I was lucky enough to play The Twenty Ten course at Celtic Manor on Saturday 25th June 2011 and also stay at the Resort itself, Celtic Manor is a phenomenal place and for any golfers that love his or her golf is a must play and stay venue. With 3 golf courses – The Twenty Ten, Roman Road and Monty courses – and 2 hotels, the Resort and Manor, on-site this is one of the ultimate golf venues in the British Isles.
The Twenty Ten course is simply superb – a fantastic, fair and challenging layout, in excellent condition and they even managed to organise the weather for the weekend. The course keeps you thinkings on every single shot and the greens are well protected with deep bunkers while the greens themselves are undulating and test each and every part of your short game. Roman Road and the Monty course look the part as well, the only good thing about not having played them is that I will have an excuse to come back, and soon!!
It’s also the little things that make Celtic Manor what it is – a phenomenal venue with a first-class service provided. Having got on an early flight from Dublin to Bristol we arrived before the group and the welcome we received was second-to-none! Extremely helpful staff, from the concierge team through the front desk and beyond, we really were treated like royalty. Breakfast was arranged for us and we got an extremely early check-in also which was great! We then had a meet and greet with the group at The Twenty Ten Clubhouse followed by us being brought into the locker rooms where we were given our own locker, name assigned, and also beside some of the heroes from last year’s Ryder Cup. Slightly before our tee off time we were then driven down to the road range/putting green area which is located beside the first tee. The 18 holes on The Twenty Ten course was thoroughly enjoyable and although we didn’t quite perform like we hoped we still had a great time. A delicious dinner followed and festivities continued on into the wee hours of the morning at the magical Merlin’s Bar!
Another brilliant breakfast buffet followed the next morning and when we had collected our car from the excellent concierge team we were amazed to see it had been valeted and also fitted with an air freshener, there was also some provisions to help us on our way back from the hangovers! It's just a pity the car was a rental!!
Celtic Manor is a fantastic venue and is very accessible from Ireland – a 40 minute flight into Bristol followed by about a 40 minute drive from the airport. There are also the options of flying into Cardiff or any of the other local airports along with taking the ferry too. With stay and play packages from £99, bookable directly via http://www.celtic-manor.com, it is one of the venue you should have on your "To Play" list in the very near future.
For enquiries or further details on other Play & Stay packages at the Celtic Manor Resort please contact Tom Kennedy on 087-6644344 or email tom.kennedy@mygolfsociety.ie.
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