The Celtic Manor Resort - The Montgomerie Course

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.

Tees & Greens good, but fairways too boggy, losing balls due to plugged lies is does not make for an enjoyable round.

Greens and tees in great condition everything else was a swamp. Losing balls on the fairway most holes. Feet under the mud on most shots .

Actually like the Celtic as previously played the Roman Road and the 2010 but with rain lately thought the more hilly course would have been better drained, I was totally wrong.

The course was sodden everywhere. We were losing plugged balls on fairways. Safer to aim for the rough that hadn’t been cut for some time and take your chances of finding your ball. Greens were excellent considering. The course should have been shut. The photo is from the fairway.

Visited the Monty course for forst time in a while. Weather has not been favourable recently so course was very wet and boggy. Some holes were very hard to play but overall a great course still.

Only slight gripe is that to sign in for the course, you have to go to the main clubhouse, when the academy shop is literally next to the start and makes more sense. Its not miles, but you park, walk away from the course, then back on yourself to start your round - would make life that little easier.

This is the 3rd time playing this course and It looks so good that I will continue to try and play it with firm fairways. Despite looking fantastic m, yet again the fairways were very boggy. I’ll try again next year.

This course is amazing. Some holes very challenging, with spectacular scenery. Especially the par 5 on the steep decline.

The only reason it did not score 5 stars all round was….

We pushed our own trolley’s around. BIG MISTAKE.

We felt like Frodo and Sam out of the lord of the rings trying to climb Mount Doom.

Some of the tee boxes are a fair distance from the last pin too so we felt we needed to walk quickly in order to prevent the people behind catching up.

Had we have hired a buggy at £55 it would have received 5 stars all round. So think twice if you are intending to push or dare I say carry your own clubs around.

We had no previous waring that the walk to the Fitst Tee is about 10 minutes from the Clubhouse, leaving no time for the warmup. A Resort map in the car park would be helpful? Then to discover that the front 9 had been switched with the back 9 two years ago. So, the GPS mapping is all wrong as the Club has failed to inform the providers of the change.

While playing, we struggled to navigate from several greens to the next Tee. The minute map on the scorecard is useless. Swapt this map with the cover page would help. Provide qqqquality signposts must be an essential requirement - we were not the only fist-timers getting lost!

It appears that switching the holes was to put the 9th green close to the refreshment cabin, but this upsets the whole architecture of the course. The original 1st, now 10th, is a forgiving introduction hole. The new 1st is a blind, sloping, downhill dogleg the finishes over water to a raised green - very demanding!

It's a shame the original 2007 course has been damaged by possible commercial pressure. We do not recommend you play this.

One to be avoided, not worth the additional money when plenty of better clubs in local vicinity

The course was challenging with many holes that couldn’t be seen, so a course planner highly recommended. The value for money to play golf was fantastic for the course.

We hired a buggy which was £55 for the round and far to expensive and personally I found it a waste of time in the end as you couldn’t drive it off the path.