Porthmadog Golf Club

It is a great natural course and the back nine is breathtaking – a true links with lots of humps and bumps. There are demanding tee shots, it’s well bunkered, has a buzzing club house and offers great views of Snowdon. The front nine are a bit parklandish. Porthmadog will never be a championship course, but it will always be a good one. Unsung North Wales hero but this Braid par-71 heathland/links classic combination is well worth putting to the test. 

More Top 2-FORE!-1 links courses

Porthmadog and Borth-y-Gest Golf Club, as it was originally called, was opened in the very early 1900's probably being played by 1905. Numerous changes and modifications have been carried out since those early days when members were expected to pay compensation for any grazing animals killed or injured by them.

• Course does not have: Bar
• Course has: Buggy Hire
• Course does not have: Driving Range
• Course does not have: Practice Green
• Course has: Pro Shop
• Course does not have: Restaurant
• Course has: Trolley Hire
• Course does not have: Dress Code
• Course does not have: Club Hire
• Course does not have: Handicap

• 2 out of 5 Dissapointment 12 November 2015

  By Richard

  We have visited Porthmadog in June for many years. This year we booked in and paid for the day and ended up with the greens staff sanding each green heavily just before we got to it. We made the best of it but not a great experience shame.

• 4 out of 5 Two Sodes of a medal 23 July 2015

  By Mat

  Beautiful first nine holes of parkland golf and real links golf on tha back nine. Seems to be an easy start and was a challenging finish to me. Greens and first nine fairways were in very good conditions in early july. Hope to come and play again sometime. A German golfer.

• 3 out of 5 A round of 2 halves!! 08 March 2009

  By Tbspaul

  I played this course last week and can throroughly recommend Porthmadog to golfers of all abilities. I played on the Wednesday for £20 which was superb value for the quality of the course . The pro shop is well stocked and the people who work for the club are very friendly indeed. I was made to feel very welcome and the pro even offered me a free tube of balls to warm up on the practise range as well as a (long) chat about the course and other courses in the area. The front 9 here is traditional parkland. Many of the holes are on the short side and there are good opportunties to make birdie or par on mant of the first 9 holes. I was very impressed with the condition of the course. Considering the winter that we have had, and the amount of rain that had fallen the day before, the course was in frankly great shape. In particular, the fairways were lush, green and divot free. All of the greens were in use and mats only in use on 3 tees. For those of us who have suffered a winter of mats, temporary greens and tees this came as a very pleasant surprise. The stand out holes on the front 9 are the 4th (a 436 yard par 4) which is a great driving hole and encourages you to give it a rip off the tee, and also the par 3 158 yard 9th which has a fantastic view over the town and course from the tee. It also features a deceptively hard green at which I, and others I saw play the hole, take a club less than what was required. The rest of the front 9 is good quality golf on a well maintained course. For the money it represents excellent value.  After playing the front 9 you could be forgiven for thinking that Porthmadog is a nice enough course but unchallenging. To play the back 9 you cross a road (and have the chance to have a drink or a bacon roll once you have) and once these you quickly realise how wrong you were to underestimate this course! The back 9 is links golf and the battle really commences from 10 onwards. The contrast with the front 9 is stunning and if you quickly realise if you haven't made good scores on the front 9 then you are not going to be shooting a low score! Being new to links golf I was totally unprepared to see my straight drive on the 369 yard par 4 10th roll off the fairway into the thickest gorse you will ever see. I dread to think what its like when its really 'up'! The 275 yard par 4 12th has the sea running along the left to catch any hooks. There is a landing area about 150 yards from the tee and the green - the rest is huge sand dunes and penal rough! I took an 8 here by trying to drive the green and getting into real trouble, so my advice is to play safe and lay up if you get to play it! If anything the 13th is harder. A 187 yard par 3 with a hidden green surrounded by dunes, gorse and very penal rough. It is made harder by the distraction of the surroundings as the 13th tee has wonderful views of the sea, quiet beaches and the Snowdon Mountain range. I can't think of much better places to be if I am honest. The test continues on the par 4 14th (378 yards) with a blind shot to a narrow fairway with only a direction stick to aim at! Whilst the hole is short you just have to get your drive over 160 yards and straight. If you are short you are in real trouble and if you are not straight you are unlikely to see your ball again! Golf doesn't get much better than this in my view, and I found that if you keep is straight and respect the course that you can survive these tests. All along the back 9 the views are stunning, with sublime coastal views and tranquil beauty to be found on 11-14 in particular. Also noticeable was just how friendly the members are. Without exeption eveyone I encountered was friendly and stopped for a quick chat, Form 15 the course goes back inland again and the highlight is the 464 yard par 5 17th which is a great risk and reward hole. Reachable in two, the green is protected by a stream to the right and a horrible bunker on the left (which I found myself in). The straight and wide fairways of the 18th are a bit of a let down, although by then you might be glad of the respite (15 and 16 to be fair are also chances to get some shots back). After the round, I was invited for a drink in the comfortable and cosy bar. I got talking to a member who told me that 7 day membership of the club is significantly less than £400 per year. He must have thought I was deaf as I asked him to repeat the figure twice. Living in London I couldn't help but feel jealous that golfers have this quality and beauty on their doorstep and don't have to pay much to enjoy it all year round! There are a number of other great courses within a few miles of Porthmadog and the town also has the friendliest driving range I have ever been to (If you get the chance have a basket and enjoy the free coffee/tea and warm chat with the guys who work there). North Wales is clearly not just a stunning area of natural beauty it also has some wonderful golf. I heartily recommend this course to anyone on the area and loking for a game.  

• 3 out of 5 SUPERB SCENERY 11 February 2009

  By Anonymous

  Great scenery, the sea makes this course have really good aesthetics, the course itself is good 2.