvoe Castle

Wenvoe Castle was constructed in the late eighteenth century but a fire destroyed much of the original structure in 1910. A number of buildings were restored before the golf club was formed in 1936 and the magnificent old mansion house now functions as a rather grand clubhouse for the membership.

James Braid modified the course – one of around twenty that he worked on in Wales during his career as an architect – before the C. K. Cotton design company subsequently upgraded it. Laid out in two returning 9-hole loops, the modern day course now measures 6,514 yards from the back tees, playing to a par of 72.

It’s been described as “a course of two highly contrasting halves,” with many trees and steep fairways on the front nine, all but one of which is played downhill. The inward half then flattens out and playing corridors become wider, with a little less arboreal influence along the fairway fringes.

Feature holes include the 537-yard 1st (played from a lofty tee position into a valley then uphill to a bunkerless green), the 482-yard 8th (which is the longest of the par four holes), and the 401-yard 10th, where out of bounds threatens the drive on the right before the approach shot then has to carry a small pond on its way to a sand-protected, two-tiered green.