Golf Special Report: Celtic Manor venue for the Ryder Cup 2010, Wales
With the Ryder Cup taking place at Celtic Manor this year, Wales will definitely be a ‘hot’ country in golf news. Celtic Manor, the breathtaking resort in Wales, is home of the course specifically build for the Ryder Cup. This is a great location for next
month’s showdown between the most talented players from Europe and The United States. This will be a huge rambling layout with sufficient space for the audience and holes for the play-offs.
This golf course should also refresh the memories of the previous Ryder cup that took place at Valhalla in Louisville Kentucky. It was then that the Americans were victorious at the bold but rural location in the Usk Valley. Valhalla however is nothing compared
to the scenic links course of the British Islands.
If one really ponders over it, the only golf course that is somewhat like the links course and has hosted the Ryder cup was the Kiawah Island course in America. The Ryder Cup took place there thirty years ago. Another interesting thing is that while the
players struggle for their dignity, the sponsors of the cup are only in it for the cash but not the tradition. When in 2006, the Ryder Cup took place in Ireland, they held it at the Arnold Palme designed K club instead of Portmarnock or Ballybunion. The sponsors
should at least value how much history and significance the cup has.
Celtic Manor, where the cup will be this year, has countless restaurants, spas and rooms and three courses on about 1400 acres. Wales, obviously, bought the Ryder Cup just like Ireland did before. Sir Terry Matthews was the purchaser more specifically. He’s
the country’s first billionaire and provided about two hundred million dollars into the resort which was established on the property where he was born.
Matthews is a telecommunication big shot who made most of his money in Canada. He picked Wales however because it was special to him. The resort is not even two hours away from Heathrow airport and is dazzling access to Wales. Wales will definitely gain
universal recognition and augmented tourism. Wales is popular not only for golf but also for its cathedrals and castles.
It is a good idea of shifting the Ryder Cup to European side over the years. First Scotland, then Ireland and now Wales. It’s an interesting inconsistency for the golfer. Wales is cheaper and less crowded and one can find more things to do than in Scotland
or Ireland. Amazing historical remains, great seaside villages and of course gold golf in an area that has 750 miles of coastline, 11 million sheep, 641 castles and two languages.
Another well known golf course in Wales is the Royal Porthcawl. It has a traditional oldies club house, with insatiable fairway bunkers and endless water sceneries. Its green hasn’t gotten spoilt since 75 years and is as good as any well-known architect
can create. Porthcawl also made the Top 100 Courses in the World list. This year’s Ryder cup might just make people remember the1995 Walker Cup at Porthcawl in which the American team including Tiger Woods got crushed.
Machynys Peninsula is another golf course in Wales worth mentioning. Being a Jack Nicklaus design, this golf course shows how a links course has emerged from reclaimed marshlands.
Around Cardiff, there are a lot of golf courses. Tenby was where the Irish Amateur took place and is a good test of golf. It has blind shots around dunes on one hole and one can see the Irish Sea on another. It is a good picnic spot as well with families
walking through the course towards the beach. There is also a small commuter train moving out of bounds and there is also a rifle range nearby as well.
Since its part of the United Kingdom, Wales is where people love rugby, have their children learning Welsh and has road signs in two languages. Americans don’t know much about the country as they do about Ireland or Scotland, since not many people emigrated
from Wales than they did from the other two. In 2014, the Ryder Cup is scheduled at Gleneagles in Scotland. It’s most likely that it won’t return to Wales. However, we will have to wait and see if golf in Wales is really golf as it was meant to played.
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