Top 5 Golf Courses in Mid Wales 2015
Mid Wales Best in Region rankings updated
Our Mid Wales region encompasses the county of Powys, a largely mountainous region in the middle of the Principality which is dominated by the Brecon Beacons National Park. It’s a very beautiful part of the country where you’re liable to find Welsh mountain ponies and sheep grazing the many grassy moorland areas as you walk, cycle or drive through it.
Climbing, caving and mountain biking are popular outdoor pursuits in Mid Wales but, for the slightly less energetic, there are some small pockets of good golf to be found if you know where to look for them and so for those who might be in the area and have their clubs with them, we think you’ll enjoy playing any of the following five courses that are featured in our Top 5 ranking list.
Number 1 in Mid Wales is the 18-hole layout at Llandrindod Wells, which Harry Vardon created in 1907. Subsequently remodelled in 1935 by another member of the Great Triumvirate, James Braid, this course is set out on a dramatically elevated tract of land which offers stunning views of the surrounding countryside.
The course at Cradoc is number 2 in our chart and this charming 18-hole parkland golf course was created by the C.K. Cotton design company in 1967. Originally formed as Penoyre Golf and Country Club, Cradoc endured some serious financial difficulties in the mid-1970s, losing its clubhouse in the process, before it regrouped and reformed to become the durable modern club that it is today.
Welshpool at number 3 in the rankings is situated in rather an appropriate location entitled The Golfa and it’s a marvellous little moorland layout that James Braid fashioned in 1929. Extending to a mere 5,700 yards from the back markers, it’s a very old-fashioned course where a profusion of short par four holes have entertained generations of golfers for many years now.
At number 4 in the Mid Wales standings, Builth Wells is an even shorter course, measuring only 5,400 yards in total length, with no par five holes and six par threes on the scorecard. Established as 9-hole layout when the club was formed in 1923, the course was eventually extended to a full 18-hole configuration when more land became available in the late 1960s.
Finally, the number 5 spot is occupied by Machynlleth, which is yet another James Braid design that was laid out by the master architect back in 1905. A compact 9-hole heathland layout that’s located just outside the small market town of Machynlleth, this course is a fun track that has hardly changed a bit in over a hundred years of operation.
We’d like to thank all those who took part in our re-ranking process for Mid Wales. To view more details of the courses in our Mid Wales Top 5 rankings click the link. If you’ve played extensively across this region and would like to help us when we next update the rankings then please email Editor-in-Chief Keith Baxter at [email protected]. We never boast about publishing definitive golf course listings but we do like to think they’re the most informed.
Jim McCann
Editor
Top 100 Golf Courses