Founded 1904, designed by James Braid
Machynlleth Golf Club has been playing golf on the edge of town since 1904, on a 9-hole heathland course designed by James Braid — the great Scottish champion whose course architecture shaped golf across Britain. The course sits on Ffordd Drenewydd (Newtown Road), SY20 8UH, just outside the centre along the A489, and its undulating fairways and grass bunkers make it a proper test rather than a gentle knockabout: in February 2023 Today's Golfer ranked it number 75 in its list of the top 100 courses in Wales, remarkable company for a small-town nine-holer. Play it twice from different tees for a full 18-hole round with the Dyfi Valley hills for a backdrop. Heathland golf is its own pleasure — springy turf, honest lies and greens that reward a thoughtful approach rather than brute length — and Braid's routing makes clever use of the sloping ground, so the second nine plays noticeably differently from the first.
Visitors welcome — £20 for 9 holes, £30 for 18
This is a friendly, unstuffy club and visitors are positively welcomed. You can simply turn up and pay your green fee via the honesty box or by card, or book online in advance; the club's own website quotes £20 for 9 holes and £30 for 18. For tee times, society enquiries or anything else, phone the club on 01654 702000. Golfers staying in town will find the course an easy few minutes from any of the accommodation on our where to stay page — the Wynnstay on Heol Maengwyn, a Georgian coaching inn, is a natural nineteenth hole, and the town's real-ale pubs are covered on our pubs page.
Pitch-and-putt for beginners and juniors
Alongside the main course, the club has a short pitch-and-putt course made up of three greens, each with three tees — nine short holes ideal for beginners, juniors and anyone whose swing needs a low-pressure outing before facing Braid's bunkers. It makes the club a genuinely family-friendly option: one half of the party can play the full nine while the rest try the short course, and nobody has to take it too seriously. Golfing parents introducing children to the game will struggle to find a friendlier place to do it in Mid Wales.
Playing it: nine greens, eighteen holes
Played twice round, the course measures about 5,726 yards to a par of 68 from the men's yellow tees and about 5,150 yards to a par of 70 from the red — short by modern standards, and no pushover. The defences are slope and turf, not length. Braid's routing runs up and across the hillside, so you are rarely on a level lie; the bunkers are grassed hollows rather than sand, which punish a fat approach in a way that takes getting used to; and the second circuit, from different tees with the wind shifted, sets a fresh problem on holes you thought you had solved. Top 100 Golf Courses, which lists it as the only nine-holer in its Welsh selection, notes that “absolutely nothing has changed here in over a hundred years” — exactly the appeal. Warm up on the 150-yard practice area and putting green; clubs, trolleys and electric trolleys can be hired, and visitors are welcome every day. Pair a round with the town's attractions or, on a Wednesday, the street market.
The Braid connection — and the links at Aberdovey
James Braid (1870–1950) was one of golf's giants: five Open Championships (1901, 1905, 1906, 1908 and 1910), one of the Great Triumvirate with Harry Vardon and J.H. Taylor, and designer or remodeller of more than 200 courses, among them the King's and Queen's at Gleneagles and the 1926 redesign of Carnoustie. That such a man laid out nine holes above a Mid Wales market town in 1904 is a small miracle.
For a full championship day, the links at Aberdovey are 11.7 miles away on the north shore of the estuary — about 21 minutes by car, 22 by train, or the G21 bus (see getting around). Founded in July 1892, it hosted the Welsh Golfing Union's first championship in 1895 and was the lifelong love of the golf writer Bernard Darwin, who called it “the course that my soul loves best of all the courses in the world”. Herbert Fowler's 1920 work is largely responsible for today's layout; Braid added length and bunkers there in 1931 and the members voted to undo it two years later. Green fees are far steeper than Machynlleth's — roughly £75 in winter to around £125–£135 for a summer round — and tee times want booking on 01654 767493. More on the village on our Aberdyfi page.
While you play: what the rest of the family can do
A nine-hole round doesn't take long, but non-golfers have plenty to fill a morning. In town there are the free galleries of MOMA Machynlleth, the Parliament House exhibition (Wed, Fri & Sat), the independent shops of Maengwyn Street and, on Wednesdays, the 730-year-old street market. Children are well served by the park at Y Plas and the pool at Bro Ddyfi Leisure Centre — see our family days out page — while wildlife-watchers can be at the Dyfi Osprey Project in ten minutes by car, where ospreys fish the estuary from roughly April to early September. Steam-railway fans have the Corris Railway 5.6 miles up the A487, with King Arthur's Labyrinth alongside it at the Corris Craft Centre — easily enough for a full day while eighteen holes are played. If the golfer in the party fancies a second course, the harbour village of Aberdyfi, 11.7 miles away on the north side of the estuary, is famous for its links golf beside the beach.
Practical Information
Machynlleth Golf Club, Ffordd Drenewydd (Newtown Road), Machynlleth SY20 8UH; telephone 01654 702000. Green fees at the time of writing are £20 for 9 holes and £30 for 18, paid by honesty box, card or online booking — check the club's website (machgolfclub.co.uk) for current fees and any competition-day restrictions before travelling. The course is a few minutes from the town centre along the A489; the railway station, with direct trains from Shrewsbury and Birmingham on the Cambrian Line, is about five minutes' walk from the clock tower — see getting here. Combine a round with lunch in town from our eat & drink guide.
Day trips