I landed in London on Monday morning, drove almost four hours to Swansea (bad traffic), dropped bags at Morgans Hotel and played Pennard in the afternoon. I echo a common tip to Americans taking the redeye from NY to the UK: Push through the first day without taking a nap. It's the only way to hobble jet lag.
There will be a few stories in Golf Digest and Golf World about this trip to Wales, but here are some pictures to kick off the coverage:
The first thing I noticed at Pennard was the black cows roaming the course. This fuel efficient Toro was trimming the edge of the third tee:
With grazing cattle comes the need to keep them off the putting surface. Hence the short electrical wire surrounding the first green: 
Not all of the wires are hot all of the time, but I wasn't about to test the system. I've witnessed a playing partner top the current when I was on a trip to Scotland. He was lining up a putt and dropped his anchor. Zow! As in a Batman comic. This guy looked like someone tipped his chair forward and he lined up the rest of his putts that day Villegas-style.
The other adverse condition to cows on the course:
Pies attract the little guys. I was encouraged to see some juniors playing Pennard. Meet (from left to right): Aled White, 18, Tai Yasuda, 18, Tom Radcliffe, 12, and Callum Dale, 14.
These scrappers are all locals. Kids will usually pay about 100 pounds per year for unlimited golf at a club like Pennard. They told me they love links golf in Wales, that they play a lot of match play, they usually bet Pro V1s and that the best game they play is, "Touch the wire."
Loser has to touch the live wire near the green. Shocking, sorry, but it's true.
Pennard gets real good at about the seventh hole, when you start playing out to Three Cliffs Bay:
The old church ruins on the seventh fairway reminded me a little of North Berwick, in Scotland. Emphasis on "a little." But ruins on the course are undefeated in the charm column.
I made my first birdie of the day at the 207-yard 13th, which was charming:
Some of the best views of Three Cliffs Bay were from the 16th hole:
My foursome let through so many twosomes that the never ending round tested the longest day of the year. Here's the view of the Pennard clubhouse under the light of the moon as I walked off the 18th green:
You can play Pennard for 40 pounds during the week, 50 pounds on the weekends. Cows, kids, pies, wires, ruins and sweet scenery are all included.
--Matty G.
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