Wales is hosting the 2010 Ryder Cup at believe it or not, the Twenty Ten course so named because of the Ryder Cup.  The Twenty Ten course is the only course in the history of the Ryder Cup purpose built to host the event.  It is a composite of Celtic Manor's original Wentwood Hills course, which was designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened for play in September of 1999 and 9 totally new holes built under the supervision of course architect Ross McMurray.  The 9 holes from the Wentwood Hills course were extensively remodeled with the Ryder Cup in mind.  The new Twenty Ten course opened for play in July of 2007.  This course will also host the Wales Open in June 2009.  The 2010 Ryder Cup will certainly draw a lot of attention to golf in Wales, however, most people traveling to Wales to play golf from the US would probably do so because of the people and the seaside links courses, just as they do to the rest of the British Isles.  Some however, will undoubtedly want to test themselves on the Twenty Ten course, just as they have Ireland's K Club designed by Arnold Palmer and the first Irish club to host a Ryder Cub.  Both of these courses are terrific venues and would test the best of players.

Wales currently has 5 golf courses in the UK Top 100 listings which happen to be all of the links variety; and, just as the other countries in the British Isles, have a number of other extremely good courses that would probably fit under the category of "Hidden Gems."   The 5 courses listed in UK Top 100 are Royal Porthcawl, Royal St. David's, Nefyn & District, Pennard and Aberdovey.  It would make a wonderful 2-3 week trip to fly into London, play one of the top 10 golf courses in the UK which is only about a half hour from the airport, then head for Wales to play the aforementioned courses along with some Hidden Gems, a few of which I have listed on the following page, then head up to the Golf Coast of England.  We believe you will think you have died and gone to heaven.