Underrated Wales
LAUGHARNE, WALES— I was anxious to tee it up at Pennard. The course is like a secret handshake among golfers — so good you only pass on its existence to your favourite friends.
But before we made the journey, I had another pilgrimage. Not too far away in the village of Laugharne is poet Dylan Thomas’s final home and writing shed, both open to the public. The man behind “Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” fulfilled every poetic cliché. He drank too much, chased women who were not his wife, was mostly broke and died young. Yet he still managed to write like an angel.
In Great Britain, Wales gets overshadowed by England and Scotland. Wales flies below the radar but is dotted with good golf (175 courses in all), and the place is seasoned with rare people and places. Canadian connection: In 1969, Terry Matthews came to Canada on holiday from his home in South Wales. The high-tech whiz liked the New World so much he moved to Ottawa and created two multinational giants, Mitel and Newbridge Networks. He used some of his wealth to build a first-class golf resort in the spot he was born. Celtic Manor now encompasses three big-league golf courses, two hotels and more than 1,000 employees. The resort gained worldwide attention in 2010 when it hosted the Ryder Cup on the Twenty Ten course. Back to the basics: There are a handful of courses in Wales that are pure golfing experiences — it’s not about the brand of clubs you use or kind of clothes you wear. It’s all about the stunning scenery and the sense of timelessness — it could be the 1920s or the 21st century. Among the notables is the Aberdovey Golf Club, which straddles a point of shaggy links land that juts out into Cardigan Bay, at the southwest tip of Snowdonia National Park. The holes disappear into the dunes, and fairways snake around railway tracks and the occasional cow. The club’s motto is “wyt gryf bydd gyfrwys,” which translates to, “If you are not strong, be cunning.” Two other courses worth a secret handshake are Pennard Golf Club, outside Swansea in southern Wales, and Nefyn & District Golf Club in the north of Wales.
Obsession: Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis was an architect who spent half a century building Portmeirion, a spectacular Mediterranean-style village on a tiny peninsula in the north of Wales.
Framed by the mountains of Snowdonia, the Irish Sea and 28 hectares of woodland gardens, Portmeirion is all bell towers and historic Palladian columns, real antiquities mixed with convincing movie props, red-tile roofs and cosy cottages painted in the colours of the rainbow. Early visitors ranged from writer H.G. Wells to playwright George Bernard Shaw, and Williams-Ellis continued to build and tinker with his village up until his death at the age of 92 in 1978. Portmeirion was the backdrop for the television cult classic The Prisoner, and is home to a variety of annual festivals and special events.