Ashburnham Golf Club is in southwestern Wales and was founded in 1894, with the course extending to an 18-hole layout eight years later. JH Taylor’s changes in 1910 made the course into what it is today. 

 

The Welsh venue has played host to several professional tournaments, including the precursor to the BMW PGA Championship. The Martini Tournament and Final Qualifying for three Senior Open Championships have all taken place at Ashburnham in its long and storied history. 

 

  

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Beginning life as a nine-holer in 1894, it was extended in 1902. Since then, each of JH Taylor, Fred Hawtree and Ken Cotton (himself a member) have created what stands today and that can be stretched to all but 7,000 yards from the very back tees. Taylor’s influence was the greatest on Ashburnham’s layout and design. The five-time Open Champion made the changes prior to the First World War, and the layout has remained essentially the same since.  

 

The course has held several major amateur and professional competitions over its century-long life. Many notable events have been hosted at Ashburnham over the years, including the BMW PGA Championship. Bernard Gallacher picked up his first pay cheque here when he won what is today the DP World Tour’s flagship event in 1969. Another Scottish legend, Sam Torrance, won the Martini Tournament in 1976 and winning Ryder Cup captain Dai Rees was also victorious at Ashburnham. 

 

It has also played host to Final Qualifying for the Senior Open Championship, doing so on all three occasions that Royal Porthcawl has hosted the tournament (2014, 2017, 2023). 

First impressions of a course from a clubhouse bay window are usually revealing. But not here at Ashburnham, where the first and last holes are entirely untypical of what lies in between. The 1st, like at Royal Lytham & St Annes, is a par 3. Add in the flat, parallel-running 2nd and 17th, along with the short 16th, and the rest is very much a course within a course. These remaining 13 holes are classic links. They dive through the dunes with a beguiling combination of blind and open vistas; some are arrow-straight, others are dog-legged – occasionally more than once. 

 

All are completely natural; if it is manicured, target golf you prefer, look elsewhere. A few are fearsome, a few are (theoretically) straightforward, and every so occasionally Ashburnham throws up the kind of hole that is simply impossible to play without foreknowledge of its perils and secrets. 

 

"The course I like best in Wales is Ashburnham” - Six-time Open Champion Harry Vardon 

 

One such example is the 8th, where the drive is blind in the truest sense of the word, and another is the wonderfully contrary par 5 14th, which calls for a drive to the first of two fairways then a second hit more with hope than certainty over a marker post whose function is not immediately clear. Elsewhere, there are some truly colossal par 4s, and some altogether more subtle ones. Take the 12th, which demands a drive down a funnel then turns sharply to the left. The temptation from the tee on this par 4 of moderate length is to hug the left of the fairway but all that results is a blind and highly awkward second over a hill. 

 

Of these holes that stretch out to the 8th green, the furthest point from the clubhouse, the pick is the short 6th. Here, the target is a raised green protected by a yawning front bunker and a steep bank on the right. A strong iron shot indeed is required to find the sanctuary of the green. Following a series of flat holes there is a climb to the 16th tee as Ashburnham finishes in a similar style to the way it begins. The closing hole measuring little more than 350 yards though playing slightly longer, the tee shot lacks definition while the second calls for a shot to a green at the top of a steep hill. 

Where is Ashburnham Golf Club located?  
Ashburnham Golf Club is between the seaside towns of Pembury and Burry Port, in the southwestern corner of Wales. It sits just off the B4311 and is around six miles from the city of Llanelli. 

 

Pembury & Burry Port Station is within a mile of Ashburnham Golf Club and has regular trains running in both directions. Trains from Pembury & Burry Port can run to Carmarthen, Swansea, Manchester Piccadilly and even all the way east to London Paddington. As with all golf courses in southern Wales, Swansea and Cardiff Airport are the two major airports for those coming from further afield to travel into. Cardiff is the larger of the two, and the busiest airport in Wales. 60 miles separates Cardiff Airport from Ashburnham Golf Club. 

What golf facilities does Ashburnham Golf Club offer?  
There is not a driving range at Ashburnham, but golfers can warm up for their round on the championship course by hitting some balls in the practice nets. There is also a putting green and a practice chipping green with a practice bunker for those finishing touches. There is also an indoor Swing Studio at Ashburnham Golf Club. The studio uses the latest Trackman technology. 

What are the green fees at Ashburnham Golf Club?  
The price of a green fee at Ashburnham Golf Club changes throughout the year, depending on the season. It is also different depending on whether it is a weekday or weekend.

 

For more information on current green fees at Ashburnham, visit their website here. 

 

  

Visit Ashburnham Golf Club’s website here. 

Go Back To NCG's Top 100s Homepage.