Pennard

Golf has been played at this site on the Gower Penninsula since at least 1888, though the formation of what is now Pennard Golf Club occurred in 1896.  That original club was limited to twenty members, and openings were the subject of fevered bidding when the infrequently occurred.  In 1908 the club was reconstituted, and James Braid laid out the links that we now play.  The club's welcome informs that this will be a different experience:

I'll let James Finnegan explain:

“In a very real sense, Pennard may be the most unusual of the world's greatest courses. The holes are routed over classic linksland – sand-based, tumbling, full of hummocks and hillocks and hollows, pocked with dunes large and small, blessed with all manner of plateaus and dells that make ideal green sites. In sum, precisely what we might dream of beside the shore. But this spirited terrain is not beside the shore – it is 200 feet above it! And so Pennard is called “The Links in the Sky.”

Tom Doak, in the first volume of his reissued Confidential Guide to Golf Courses includes a Gourmet's Choice of eighteen notable, which the author asserts will "Stir our souls."  This list includes the greats of GB&I, the Royal Dornochs, Prestwicks and Royal County Downs of the world....  It also include Pennard, a course with which most readers will not be familiar.

Pennard also had this greeting for us:

Perhaps if the golf doesn't go well....

Pennard starts pleasantly, though the routing takes one inland and one awaits that which has captivated grizzled veterans such as Finnegan and Doak,  But perhaps my view is jaundiced, as Employee No. 2 announced the resumption of our matches on the first tee, news of which must have the root cause of a blocked tee shot into a gorse bush.  For any new readers unfamiliar with the Hundred Years War, a primer is here.

Perhaps it's the gin and tonic speaking, but here's our first postmodern moment of the trip:

For those keeping their own scorecard, that's Scott taking a picture of Theresa taking a picture... of the cows she would safely clear on her opening tee shot:

Our wonderful caddies, Jules and Stephen, realized quickly that this match was all business:

One turns back towards the see on the 7th hole, which Doak describes:

“Few lovelier spots in golf than this tee, high above the river, where you play between a ruin on the left and the remains of a castle on the right.”

And cows, Tom....

Apparently there also used to be wild horses roaming the course as well....  The greens all had electrified fences surrounding them, on which I almost garroted myself several times...

But no wonder I was one-down, with this constantly in my peripheral vision:

The course also features rich fields of heather:

Theresa came to the ninth hole one-up, but a twenty-footer from your humble blogger stole the hole from her and resulted in a halve of the scratchy outward nine.  It also apparently kick-started my game, as I proceeded to play the inward nine in two-over 38.  

The back nine is simply exhilarating, seemingly every hole offering both a severe challenge and an unparalleled view.  

Four-down with five to play, the bride accepted the inevitable and decreed that Jules and Stephen would play alternate shot against me for the remainder of the round.  First Jules:

This drive, on the Par-5 17th, ended in the bunker to which it is heading.

Theresa giving the signal that she has found their second shot.

And another pleasant vista:

And Stephen from the heather on the finishing hole:

And, of course, the best part of the day:

Another day in which the weather Gods have been kind to us.  We're now off to the ancient, walled city of Tenby, which also happens to be the location of the oldest golf club in Wales.