Royal Porthcawl Golf Club

Every hole has the sea in it.

Royal Porthcawl sits at Rest Bay on the western edge of Porthcawl, on a gentle slope that runs down to the Bristol Channel. Every Welsh Championship has been played here, along with seven Amateur Championships, the 1995 Walker Cup, three Senior Opens and, in 2025, the AIG Women’s Open, won by Miyu Yamashita. It is still a members’ club, but it books visitors online most days of the week, serves a Welsh breakfast or lunch with weekday summer rounds, and lets a dozen golfers sleep in its Dormy House a short walk from the first tee.

Royal Porthcawl Golf Club green fees and tee times.

Visitor tee times are booked through the club’s online visitor booking page, and the club says its best visitor availability is on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Green fees, and any Dormy House charges, must be paid in full within 24 hours of booking, by card, cheque or bank transfer; American Express and Diners Club are not accepted. Refunds are given only if the course is closed, so treat the booking as fixed once paid. Weekend rounds are not sold from November to February. Sunday afternoons after 3pm carry a lower twilight rate in summer. The club publishes no handicap limit or certificate rule on its visitor pages, so ask the office on +44 1656 782251 what it needs from you when you book.

The round, in perspective.

Cardiff coal and shipping men founded the club in 1891, and Charles Gibson of Westward Ho! laid out nine holes on Locks Common. A lease on the present land followed in 1895, and the Scottish greenkeeper Ramsay Hunter designed the new 18. The Royal prefix came in 1909, and in 1933, after a visit from the R&A’s championship committee, J. Simpson was brought in to make major alterations. Unusually for a links there are no big dunes. The club’s point is the view: the sea is visible from every hole, with Exmoor across the water and the Gower to the north-west. Holes face every point of the compass, so the wind keeps changing its angle. The 1st plays into the prevailing wind with the sea on the left, the 4th is the longest par three at 216 yards, the 7th is a 122-yard par three to a narrow green, and the club calls 15 to 18 one of the toughest finishes in golf. From the black tees it measures 7,217 yards, par 72.

Know before you go.

Best visitor days

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

Payment

In full within 24 hours of booking; refunds only if the course closes

Winter weekends

No visitor rounds Jan–Feb and Nov–Dec

Socks with shorts

White or club socks covering the ankle

Dining room

Jacket and tie for Sunday lunch and evening dinner

Make the trip work.

Summer weekday rates include a Welsh breakfast or a lunch served before play between 8am and 3pm, so plan an early arrival or an afternoon tee time around it; weekend rates are golf only. Winter weekdays come with coffee and a bacon roll. The practice set-up is generous: a putting green between the clubhouse and the beach, a second putting green, a chipping area, a grass range about 300 yards towards the 18th tee with its own car park, and a nine-hole par-three Academy Course that guests use free. On the course, shirts stay tucked in and cargo shorts are not allowed. In the clubhouse, hats come off and golf shoes are allowed only in the main bar and on the terrace.

Cardiff Airport is about 25 miles east, roughly 40 minutes by car via the A48 and M4. Bristol Airport is about 80 miles away across the Severn. From the M4, leave at junction 37 for Porthcawl and follow signs to Rest Bay. Bridgend station, on the main line from London Paddington, is the nearest larger rail stop; take a taxi for the last eight miles or so.

Where it is.

Nearby: 1. Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club (2 km) · 2. Pennard Golf Club (27 km) · 3. The Celtic Manor Resort (56 km) · Compare all South Wales tee times

Somewhere to settle in.

The on-site Dormy House sleeps up to 12 in six single and three twin rooms, each en suite. For 2026 a single costs £100 and a twin for two £150, with a full cooked breakfast from 8am; check-in is at 2pm in the bar. The clubhouse sits close to the high-tide mark, and the Bristol Channel has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world, so the view changes through the day. Porthcawl town, a mile east, has hotels, guest houses and seafront restaurants. Pyle & Kenfig also runs a Dormy House a few minutes up the road.

Make a trip of it.

Pyle & Kenfig is the next links north along the coast, and the two clubs have co-hosted the Amateur Championship. Southerndown sits on the hills above Ogmore-by-Sea about 20 minutes east, and Pennard on the Gower is around 45 minutes west. Away from golf, Rest Bay is a popular surfing beach right below the clubhouse, and the Wales Coast Path runs past the course towards Sker Point and the Kenfig dunes.

Find your season.

Summer rates run from 1 April to 31 October, with May to September the most expensive. March is a shoulder month with weekend play allowed. The club hosted the Senior Open in 2014, 2017 and 2023 and the AIG Women’s Open in 2025; if another championship is announced, ask the office how visitor play is limited around it.