Vale Hotel, Golf & Spa Resort

Noticed that in my review, i didn't score the course, so here goes!

I can review the course from two perspectives. Firstly, I paid £15 twilight fee to go around the National. From this point of view it is a great bargain, I teed off at 4.15 and I could’ve played for an hour by the time I finished. The layout and challenge of the course is superb. The course is difficult, it will be a challenge for any level of difficulty - this is what I expected and hoped for when I went. You need top courses to test every facet of your game, The National did that. You need course management, shot making and bottle.
BUT – this is meant to be one of the premier golf courses in Wales, and condition wise it was frankly quite average. Nearly all the tees were not flat – given how much it cost to create the course it seems inconceivable this is the case. The course is hard enough without hitting driver 3 inches above your feet. The fairways were patchy and inconsistent – while it would be unfair to judge the greens as they’ve recently been aired and seeded. These seem basic things that I would expect a Championship course like The National to have.
A great shame, for the setting and layout of the course is superb and some of the holes are breathtaking. Holes 2, 6, 10, 13-16 are truly memorable holes. A shame that the 1st and 18th are real weak links in the chain. The 18th especially feels somewhat tagged on - they wouldve been better making it into a long tough par 3 with the pond tight to the side of the green (in my opinion).
Id urge anyone to play it - its a long, tough, demanding course with lots of memorable holes. I just found myself coming off thinking - ok good course, but could be so much better.

About a dozen of us played at The Vale en-route to an annual golf tour based on Llanelli in June, and what a pleasant surprise. Expecting just another "best thing since sliced bread" supposedly better than anything else new and american type course, and then not living anywhere near up to the hype, The Wales National course at The Vale GC actually was.............Of all the newer courses in the country, this must rank up there amongst the best, certainly as far as design, test, condition and interest. No two holes are the same, and no-where is there any sense of up and down, and it is one of those courses where the next hole is eagerly anticipated. There are many quite lovely holes, too many to itemise here, and all in all, I feel that this course, certainly The Wales National course, is a real beaut and should be on anyones agenda if in the area. The only slight detraction was that the catering and bar side were a bit lacksidaisacle!

A group of 18 with handicaps ranging from 4 to 24, with most around the 8-10 mark, played during a dry spell which made the fairways very fast-running. My conclusion is that the Lake course is 'Mickey Mouse', and the National is hard but not fair.
The set-up is first class. Hard-working staff, good pro shop, excellent facilities. They take you to the cleaners with drinks and food prices , but then we did get a good deal for the package so that balances out.
The courses were both in decent condition, though dry. The tees are poor - too many undulations so on some holes you were driving from a hanging lie. Greens an interesting challenge, and large so three-putts were common. The condition of the bunkers is a disgrace for a supposed quality set-up. None appeared to have been raked, and the rakes supplied are inadequate in number and quality.
The reason why none of us would go back is the design of the courses. The Lake first;
This is a par-72 squeezed onto land suitable for a par-66. Several par-4s of less than 300 yards, the 'challenge' if you can call it that, being created by silly little ponds in front of greens meaning that the only sensible approach is to play mid-iron/sand wedge. Sometimes the siting of trees in the line of sight of the second shot meant that you could be penalised for finding the middle of the fairway.
There are a number of holes where a drive splitting the fairway would end up in the rough behind a tree, or worse through the rough altogether and O.B. or in a lateral hazard. This is because they have had to route fairways along the sides of steep slopes to fit into the available land.
The par 5s are mostly short, again featuring the silly green-front pond. I suppose that the suggestion is that this creates risk/reward, with a good drive giving the chance to go for it over the pond. Some off these are dog-leg holes though, so unless you know the course you have to play iron/wedge/wedge. And if you get it wrong, don't think you're going to retrieve your ball from the ponds - too deep or weedy.
Just an awful, trick course.
Then the National;
Unfair. Especially when hard and fast-running. Drives bounce off fairways and into lateral hazards or deep undergrowth. If you know the course and can hit it on the right lines you can get round. However, for visitors on many drives the lines off the tee are unclear, so splitting the fairway means you go through the dog-leg and into lost-ball jungle. As an example of the difficulty/unfairness, one par-5 has pond in front of the tee, lake right. A tight drive, fair enough. But why have the entire left side taken up by an expanse of marshy ground with waist-high undergrowth? The fairway comes right up to this with no semi-rough, and slopes so that a nearly-good drive can bounce into lost-ball country. Of course, the same hole has the ubiquitous pond in front of the green. Particularly stupid here because the lie of the land is ideal to offer the challenge of a run-up third shot.
Too much water, no help to the good recovery player. Just an ordeal for the average club golfer.
And to top it all, a 5 hour round with four groups on a par-3 at one point, because they will insist on allowing hacker 4-balls to play at their own pace, no call-throughs etc. Tougher marshalling needed, but this is a resort. We were told "We expect to have 5 hour rounds".
Great set-up, but do yourself a favour, pick a Trevose or a Saunton. Hard but fair, and you'll have some balls left at the end.

Group of eleven of us played both courses on Sunday driver deal £67 golf bed & breakfast, all i can say is the National course is very tough most of us are single figure golfers and not one of us played anywhere near our handicaps, in saying that we all said how great the course was and you can see why it holds professional tournaments, fantastic.After a stonking buffet breakfast Monday morning played the Lakes course much easier going of the two courses but still a good test which was reflected in the scoring some great views when you get to the top side.Proshop staff were great we did longest drive and nearest the pin holes on both days but forgot markers,not a problem the golfstaff advised us to which holes to do them on gave us the markers but also drove out on a buggy and placed them on the respective holes, nothing with all the staff was to much trouble.If you are thinking of going try and get the Sunday driver deal at £67 you just can't go wrong, superb.

The Wales National course is good test of golf with undulating parkland and lots of water hazards. It appears to be primarily aimed at the Corporate and Society golfer and although testing is forgiving provided you miss the hazards and out of bounds.
Course knowledge is helpful as it is possible to take massive chunks out of some of the dogleg holes such as the 1st and 17th. A few interesting risk reward holes such as the short par 4 6th where the green is reachable with a good tee shot, provided you miss the water and the trees. Also some rather quirky features such as the enormously wide green for the 13th with the Alps in the middle of it.
The 18th is a bit of a nothing hole to end on, with the green finishing at the bottom of the car park, nowhere near the clubhouse.
Well stocked pro shop, an adjoining 4* leisure and Hotel complex, and an appartment development not unexpectedly means it feels like you are in business complex rather than a traditional golf club.

Played the course on a burning hot and windy day at the end of August 2005. A bit haphazard where some holes are not very clearly sign posted. Greens had just been worked on and were not running true and were very fast. The rest of the course is in superb condition with some very tough and interesting par 4`s. Very tough par 5 second hole, just to let you know what you are in for. You must course manage this venue so get yourself a course planner! The 18th does not do the course justice as a finishing hole. However, I fully intend go back again as overall I did enjoy the day. Excellent facilities, pro shop and good prices for bar meals etc.

Played the course 18th/20th June 2005.
Excellent value golf, the courses are both well worth the £85 (including bed & breakfast) which I paid.
There are some world-class holes and the condition is excellent. The greens could probably have done with a closer cut, but they were true and fair.
Only niggle was the staff at the hotel, not the friendliest.
Will go again.

Played the fairly new Wales International Course at Vale on the August Bank holiday Sunday. The 2nd hole is the toughest par 5 I have ever played. The American type course layout was a great challenge and a lot of blind tee shots makes for an exciting round of golf. The greens are fast and some the biggest I've ever come accross. I must say that the 18th hole was very disappointing, with the green located at the back of the car park. At £50 I would say it was worth it and this course is going to be even greater in a couple of years time.