Top Golf Resorts

It is 1999 and we are guests at Celtic Manor in Coldra Woods, Newport, Gwent Wales. We stand on a rise adjacent to the golf course. While the dream of hosting the Ryder Cup is taking shape all around us, we are surveying the past. Below us is Caerleon, once a thriving outpost the Romans called Isca. Several valleys beyond the mist-shrouded hillocks alongside the River Wye, directly to our east, lie the storied remains of Chepstow Castle and Tintern Abbey.

Magpies, their black and white feathers dappled by sun rays streaking through low scudding clouds, swoop from their pine tree perches. Haughtily, they strut across the precise, perfect lawn casting wry glances at a trio of men huddled nearby. One takes a decisive shot, unruffled by the chattering birds, following the ball with his eyes as it soars over the lake and well bunkered green to a prime landing site within easy range of the targeted hole.

This is the new Wales, the land of wizards, ethereal music, and sheep grazing in parish gardens, now plunging headlong into a union with the high-tech laboratory and pristine golf courses that surround us. These ventures are the culmination of a dream realized by the richest man in Wales, the 18th richest man in Britain.

After graduating from the University of Wales, Swansea, Newport native Terry Matthews, now 55, headed for Canada. Newbridge Networks, the advanced telecommunication equipment company he founded, is still based in Ottawa, Ontario, but its headquarters are a short putt away from Celtic Manor, the linchpin of the resort the billionaire has developed into a world-class destination.

This is the sixth year my husband and I have returned to Celtic Manor, a 19th century stone mansion-turned-hotel under Matthews’ sage planning. Crouched above the M-4 like a venerable grandmother, it catapulted into Johansen’s esteemed Guide to Recommended Hotels in Great Britain and Ireland soon after its inception.

On this day, television cameras are set up in the hotel entryway to film BBC sportscasters and other media personalities interviewing golf enthusiasts who arrive nonstop in taxis and sleek sports cars. Afterward, the players mingle in an atmosphere rife with excitement, their camaraderie expressed in several languages. Unwittingly, we have planned our trip to coincide with the opening of Wentwood Hills, a championship course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and the third of his 18-hole courses at Celtic Manor.

His latest achievement is a strong candidate to host the Ryder Cup in 2010. Today’s media blowout - telecast later throughout the UK - is a hole in one.

The once serene woodlands that surround the complex fail to muffle the din of construction crews hastening to complete the new Celtic Manor Hotel in time for the slated “grand” opening in July. From the window of our fourth floor room, we peer upward beyond the sea of wildflowers cascading down a rugged slope. High above, the dramatic new hotel dominates the rocky cliff. Each spacious room boasts a balcony deftly placed for optimum views of the picturesque landscape. We squint, momentarily blinded by the sun admiring its reflection in a sea of glass patio doors.

It is clear that Matthews has invested lavishly in the project. His expectation that it will be hailed as the most spectacular hotel, conference, golf, sports, and leisure resort in the UK is realistic. From 400 decorative bedrooms and suites offering state-of-the-art electronic equipment, to the soaring glass atrium and the spacious Wentwood Suite theater-banquet hall, the resort anticipates business needs and trends for the next century. At the same time, guests intent on leisure will be pampered wickedly, whether on the links, lolling around the Roman style pool, pursuing a vigorous fitness program in Club Rio, analyzing and brushing up on golf techniques at the Ian Woosnam Golf Academy, or indulging in a smorgasbord of other sports.

But Celtic Manor does not represent Wales or its people. Beyond the magnificent golf courses, visitors to this tiny nation quickly discover enchanting vistas in the surrounding cities and countryside where natural, ancient and historical treasures must be viewed and preserved lest they are overwhelmed by modern tastes.

In the nearby capital city of Cardiff, the Welsh National Opera and National Orchestra of Wales satisfy the soul, while the National Museum of Wales and the Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum within Cardiff’s docklands fascinate the mind. The train station is a hub for vacationers headed to the seaside pleasures of Barry Island. Others travel northward through the narrow, fertile valleys where miners once toiled and the fabled bells of Rhymney await at journey’s end. Sturdy nature lovers may opt for the sixty-mile bicycle path connecting the Bay with the Brecon Beacons National Park.

The Welsh Folk Museum at St. Fagans outside of Cardiff is a collection of authentic buildings that recreate the crafts, customs, and heritage of Wales, from sheep farms to a castle with formal rose garden. On each return trip, we always find something new to admire in this “must see” attraction. Vast in scope and history, one visit whets the appetite for more Welsh delights.

For romantics, nothing makes the heart beat faster than the castles that abound in all directions. Cardiff Castle - constructed amid Roman and Norman ruins - and its alter-ego, Castell Coch, are 19th Century whimsies of the third Marquess of Bute and American architect William Burgess whose reconstructions lean more towards Victorian and Gothic styles than authentic antiquity.

Caerphilly Castle, on the other hand, is a vast complex of stone towers, walls, dams, and moats completed in 1271. Generations of armored knights sequestered here engaged in jousting tournaments for amusement and occasional battles for self-preservation until the castle was besieged in 1647.

One gray masonry tower of this second largest castle in the British Isles tilts precariously, the victim, some declare, of Cromwell’s thwarted attempt to blow up the fortress during the bloody Civil War between Wales and England. Others attribute the slump to the passage of time and the natural heaving of the islands and dam walls supporting the towers. Enshrouded by mist hovering over the Rhymney Valley and a history that pits generations of rugged Welshmen against an oppressive Crown, Caerphilly Castle is a metaphor for an embattled people. Some insist that its mysterious aura emanates from the mournful ghost of the Green Lady.

Banished centuries ago into exile by her husband, a Norman lord who once ruled the castle, she is said to haunt the site of her demise and frequently startle tourists by manifesting herself in the cobwebby chapel adjacent to the Great Hall or along the twisting staircases. She means no harm as, again and again, she wanders in search of the Welsh prince who stole her heart.

While the Green Lady is confined to retracing her steps within the castle walls, tourists embrace the outdoor wonders by pony-trekking through Brecon Beacons National Park, defying the rugged, wind-swept Snowdon Mountain of North Wales, or ambling along the rocky Pembrokeshire Coast Path. Not surprising, hiking, climbing, and casual walking rank among the tiny country’s major draws. From every vantage point, one views more castles and verified antiquities than in any other country on earth. Burial chambers dating to pre-Christian times mingle with medieval fortresses. Standing stone circles pre-dating Stonehenge, traces of prehistoric settlements, and Celtic cairns tantalize the ancestor-seeker in us all.

Update: It is 2010 and Terry Matthews, now 66, will realize his dream of hosting the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. Celebrity golfers and their fans from around the world will congregate there October 1-3 for an event twelve years in the planning. But be not surprised if, when it ends, many in attendance will have become so entranced by the surroundings that they are tempted to explore beyond the pristine greens in quest of the magical mysteries unique to Wales.

Emily Cary is a prize-winning teacher and novelist whose articles about entertainers appear regularly in the DC Examiner. She is a genealogist, an avid traveler, and a researcher who incorporates landscapes, cultures and the power of music in her books and articles.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 6:08 pm and is filed under Top 100 Golf Resorts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.