Rich, you'll recall the "traitorous" McBrides and Bernhardt left Painswick on the second day and drove over to Royal Porthcawl for a round.
It was well worth the abuse.
During my first true golf trip to the UK, I played several excellent links courses: TOC, North Berwick, Balcomie Links at Crail and Royal Porthcawl. I found the latter to be as good a test as the others. Maybe not as historic as TOC or quirky as the other two, but it is a really good course.
There are a number of really solid driving holes, with bunkers that must be negotiated in order to reach the putting surface in regulation. Several require long carries, others a drive to the correct area avoiding the bunkers.
I really liked the first par 5, up the hill to a tiny narrow green closely guarded by gorse and that OB wall left. The 17th was nothing much except for a stout carry up onto a plateau which had to avoid a fairway bunker. The first three holes played along the sea but the water was in view all through the course.
The greens were solid and quick, and some were guarded by deep bunkers. One that comes to mind is the shortest par 3, perhaps #13. There was one pretty weak par 5, maybe #8, not much going on there but I found the others good holes. The 8th was mitigated by the outstanding short par 3 preceding it, and the good dogleg par 4 ninth following with a good angled and elevated green.
As I said, the round at Porthcawl was worth the calumny, so it must have been highly rated!
Good thing you're playing in a tournament, the green fee has gotten a bit pricy at 70 pounds.