Swansea Bay
A rather grand old club now dominated by the motor car and diversifying with an indoor bowling alley. Let us just say that there are more prepossessing entrances to a golf club. Their Magnolia Lane is on concrete stilts which stalk the course and drops down to the dual carriage way and the club. Once on the course, and on foot, the underpass helps you navigate the lower dual carriageway saving newts, golfers and graffiti artists. Nevertheless, it makes it into the True Links list.
The surfeit of January’s rain had left it’s mark but the holes south of the road were markedly more sandy based, linksy and riddled with bumps and hollows. The best links hole was undoubtedly the 11th; 350 yards through a shute of banks, a slight dog leg right, and into a bowl green. The preceding holes along the marsh and banks are perfect for the environment and on a quiet summer’s afternoon it must be transformed.
The green complexes had the air of 130 years of history, lightly worn, very expansive putting surfaces guarded by bunkers that know exactly where to ensnare the unwary. They are undertaking to revet all the appropriate bunkers in rotation to maintain it’s character. The last green is extra-ordinarily long and thin, perhaps three or even four clubs long. Take note of the pin position before setting off down the first.
It is not long; 6109 off the yellows and 6447 off the white tees. The shortest par 3 is 161 and they were all well-crafted. They are making strides to magnify and capitalise on the linksier aspects of the course but many of the northerly holes whilst benefiting from that approach to their care will never be links holes.
All in all, there are a good proportion of genuine links holes which offer excellent value for money. This is a course that is doing its best to take your eyes and ears from the traffic and concentrate them on the vocabulary of old fashioned links virtues. We were made most welcome and they kindly allowed me to donate my green fee to Alzheimer’s Society for which many thanks to the club.
