The Celtic Manor Resort - The Montgomerie Course

The course itself was in extremely good condition and greens are superb but for an intermediate golfer like myself I found this called very challenging quite hilly course, good value for money to play the course but I found a buggy hire was extremely expensive. Can’t see me going back here in a hurry.

3rd or 4th time playing The Montgomery. Pace of play was good. The course is very undulating. Despite good tee shots, I was rarely hitting from an even lie. The greens were punched however still were quick. Only disappointment was seeing so many unrepaired pitch marks & no attempts made to fill divots by players. Overall experience was very good.

The golf was fantastic. The course was in excellent condition. The fairways were very hard due to lack of rain. The greens were superb!! A very challenging course which kept our interest. Very hilly and long walks to some tee boxes a negative. Variety of holes outstanding!

Firstly the good - the greens were well kept and relatively quick, the tees a delight.

The course had clearly suffered from a lack of rain and no fairway irrigation, along with some extreme slopes means with concrete hard fairways good shots can end up on opposite sides of the fairway, or beyond (as the 1st cut is very light! The bunkers were disappointing and in cases unnecessarily so - with lots of and at the back and none at the front and in places different types of sand used in different bunkers around the same green.

The course layout is extremely poor for anyone walking - even with an electric trolley and being fit, the combination of walks along extreme slopes and having most players use buggies does not make for an enjoyable relaxed round (4 hours in our case) It should consider being buggy only course or recommending buggys.

I would not ply the course again this summer, but it could be a real delight in the Autumn or spring once the fairways have some living grass once more.

A brilliant golf resort, with quality facilities. The Montgomery was in brilliant condition and the greens were top class. The back 9 is a real treat, the 12th is a brilliant par 5 and one of the best holes I have played.

Halfway house wasn’t open at the turn and pace of play was slow but nice course overall.

Pretty wet in many places even though it's been dry for quite a while (mid March 2025). It's a long and hilly walk around, about 23 km clocked on my watch. We had to wait for for a group ahead until eventually let play through, but no issues with those behind as we were last booked. Facilities are good obviously, but this course a bit tired maybe.

If a health and safety officer attended the course it wouldn't been open. The week leading up to round the weather had been relevantly dry, so assumed course would be fine. There was nowhere to drop ball it was totally water logged. I feel sorry for green staff having to at some time repair all the damage. The greens had been popped which is totally acceptable. I have been playing golf for 52 years and never played a course as wet. Constantly slipping, balls plugging on fairway sometimes unable to find, eventually ended up using tees on fairways nowhere to drop. The celtic manor is a wonderful experience and been fortunate to play all the courses and would recommend it to everyone, but at the moment stay clear. Cost £35 per person which seemed a great deal, honestly the fairways reminded me of those pictures you see during a wet Glastonbury festival.

Superb course. Totally recommended . Will be going again.

Generally in good condition as expected , but a fair few holes are soaking wet, and end up playing from mud. We haven’t had too much rain last few weeks, so?

That aside, superb

For too long now Celtic Manor has traded on its initial ‘glory as the Wales’ supposed ‘premier golf resort’’. It’s been almost 30 years since the main clubhouse was built and it doesn’t look, feel or smell like it’s had much updating since then.

The visitors changing rooms have obvious damp damage and there’s a pervasive aroma like a mouldy swimming pool.

I turned up at 7:30am on a Saturday (peak time for golf) and there was nowhere to get any breakfast or food at the clubhouse. (The grill had caught fire the night before apparently)

At every point things were absurdly overpriced:

£55 for a buggy.

£3.10 for a standard bottle of water is just mean.

To make it worse, i had a voucher from a previous visit I. Feb 2024 where the course was so waterlogged they gave a refund.

But I couldn’t use the voucher against the cost of a buggy because… computer says no.

I was told I could get something to eat at the halfway house after 9 holes.

There was a sign on the 9th tee box with a QR code to order food ahead of time. It didn’t work.

Halfway house, when we arrived, said - ‘yeah that never works’.

So we spent 15 minutes waiting for a bacon and egg bap.

Which was actually nice / well received.

I didn’t check the price as it would’ve made the bap less enjoyable.)

The fairways were plagued with worm casts.

It hadn’t even been that rainy the last few days but the fairways were somewhat squelchy and certainly hadn’t been cut for a while.

In stark contrast, the greens were very good.

Overall:

Poor facilities, poor customer service, embarrassingly overpriced and the golf was average.

A massive overhaul is needed if they want to continue to justify their proposition.

Won’t be back willingly.

We loved the hilly setting of the Montgomerie. Some of the holes were pretty challenging. We did a lit of walking up hill and down dale, around 8 miles in total from the time I left my car in the car park. We seemed to be the only ones walking the course - everybody used buggies. The distances between some of the holes were such that buggies felt a wiser choice in hindsight.

The ground conditions were very muddy and slippery, adding to the golfing challenge. Not a surprise given the rain in Wales over the previous days. But the greens were reasonable, though not as quick as the practice green.

Overall, an experience we want to repeat, particularly in the summer.

First time at Celtic Manor playing the Montgomerie., Advised by staff that the course was soft under foot, and round time was approx 4 1/2 hours. Well the course was a quagmire and should have been closed and the play time was 6 hrs. We quit after 3hrs and 9 holes and a complaint has been made. Very disappointed.

Always very well kept, awesome layout and great views throughout but especially 12. 12 being one of my favorite holes I've played in Wales

Long walks between green and tees and some bunkers had very little sand in them but other than that the course was in fantastic condition and an absolute joy to plot my way around.

For the money (£40) this is the best course I have played.

I was told by eveyone to get a cart and not to walk it due to it being long walks between holes and even to the first tee in general.

You NEED a cart to fully enjoy this course and be fresh for teeing off and to just focus and enjoy the round.

Course was very boggy, with obvious drainage issues. Signage between holes was an issue. Greens were in great condition.

The course overall is a great test of golf with a lot of variety. It’s very hilly for those carry or walking. I would suggest doubling up on water and snacks. The fairways were still quite wet after the rain but should be brilliant as it gets warmer and drier. I would definitely play it again.