It hardly seems like a month has gone by since we witnessed one of the most memorable European Ryder Cup victories of all time. When Graeme McDowell closed out his match against American Hunter Mahan at the tricky par 3 17th hole on Celtic Manor’s stadium-like 2010 Course to secure Europe’s narrow victory the crowd went wild!

Fast forward a year and you’d hardly know a major tournament had visited. There’s no trace of the damage that was done to the fairways when the thousands that flocked to Wales to watch the drama ended up sliding around on mud drenched waterlogged fairways. The condition of the 2010 course is absolutely A1 again, grass has been carefully replaced and the course has been tastefully restored to immaculate condition. The greens are super slick and perfect to putt on, the fairways like lush carpets and the tees and surrounds look like they belong to a bowling green. More...

Although not well-known to the British public as a golf destination, you will be hearing a lot more about Italy as it is benefitting from substantial investment over the coming years from Tourist Boards purely to promote golf. With 269 golf courses (6th largest in Europe) of which some are designed by legends such as Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Robert Von Hagge, why isn’t Italy more popular, especially given the allure of the other Italian traits such as great gastronomy, the relaxed lifestyle and the warm weather amongst others?

It so happened that this April, I was able to experience first-hand what the country had to offer when I found myself in the beautiful region of Emilia Romagna (just above half way up the boot for those whose geography isn’t the best). Emilia Romagna is one of our best-selling destinations in Italy and the region runs from Parma in the north-west, through Modena and Bologna down to Rimini on the Adriatic coast in the east. More...

When Dean Bennett, a member of our Customer Service team, went on a whistle stop tour to Wales to visit The Vale Resort on a sunny weekend, he took note of some useful information and tips for when visiting this venue.

One of the many perks of going on a fam trip (a familiarization trip) is that we are fortunate enough to play on some superb golf courses. When visiting The Vale, it was a beautiful sunny day and we were raring to tackle a round on The Wales National, one of the longest courses outside of the USA!! The Wales National course provided a rather interesting challenge for the whole group, which were a mixture of all sorts of handicaps. As a beginner golfer, I found the par 3 14th a really interesting hole. After landing the tee shot from a raised platform off of the green, a delightful chip sank for the only birdie of the round!! More...

After lunch at the Vale had settled, we jumped into cars again for the short half an hour drive down the M4 over to Newport. Driving through the opening gates and going up the winding uphill road to the Celtic Manor Resort had me buzzing with anticipation. The 400 room resort looms over Christchurch Hill, offering long distance views of Newport and its surrounding areas. Driving around the hotel over to the main entrance, you are rewarded with views of The Montgomerie, formerly the Coldra Woods course, and it’s impressive “Lodge”, which serves as a clubhouse for The Montgomerie and Roman Road courses.

The car was left with a very friendly valet, our golf clubs were checked in to a golf storage area, and we went to check in to our rooms. While I was waiting to check in, I realised that this was possibly the nicest hotel I’d stayed in, and I was only in the lobby at this point! It’s not every day someone parks the car for you, and looks after your golf clubs the second you step in to the hotel. 10 minutes later and I was up on the 6th floor walking down to my room, More...

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to stay at 2 of the most highly regarded golf resorts in the south of Wales – The Vale Golf Resort, and Celtic Manor Resort, and now you lucky people can hear all about it!
We left (the comparatively flat) Berkshire area on the Friday evening, and it took us just shy of 2 hours to make it to the Welsh border via the M4 westbound. After a short hop over the Severn Bridge (and paying £5.70 for the pleasure) it wasn’t long before we reached the welcoming sight of Celtic Manor overlooking the motorway, and teasing us for what laid in store the following day. A few more minutes and we arrived at our first destination – The Vale.

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On the 15th of October 2010, 14 employees of Golfbreaks.com left the office and wedged golf clubs and overnight bags into overloaded cars for the drive up to Leicester, praying the Friday night traffic wouldn’t hit too hard. This was going to be a good weekend – 2 visits to 2 hotels, and experiencing the delights that Manchester has to offer.  More...

As I’m sure some of my colleagues who were present will be doing - I find myself writing a review about part of a lovely weekend away I had at Marriott Worsley Park Hotel and Country Club.

Upon our arrival, my colleagues and I were greeted by some extremely friendly hotel staff, who were as excited as us to be there. We were all given one of the hotel's signature bacon rolls, cut from a freshly cooked joint of ham, which put me in a very appreciative and positive mood for the golf ahead of us. 2 cups of tea later, and I was ready to get on the course.  More...