Royal St David's Golf Club

This links course is shaped by God : nature is gorgeous ! Some tees (back tees on back nine) were poorly (or not) indicated which caused unnecessary waste of time. The shelters need a bit of paint, this gives a negative impression. Green fee visitors receive a booking confirmation email with all kinds of instructions about etiquette, dress code, etc which is perfect.. as long as the employees respect a 'Royal' code of conduct themselves. But that was not the case.. We didn't really feel welcome in this club : the pro-shop clerk (a rather young boy not well dressed) forgot (...) the usual magic words ('hello', 'good bye', 'thank you', 'how did it go?'..) and after our round was sitting drinking Guinness at the bar of the clubhouse... and also without saying hello. The person serving at the bar (no service at the table) was kind but the tables were dirty from previous customers. It is a pity for such a beautiful course, we visit many clubs and this is not really what corresponds with a "Royal" Club. We paid 90£ for a twilight (and another 5€ for practice balls ) what is too expensive for what you get in total.

You feel immediately you are on a links course and hole 1 offers you a narrow fairway and fairway bunkers. The holes are flat in the beginning but the back nine and especially hole 15-18, they call it the loop is world Class. I could play that back nine everyday and I want to do it all over with my A-game. That loop can destroy your score and still you will love the holes. The manager came out for a chat after the round and the clubhouse is really nice and the service by the waiters was extraordinary kind.

Playing Royal st. David’s feels like you play through multiple phases. The first phase, the first couple of holes, are dominated by the Castle Harlech. The castle rises above the holes, and makes for a beautiful and unique scene. The second phase, the holes towards the turn, is characterized by the views on Snowdonia and the stunning hills and mountains in the distance. And you finish with the most beautiful phase. Holes 12 to 17 are true dune classics. Greens are tucked away between, and the fairways follow the natural curve of the sanddunes. Absolutely wonderful! Apart from the surroundings the course was in good condition. Fairways were well maintained and thick. Greens weren’t the fastest but rolled very true. The only problem, for us at least, were the roughs. You’re allowed to miss the fairway by 2 meter, but any more and it might result in a lost ball. If you happen to find it, best of luck with getting back to the fairway. Lay-out of the holes was great, feels like a real golfers course. One downside I found is the lack of information out in course. There are no signs of the hole lay-out on the tee boxes, and no indicator on the flag about the flag position. That means you’re going in blind sometimes.

De baan is fantastisch en heel uitdagend. Zoals altijd op Links Courses is de wind van grote invloed. Wind mee, 3 clubs minder, wind tegen 3 clubs meer.... Teebox, fairway en greens waren zeer goed onderhouden wat je mag verwachten bij een baan waar je meer dan €150 betaald voor een greenfee. Hele uitdagende holes waarbij je voldoende lengte vanaf de tee moet hebben om.de fairway te raken. Greens zijn snel en eerlijk. De overige faciliteiten vallen dan weer tegen voor een top 5 baan in Wales. Clubhuis, oefenfaciliteiten, lockerrooms. Gastvrijheid is ook hier weer groots. Absoluut een aanrader als geld geen rol speelt.

Royal St David's certainly lived up to its reputation as being the toughest par 69 in the world. We had viewed the dramatic landscape the previous evening when we drove the windy but beautiful route from Aberdovey. The welcome was warm for our early morning round next to the same railway line. A quick tip for visitors - Harlech is a very small town, so the dormy accommodation at Royal St David's might be the best bet for an overnight stay. The golf club is less than 20 miles from Snowdon and the mountain range can be seen in the distance as the outward nine is being played. It is also yards from the Dyfi estuary and a wander through the dunes will reveal a magnificent view along the beach. However, there seemed to be fewer dramatic mounds across the course than there had been at Aberdovey. Instead, most of the course defence is sand, gorse and hidden brooks. The overall par of 69 makes Royal St David's sound short - but there are seven par-fours of more than 400 yards from the yellow tees. Thus, the best piece of advice before teeing up is play to handicap rather than chase the game. I was teeing up on the back of one of my best recent rounds at Aberdovey but I found this a much tougher proposition. However, I ought to say that might be as much down to my golf as the difficulty of the track. This was confirmed when I met an acquaintance outside of the clubhouse and retold my tale of woe. "Oh," he said. "I was two under my eight handicap." He said he wasn't a big hitter but could plot his way around. And that is the key to premium enjoyment at Royal St David's.