The Celtic Manor Resort

Championship Courses

Just six years after opening the first of its golf courses, The Celtic Manor Resort was selected as the venue for The 2010 Ryder Cup. Staged in Europe every four years, The Ryder Cup is the world’s most prestigious golf event and one of sport’s most captivating occasions.

The golfing facilities, like everything else at The Celtic Manor Resort, have been designed to be among the very best in the world. The Resort boasts three championship courses – the new Twenty Ten Course built for staging The Ryder Cup; The Montgomerie, designed by the eight-time European No 1 golfer; and the original Roman Road course, designed by the legendary architect, Robert Trent Jones Snr. The Celtic Manor Golf Academy features a floodlit driving range, short-game practice area with three all-weather greens and tees, studio teaching bays, indoor putting green and golf shop. There are also two large and luxurious golf clubhouses - The Lodge and The Twenty Ten Clubhouse.

The Twenty Ten Course (7,493 yards, par 71)

The new Twenty Ten Course built for staging The 2010 Ryder Cup opened for play on 4th July 2007. It is the first course to have been designed specifically for hosting the prestigious tournament, which The Celtic Manor Resort is bringing to Wales for the first time.

The course is a par 71, measuring 7,493 yards. With water hazards on half of its holes, the course presents many memorable risk-and-reward challenges designed to create high drama during The Ryder Cup. Classic matchplay dilemmas include the 413-yard 14th, where golfers will have to select whether to take on a long carry with a drive down the right hand side or else face another lake cutting in from the left with their approach, and the short par-four 15th, which is driveable but only to a narrow target scarcely visible through the trees.

One of the features of the new course is its variety with many of the earlier holes having a links-like feel with some rolling contours, punishing rough and greenside swales. The middle section of the course reveals the full extent of the lake-lined challenge before the course closes with four dramatic holes carved into the hillside overlooking the remainder of the course.

Spectators are supremely well catered for on these slopes with three large viewing platforms constructed for hospitality above the 16th, 17th and 18th holes. Galleries are also able to gather on the huge natural banks to view not only the closing holes but also the earlier action as it unfolds across the course below. Overall the Resort has invested £16 million in developing the new course, a new clubhouse and surrounding infrastructure including a new bridge to the Ryder Cup practice ground.

The Montgomerie (6,371 yards, par 69)

The Montgomerie offers a spectacular par-69 challenge with some dramatic tee shots over valleys and breathtaking downhill approaches. Course designer Colin Montgomerie has called on all his Ryder Cup experience to create many exciting tests of strategy. He has also drawn on his roots in Scottish links golf with a traditional feel enhanced by deep and penal pot bunkers.

Featuring just one water hazard, The Montgomerie nevertheless presents a formidable examination of course management for accomplished players while remaining a highly enjoyable challenge for all. These tests of strategy culminate at the 18th where golfers are asked to choose how much of a tree-lined corner they want to cut off to set up a shorter approach for their grandstand finish.

Complemented by some stunning views over the Usk Valley and the Severn Estuary, the undulating course provides a truly memorable golfing experience.

Roman Road (6,515 yards, par 70)

Roman Road, the first of the Resort’s courses, opened in 1995 and was quickly ranked ‘the top inland course in Wales’ by Golf Monthly magazine. Overlooking the Severn Estuary with views across to Somerset and Devon, it was designed by Robert Trent Jones Snr and takes its name from the ancient east to west highway of Roman Britain crossing its fairways to the nearby Roman fortress town of Caerleon.

Twisting through trees and across lakes and streams before hitting more open fairways in front of the Resort Hotel and Lodge Clubhouse, the Roman Road course was the venue for The Celtic Manor Wales Open, a European Tour event, between 2005 and 2007. In 2005 and 2006 the course also hosted the celebrity All*Star Cup featuring stars such as Catherine Zeta Jones, Michael Douglas, Ronan Keating, Alice Cooper, Chris Evans, Jodie Kidd, William Baldwin, James Nesbitt and Jane Seymour.

In 2006 the Roman Road hosted the Junior Ryder Cup the week before the main event in Ireland. The Celtic Manor Resort was also home to The Faldo Series, the charity set up by the six times major winner to develop young golfing talent. The Roman Road played host to the grand final in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

The Lodge

Built at a cost of £10 million and opened in 1995, The Lodge was designed with major tournaments in mind and is one of the largest and finest clubhouses in Europe. It offers three conference and banqueting rooms, a stylish brasserie restaurant, two bars, a dining terrace overlooking the 18th green, function rooms for private dining, Dylans Health and Fitness Club with indoor Romanesque pool, gym, sauna and spa pool, luxury locker rooms, and The Clarins Health Spa which opened in January 2006.

The Twenty Ten Clubhouse

A second golf clubhouse was opened in November 2007 to serve the new Twenty Ten course. The Twenty Ten clubhouse features Rafters Restaurant, with its floor-to-ceiling cedar beams and modern European dining; a members lounge with leather chesterfields, high-backed chairs and a warming open hearth; a separate spike bar; a pro shop; and luxurious, oak-panelled locker rooms.

The Golf Academy

The Golf Academy opened in 1995 and is one of the best facilities of its kind in the country. It provides comprehensive tuition options that are amongst the best available, with a superb team of coaching professionals. With the opening of a new short game practice area by Arnold Palmer in 2009, the Academy was designated the Wales National Centre of Excellence by the Golf Union of Wales.