Newport Links

Did I find one? I’m still not sure!

In all honesty, and as much as I would have liked to, if you ask me for a straight “yes” or “no” then I’m afraid to say that it probably wasn’t a true links.

But like many of these “links” courses they fall onto a spectrum and whilst the front-nine is clifftop golf the back-nine, on lower ground and closer to the sea, does have some links holes and a few more that border on links. At best you could make a case that it is a part links course.

It is no surprise that it started life out as a nine holer, laid out by James Braid in 1925, before it was extended to 18 holes later on in its existence.

The course is located between Cardigan and Fishguard in the county of Pembrokeshire in South-West Wales. It plays close to the Nevern Estuary and commands some amazing views.

The “new” front-nine has the best of these but the golf is not overly inspiring. Following the very dry weather we have had for the last few months the course was bone dry and the very sloping and tilted nature of the site meant that the ball often didn’t finish anywhere near where it landed.

For the most part we play up and down along the clifftops across the slope. The front half concludes with a rather odd hole and not one I was too keen on. The drive is steeply up hill but the fairway abruptly ends before you must play a little drop shot to a green nestled within a ring of gorse. It sounds like quite a fun hole but in reality it doesn’t really work.

The back-nine is a much more interesting affair with far superior green complexes (albeit it still very rudimentary), better turf and generally just much more interesting holes. The ball reacts with the turf much better for any approach shots along the ground and you are asked a few more questions both off the tee and when playing into the greens.

The final fives holes are the best, per haps not surprising as they are closest to the sea and occupy the best of the terrain. The 14th and 15th are both very good holes – in fact the latter is an outstanding short hole. I could take or leave the 16th but the 17th and 18th are sound holes to finish the round which is par 71 and the top yardage is 6,065.

I stayed on site and the accommodation was excellent with the apartments looking out over the back nine.