Coed y Mwstwr Golf Club Review

Golfshake Ambassador Andy Picken charts his unforgettable golf trip throughout the Bridgend area of Wales, playing superb courses and sampling local culinary delights. Andy begins his journey with a review of Coed-y-Mwstwr Golf Club.

The July 2023 win by Alex Cejka of the Senior Open at Royal Porthcawl highlighted for me a golfing destination I knew little about. It provided some wonderful TV viewing as the world’s best senior golfers pitched themselves against each other and the brutal and unforgiving elements on the Welsh coast.

When I was offered the chance to visit Bridgend and sample its varied range of golf related delights I jumped at the chance.

My intention was to play a broad range of golf courses from the championship best to the more accessible options available to the average golfer. 

Our itinerary included several local restaurants allowing us to explore the region's gastronomy. Gastronomic Golf is now becoming my new favourite phrase. Good food, good wine and good golf go so well together with good company. 

Our first gastronomic delight was a visit to the Coed-Y-Mwstwr Hotel for lunch after a four-hour drive prior to the first round at the adjoining golf club. Excellent fayre in beautiful surroundings next to the first course of the trip. They are not linked formally, but if you fancied a more luxurious venue to stay for a golfing trip, then this would fit the bill easily offering easy access to all the courses we went onto play. 

Coed-y-Mwstwr Golf Club 

Coed-y-Mwstwr Golf Club is a beautiful parkland course set within the gardens and grounds of a Victorian mansion that has been converted into the luxury hotel where we enjoyed lunch. Original features within the golf course include a walled garden and mature horse chestnut trees.

The golf course winds itself around a series of elevation changes and is lush and verdant having enjoyed decent growth over the worst winter for rain in recent memory. The six opening holes are a delight visually as they are well defined and the changes in height offer a range of views from the tee. 

It is worth taking a quick phone picture of the overall layout at the start of the round to ensure you can navigate the routes as it is easy to miss the first tee as a first-time visitor. Turn left from the clubhouse as the initial six holes are compact and require accurate tee shots. A couple of crossover holes could also make it awkward for the first-time visitor.

Sweeping doglegs that allow good sight of the green encourages adventurous golf by cutting corners. Great fun, but it led to varied levels of success within our golfing group. This initial loop is entertaining, and I especially liked the incorporation of the walled gardens into the course layout.

This golf course offers great value to the visiting golfer and has a burgeoning membership that is attracted by its friendly social style and value for money.

I even managed to enlist support from a local dog walker who was using a public footpath adjacent to the course boundary to help me in a search for an errant shot. Luckily her spaniel was highly adept at finding golf balls and with his help, I was soon back in play.

Coed-Y-Mwstwr is in the middle of a clear improvement plan and I could see that it is ambitious and developing. The greens were of a decent quality, true but slow-paced due to the recent weather we have endured in the UK. I was amazed that at the conclusion of my round that my shoes held no mud of any description. The first time since the autumn of 2023 that I didn’t need to clean my shoes after a round of golf in the UK. The drainage here is good!

Holes 7 to 9 open the course up into the surrounding countryside skirting around the edge of a stables and farm. 

The 10th drops into the corner of the course and is the hardest hole on the card requiring a shot over the 14th. An interesting challenge.

Fairways widen and become more inviting as the round develops with a couple of par 5s encouraging the opening of shoulders.

The 15th has a crossover that impacts the 17th fairway to a lovely par 3 finishing hole so be mindful of other players at this point of the course. 

The finishing hole requires a shot over the 14th fairway and green approaches leading to a hilltop green complex situated in front of the clubhouse. This course scores a Highly Recommended status by our reviewers with a high percentage recommending a repeat visit. Written by golfers for golfers. This is an ideal society venue if you are looking for a well-conditioned playable track. 

I was genuinely astonished at the lack of mud around the venue given our recent weather. It was a very enjoyable round of golf.

Accommodation

We decided to use a stay and play facility offered by the Dormy House at Pyle & Kenfig as our base for the trip.

This was an inspired choice as it offered cosy, comfortable, spotlessly clean and homely accommodation with excellent food and a superb clubhouse packed with members using the clubhouse restaurant. When golf club members visit the clubhouse for a takeaway on a themed food night you know it is going to be good. It was! 

Our restaurant for the evening was The Great House in a village called Laleston. This was a simply superb meal in every respect. It is a restaurant with rooms, so again if you are considering a trip to this area and fancy a little more luxury for your accommodation, this is an option to consider. We don’t do Highly Recommended Awards for the restaurants we visit but this would certainly be a contender if we did. The food was excellent!

After a great night’s sleep, and an amazing breakfast, we travelled the short distance to Royal Porthcawl for a golfing experience of the highest order.

If you want to follow Andy's complete journey around in the courses near Bridgend, please click here!