Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club

Score early. The dunes are waiting.

Pyle & Kenfig, known locally as P&K, sits on Waun-y-Mer common just north of Porthcawl, five minutes from junction 37 of the M4. It is a links in two loops: a front nine by Harry Colt that runs slightly inland, and a back nine by Philip Mackenzie Ross that heads out into towering dunes. It has co-hosted the Amateur Championship three times with Royal Porthcawl next door, and in summer it costs roughly half as much, which is why many South Wales trips play both.

Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club green fees and tee times.

P&K does not sell visitor tee times through a public online system. You request a time with the form on the green fees page, by phone on 01656 783093 or by email to the office. A provisional booking is held for up to seven days and confirmed by a 25% deposit. Cancel more than 28 days out and you get a refund or credit; between 28 and seven days you get a credit valid for 12 months; inside seven days the deposit is lost. Weekends are closed to visitors from November to February. The club does not publish a handicap limit; ask when you book. Groups of 12 or more go through the societies page, and Glamorgan, Gwent and Dyfed county card holders get reduced weekday rates.

The round, in perspective.

The club opened with nine holes on 29 July 1922 and had 18 by 1925. Harry Colt saw the common and judged it well suited to golf, and much of his design survives in the front nine, where the club says you need to make your score. Second World War army use and compensation money led to Mackenzie Ross designing the current back nine in 1947, adding holes 11 to 15. He wrote to the club that he had seen no finer golfing country. The 11th, a 525-yard par five called the Valley Hole, is where the dunes start. The 14th tee looks over the Gower, and the closing three are long par fours. From the blue tees it measures 6,889 yards, par 71. Members added extra A holes in 1983; a landmine turned up on the 13th fairway in 1996.

Know before you go.

Winter

Fairway mats 1 November–28 February; no visitor weekends

Deposit

25% confirms; provisional holds last seven days

Caddies

On request at least two weeks ahead

Hire clubs

Limited sets, first come first served

Make the trip work.

Winter golf here comes with conditions. From 1 November to the end of February you play from fairway mats, and from 1 December the club moves play onto what it calls the Dunes ‘11-15 Loop’ course; its history notes that the members’ A holes are used in winter so championship holes 11 to 15 can rest. Ask the office which holes will be in play on your date. Come between April and October to play the full Mackenzie Ross stretch. In summer, the day ticket gives you two rounds; on Friday and Sunday it costs £210, and it is not sold on Saturdays. The course is split by a public road, so take care crossing between holes. The opening nine is gentler, so pace yourself for the dunes and the long finish.

From the M4, leave at junction 37; the club is about five minutes away on the road between Nottage and Kenfig. Cardiff Airport is about 25 miles east, roughly 40 minutes by car. Pyle station, on the South Wales main line, is about two miles away, and Bridgend has more frequent services from Cardiff and London Paddington.

Where it is.

Nearby: 1. Royal Porthcawl Golf Club (2 km) · 2. Pennard Golf Club (27 km) · 3. The Celtic Manor Resort (55 km) · Compare all South Wales tee times

Somewhere to settle in.

The club’s self-contained Dormy House sleeps up to eight in one executive and three standard twin or double rooms, all en suite and looking out over Waun-y-Mer common. 2026 prices are £115 a night for a twin and £90 for a single. Breakfast and other meals are served in the clubhouse, where Dormy guests use the bar as temporary social members. Stay-and-play packages are booked through the office. Porthcawl, a few minutes south, has the wider choice of hotels and restaurants.

Make a trip of it.

Royal Porthcawl is the obvious partner, a few minutes south at Rest Bay. The club also points visitors to Southerndown, Pennard and Ashburnham as nearby links. Away from golf, Kenfig National Nature Reserve borders the course, with dune trails and Kenfig Pool, and Sker House, the old manor near Sker Point, is one of the landmarks the club says you can see from the course.

Find your season.

The summer card runs from 1 April to 31 October; March is a shoulder month with weekend play. The fourball offer does not apply between 21 December and 2 January, when a £75 holiday rate applies on the listed dates.