Because we had dinner sooo late last night and, (despite our fatigue,) we stayed awake so late reading and writing, we three slept in until 9 am (horrors!). Then spent another two hours getting up and reading and writing some more! When 11 am hit, we all assembled and left the room in a big hurry. We couldn’t afford to play another game with just bits of chocolate bars to keep us going, so we hurried to our next course, Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club. We arrived at a small car park where there was a shop and a clubhouse. I chatted with the starter, and pretty soon we were all laughing about the conditions of the course. The stater with a Welsh accent, crisp with a bit of Irish and Scottish combined: “It’s really dry, out there,” he said. “Dry and hard and I mean hard.— pause—I’m heading out to play later today to get a good score in before it rains!” (You see, when the ground is hard, the ball goes further.) Maybe there was some advantage to the not so beautiful terrain. One look out at the 18th fairway coming in, though, and I sighed. It was not one bit green, just tan with dry grass. We’ll see how it goes— I paid and we all went to the bar to order food. (The lingo here is very straightforward: “Do you have food?”)

I’ve always stood by the quality of golf course food. If there’s nowhere else, you’ll be safe in a golf course bar—and you’ll probably hear some good stories there too! The stories were here, though in bits we could barely hear, but the food was not the best. Even John2’s hamburger was blah. So there we were, something mysterious inside us and a very dry course waiting. Vacations aren’t always full of ideal days.

Turns out the course was indeed running fast, so shots went far. If they were headed for the fairway, lucky you. If not, the searching began. Today, there were a lot of oohs and aahs as well as tromping through tall dead grass in search of a little white ball. This course, on a better day, would have been fabulous. The design is near perfect with bunker placements, variations in the layout of holes, and the walkability all flawless. Even with the hills, it was always a short walk to the next tee. Once again, we were playing here for the first time, so on hole 6, John2 and I both hit shots to an area between the bushes that seemed to be marking the fairway. Oops! The green was to the right, almost in plain sight— we just thought it was a different hole!. 

The back nine was over dunes. We walked between huge mounds that felt like valleys, then opened up to fairways. This is the links part of the course. There was a wasteland off behind us—land that they’re saving in case part of the course is taken away. I’m sure that’s what a lot of the bar talk was about. Anyway, all good for now. We played fast despite the lost balls and were too early for dinner and so we sat in the bar chatting with folks and planning for later.

Dinner was at  El Prado, the best restaurant in town, with Spanish-style food. The waitresses were lovely, and the food was good and pricey. Our chicken, veal, and lamb were all tasty. After dinner, we decided to follow one of the waitress’s suggestions and take a scenic drive past Ogmore Castle. What a lovely ruin, set on a river, with giant stones crossing it… and now with the sun setting. It was glorious. Of course, we couldn’t get near the smallish castle ruin itself because of safety concerns, but it was still a place of ancient history. Dating from the 12th century, it has been said to be guarded by the Ladi Wen (the ghost of the Lady in White). 

Next, we went to Southern Down Golf Club, just up the road. This is a course we won’t play this trip, but wanted to see. Still, sunset, the course gleamed with undulating fairways, some dead, however, and some green. Sheep were grazing on the course while a few fellows were drinking and laughing on the clubhouse balcony. They were sitting near the wind screen looking out, so as we walked by, we agreed it was a lovely view. With that, a conversation started, then and went on and on. Everyone thinks it’s so cool that we three Americans have come to their little corner of the world to play golf. It’s quite an opener. Soon, we were naming all the courses we’d played in Scotland—well, not all, and they were talking about connections they had in the States. Laughter and good cheer all around. Richard, Lindsay, and Rhys are new friends.

One more stop along the road near the seaside…more sheep peeking through a sheep hole, a fence barely keeping them in, and the Bristol Sea (now really at sunset), leading right over to the English Devon Coast!  We walked the stone wall until it opened up and we could walk right down to the cliff—well, not too close. It was a cliff with warnings, so we just enjoyed the view and backed away slowly, and back to the car, the road, our little B&B, and our beds. Good night