Nefyn & District Video Tour

[ward peyronnin]

I wanted to check this course on the northwest coast of Wales out for play when the Walker Cup is at Hoylake next year. Had heard stuff like it is the Pebble Beach of England.

I haven't watched the whole video yet but a sampling indicates a very enjoyable drone tour of some dramatic landscape and design. What seals the deal is the splendid Heywood Hale Brune type narrative with a suitable accent delivery and charming observations. 

http://nefyn-golf-club.co.uk/visitors/video/
It begs the question why this course is not talked about more? Remoteness or some well veiled weaknesses? Anybody play there and have an opinion?

[Sean_A]

Nefyn is a type of dumb blonde.  Not a complete numbnuts, but not college material either.

Ciao

[Noel Freeman]

Since I'm posting out of the blue today.. scroll down on this link.. Some drivel I once wrote take it for what it is worth which is little.  This is not self promotion but I would not call Nefyn a dumb blonde but well worth a play on a beautiful day.  I'd put it as one of the curios of golf along with Perranporth.




https://www.linksmagazine.com/tag/british-golf/page/4/


Since the Links site is now awful and they ruined their archive along with the great pix from the article I wrote, I'll just put the prose here.


The first adventure any golfer will find in playing Nefyn & District Golf Club
is in pronouncing its name. In this region of northern Wales, English is a second language. A Celtic tongue, Welsh, is fiercely protected and used by the locals. Driving through North Wales is akin to driving in Thailand: Oddly spelled cities make one feel like a stranger in an exotic land.

When asking a local for directions to the club, expect to hear the name pronounced as “Nevin.” And hopefully you will not get lost on your way to your real adventure: the clifftop holes at Nefyn that form a stretch of some of the most exhilarating golf holes in the world, featuring unrivaled views of picturesque bays, pristine beaches, the mountains of Snowdonia and on a clear day the sun setting over the Wicklow hills of Ireland.The club has 26 holes, with an opening loop of 10 holes perched on top of a rolling plateau enclosed by the cliffs and two characteristically different back-eight holes—the original course, known as the Old, and the New, designed in 1993 as relief for the Old’s congestion.It is the Old course that attracts visitors, as four of its holes tightrope among the cliffs playing out to a narrow peninsula dangling like a lion’s paw known as the Point. At the Point, fairways merge over land barely adequate for one hole, let alone two. Tee shots are fired over the preceding greens while public footpaths are filled with hikers zigzagging around golfers. The experience has been described as playing golf on the top deck of an aircraft carrier.J.H. Taylor, who designed nine holes at the club along with James Braid in 1933, described Nefyn as being “situated on one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen.”Nature and the setting can take credit for much of the appeal of the course, which began as a nine-holer in 1907, but the quirky layout took its current form under the guidance of Taylor and Braid.  Further revisions by F.W. Hawtree and A.H.F. Jiggens in the late 1970s and ongoing current work by Welsh architect David Williams have touched up the layout, which was originally conceived by a bevy of locals who gathered at Ty Coch Inn, which sits along the beach below the course.Ty Coch remains a popular spot for post-round recounting of holes like the 459-yard opener, which plunges directly to the shoreline. The look of the next holes resembles Pebble Beach as they swoop atop the cliffs. The 401-yard 2nd hole doglegs right over a curve in the bay to a green defiantly perched on terra firma.At the short 472-yard par-5 4th, tiny inlets eating into the headlands stand ready to gobble errant shots. A touch of vertigo entertains golfers on the 152-yard 5th, where the tee is but a narrow outcropping of rock lying 50 feet above the crashing, rolling waves of Cable Bay.The inward nine reveals the sensory thrills of playing Nefyn. The first of the Point holes is the 475-yard par-4 12th, one of the curios of golf. Featuring a downhill, blind tee shot that appears headed directly for the Irish Sea; the approach is then blind over a hill, public footpath and finally a 100-foot deep conical sinkhole. Players hitting into this unique hazard generously receive a free drop.Beside the 12th green is a small pathway leading to the beach and the Ty Coch. Part of the tradition of a round is to have a quick restorative to salve the spirit before continuing play.Nefyn’s best hole is the 13th, which plays to the extremity of the cliffs. A stout 405 yards, the hole requires a drive to an oblique fairway while carrying an inlet of the bay inviting the long hitter to shorten the hole. With a green surrounded by rock formations rather than bunkers, a shot missing the putting surface is severely penalized, and par is a great feat. Nefyn then works its way back to the plateau, upon which sits the 502-yard 17th. Here, a deft touch is needed to navigate down the fairway, which is squeezed between the cliffs and a large ridge.The short 324-yard 18th hole ends this clifftop adventure. But for a visitor on a golf tour of Wales, which is hosting the Ryder Cup later this year for the first time, the excitement that comes with discovering a hidden gem of a golf country is just the beginning.

[Thomas Dai]

Hoylake to Nefyn would be an approx 2 hrs 30 mins drive. Head south 1 hr 30s mins or so instead and play Welshpool by James Braid.
No dump blonde.......and the views over the Welsh-English borderlands, especially those towards Wales (!) are gorgeous.
http://www.welshpoolgolfclub.co.uk/
Atb

[ward peyronnin]

Thanks Noel
I mainly posted to provide the video link as it is an entertaining piece of golf vicariousness.
And I don't know that  I would walk away from a dumb blonde had she other charms

[Sean_A]

Thanks Noel
I mainly posted to provide the video link as it is an entertaining piece of golf vicariousness.
And I don't know that  I would walk away from a dumb blonde had she other charms

Chez

Dumb blonde implies she's a beaut 

Take a Welshman's advice and play Welshpool instead...much better course and still a looker.

www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,63739.msg1518730.html#msg1518730

Ciao

[Noel Freeman]

I quite liked a lot of Bull Bay Golf Club also in Wales but several holes were just awful and i dont know who touched them up.. what do you think  Arbs?

[jeffwarne]

Nefyn is a type of dumb blonde.  Not a complete numbnuts, but not college material either.

Ciao

Just because she's blonde and hot, doesn't mean she's dumb....


Fantastic video-

[Philip Hensley]

Nefyn is a type of dumb blonde.  Not a complete numbnuts, but not college material either.

Ciao

Not book-smart, but magazine-smart

[Sean_A]

Nefyn is a type of dumb blonde.  Not a complete numbnuts, but not college material either.

Ciao

Just because she's blonde and hot, doesn't mean she's dumb....

Of course not...head south and behold...Pennard. But jeepers, anybody claiming N&D is anything close to the ballpark of Pennard is an opinion I have little for     Shit...I think Aberdovey is superior to N&D.  N&D is quite honestly a very average course, mostly over meadow grass.  The best part of the day is the pub!  Double shit...I think Borth is a better course!

Ciao

[Ben Stephens]

Wardo,


You are better off taking the train to Harlech (Royal St Davids) and Aberdovey.


At Nefyn the Point holes have changed due to Health and Safety reasons. Swan Golf Design were (or are) carrying out these changes.


Cheers
Ben

[ward peyronnin]

Thanks Guys.

I really do like Braid a lot and I am not traveling with a keen golf at any cost crowd so train rides etc. would be beyond the pail.
Chez Wardo

[Ben Stephens]

Thanks Guys.

I really do like Braid a lot and I am not traveling with a keen golf at any cost crowd so train rides etc. would be beyond the pail.
Chez Wardo

Well if you went on train - Aberdovey clubhouse is right next door to the train station and the you are practically on the first tee 

[Thomas Dai]

To get to Aberdovey, Harlech etc by train, wonderful as they may be, you have to go via.......Welshpool!*
Atb


* you might be able to go the other way if you use the narrow gauge tourist railways, ie the ex-slate quarry routes. That would be a brave decision though...Blaenau Ffestiniog and all that!