Earlswood Golf Club

Earlswood is an 18-hole, pay-as-you-play course at Jersey Marine, between Neath and Swansea in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, South Wales. The club describes it as a well established, family-run course with par 3s, 4s and 5s, water hazards and bunkers, playing to a par of 68 over 5,174 yards, with views across Swansea Bay and Mumbles. No tee reservation is needed for ordinary visitors, and the course is open seven days a week from early morning until dusk. The club’s website is earlswoodgolfcourse.com; it calls itself Earlswood Golf Club, while OpenStreetMap names the ground Earlswood Golf Course.

The course sits on rising ground on the eastern side of Swansea Bay, close to Junction 42 of the M4. The Visit Wales listing calls it a natural downland-type course, others call it parkland, and both descriptions make sense once you see the club’s course planner: tree-lined holes threaded through open, rough grassland, with a handful of ponds and the occasional bunker. It is short by modern standards, with six par 3s, and it is built for value and enjoyment rather than for championship golf.

Which club is this?

A word on identity first, because the public data around this course is muddled. In OpenStreetMap the outline of the course is linked to a Wikidata item and to an English Wikipedia article, both called British Steel (Port Talbot) Golf Club. That is a different club. The Wikidata item places it about seven and a half kilometres north-east of Earlswood, and the Wikipedia article was deleted in May 2026; the deletion notice describes it as a poorly sourced article about a possibly defunct private club with 9 holes, whereas Earlswood is a public 18-hole course. None of the sources we read connects the two clubs. This page is about Earlswood, the 18-hole course at Jersey Marine, which is open and trading: its website lists current prices, opening hours and a loyalty card, and it was updated in 2025.

OpenStreetMap also gives the course a Welsh name, but the club itself uses none on its website or its course planner, so we do not repeat it here.

A family-run course from the 1990s

Earlswood publishes no history of its own, and we found none in the local press. Two directories, GolfNow and Golf Sherpa, give 1993 as the year the course was built or opened; we found no older or more detailed account. Golf Today lists the designer as Gorvett Estates. Companies House records a company of that name, Gorvett Estates Limited, registered at Pant y Sais Farm, Jersey Marine, incorporated in 1976 as George Gorvett and Son Limited and renamed in 1996, still active, with the operation of sports facilities as its declared nature of business. The club describes the course as family-run, which fits a local family business developing its own land, but no source we read sets out the link between the company and the course in so many words, and no golf course architect is named anywhere.

The Visit Wales listing calls Earlswood a municipal course, which does not match the club’s own description of a family-run, pay-as-you-play operation; we follow the club. The modest history is part of the course’s character: it was not designed to host championships or to sell expensive memberships, but to offer a full 18 holes at a low daily price to anyone who turns up.

What it asks of you

The figures below come from the club’s course planner, published as a PDF on its website, and from the club’s home page. There are two sets of tees. From the yellow tees the course measures 5,174 yards, par 68, the length the club itself quotes. From the red tees every hole is five yards shorter, which gives 5,084 yards, also par 68. The front nine is 2,768 yards and par 35 from the yellows; the back nine is 2,406 yards and par 33.

On ratings the sources do not agree. GolfNow gives a course rating of 62.1 and a slope of 104 from the yellow tees, and 63.1 and 106 from the red tees, which it marks as the women’s tees. Golf Sherpa and the 18Birdies app give 68 and 113 from the yellows, and Golfshake gives a standard scratch score of 68 from both tees. The 68 figures coincide with par and the 113 with the neutral slope, so they may be defaults rather than measured ratings; the club publishes none. A slope below 113, as on GolfNow, would mean the course plays relatively easier for a higher-handicap golfer than the rating alone suggests.

The card is shaped by its short holes. There are six par 3s, from the 15th at 121 yards to the 8th at 166 yards, and only two par 5s, the 5th at 442 yards and the 9th at 446 yards, both short for the par. Most of the par 4s fall between 300 and 375 yards; the 1st, at 274 yards, is the shortest, and the 4th, at 419 yards, the longest. Golf Sherpa’s stroke indexes rate the 9th as the hardest hole, followed by the 5th and the 14th, and the 1st as the easiest. Its table gives index 12 to both the 6th and the 10th and no hole index 13, which looks like a typing error, so check the card at the club.

Water comes into play on the outward nine at the 8th, a par 3 of 166 yards where the planner shows a pond between the tees and the green and two bunkers at the front corners of the green, and at the 9th, where ponds sit beside the tee area and to the right of the fairway a little over 100 yards from the green. On the way home there is a pond to the right of the 10th green and another crossing the 11th fairway roughly 40 to 60 yards short of its green. Bunkers are few: the planner shows them beside the greens at the 1st, 6th, 8th, 11th, 12th and 16th, and nowhere on the fairways. Several holes are lined with trees, and the planner marks individual silver birches as reference points on the 1st, 9th, 17th and 18th.

The hole everyone singles out is the 14th, a par 4 of 342 yards from the yellow tees. Visit Wales and Golf Today both say it requires a carry of a full 150 yards to reach the fairway below the tee, and Golf Sherpa describes the carry as being over a ravine. Visit Wales adds that the best holes are on the inward nine, and several golfers who left reviews agree that the back nine is the trickier half, despite being the shorter one. The ground is hilly: reviewers mention a good walk, and the photograph on the cover of the planner shows a green beneath a steep, wooded hillside.

The card, hole by hole

Yellow yardage first, then red, with par. Yardages and pars from the club’s course planner; stroke index from Golf Sherpa.

• 1st: par 4, 274 yards (269). Index 18.
• 2nd: par 3, 161 yards (156). Index 16.
• 3rd: par 4, 374 yards (369). Index 4.
• 4th: par 4, 419 yards (414). Index 6.
• 5th: par 5, 442 yards (437). Index 2.
• 6th: par 3, 133 yards (128). Index 12.
• 7th: par 4, 353 yards (348). Index 11.
• 8th: par 3, 166 yards (161). Index 8.
• 9th: par 5, 446 yards (441). Index 1.
• 10th: par 3, 164 yards (159). Index 12 on Golf Sherpa’s table.
• 11th: par 4, 346 yards (341). Index 15.
• 12th: par 4, 304 yards (299). Index 17.
• 13th: par 4, 331 yards (326). Index 7.
• 14th: par 4, 342 yards (337). Index 3.
• 15th: par 3, 121 yards (116). Index 14.
• 16th: par 3, 149 yards (144). Index 5.
• 17th: par 4, 342 yards (337). Index 9.
• 18th: par 4, 307 yards (302). Index 10.

The round opens gently, with a short par 4 and a mid-length par 3, before the 3rd, 4th and 5th ask for three long shots in a row. The two par 5s are among the shortest you will find, while the 16th, a par 3 of 149 yards with a bunker behind the green, is rated the hardest of the short holes.

What golfers say

Public reviews of Earlswood are more numerous on golf apps than on general travel sites. The material we read is the review page on Golfshake, with its category scores and written reviews, the written reviews and summary scores on Hole19 and 18Birdies, a short review summary from GolfPass, and the descriptions on Visit Wales and in golf directories. GolfNow and 1golf show no reviews. The points below summarise what recurs. They are other people’s opinions, not ours; nobody from Panxis has played the course, and we name and quote no one.

What comes up in its favour

• Value for money is the strongest and most consistent theme across every platform, with some reviewers rating it the best public course around Swansea for the money.
• The greens are praised again and again, and the course is described as well kept and dry even after heavy rain, in a condition some reviewers compare favourably with private clubs; Visit Wales makes the same point about the greens.
• The views over Swansea Bay and Mumbles are a frequent highlight.
• The layout is described as varied, interesting and more challenging than its length suggests, especially on the back nine, while still suiting beginners, with wide fairways and little pressure.
• Staff are described as friendly, and the relaxed atmosphere comes up often.

What comes up against

• Practice facilities are rated poorly on Golfshake, the lowest of its category scores.
• Food and drink, and facilities and service more generally, score low; this is a simple pay-and-play operation rather than a full members’ clubhouse.
• Pace of play draws mixed scores, slow on some Golfshake reviews and fast on 18Birdies.
• Some greens are described as on the small side, which makes them hard to hit, though others see that as part of the challenge.
• The course is hilly, and a few reviewers point out that it is a good walk.

Facilities and how to play it

According to the club’s website, visitors do not need to book a tee time; groups of ten or more can reserve one by email or by telephone on 01792 321578. Annual membership is available on request. The dress code is relaxed, societies are welcome and catering can be arranged if required. The club lists club hire, trolley hire, a shop selling sundries and gift vouchers, and runs a loyalty card under which the eleventh round is free after ten paid rounds, subject to its terms. It says the main greens and grass tees stay in use in summer and winter alike.

Directories add more, not always consistently. Golf Today lists a bar serving snacks, tea and coffee, changing rooms, a professional’s shop and equipment hire; Golf Sherpa adds putting and chipping greens, lessons from a PGA professional, showers and electric buggy hire, and GolfNow mentions a teaching professional. The club’s own website mentions neither buggies nor lessons, and Golfshake’s facilities list shows no buggy hire, so ask before relying on either. Visit Wales and Golf Today give a second telephone number, 01792 812198, described by Golf Today as the secretary’s line.

Getting there and when to go

The club’s address is Jersey Marine, Neath, SA10 6JP. GolfNow gives the postcode as SA10 6JF, which is the postcode of the registered office of Gorvett Estates Limited at Pant y Sais Farm; for satellite navigation, the club’s own postcode is the one to use. The club says the course is a few minutes from Junction 42 of the M4, and Golf Today places it about five miles east of Swansea, off the A483 by way of the B4290. It is a convenient stop for anyone driving along the M4 corridor, and it combines easily with the region’s other courses: Neath Golf Club is listed by Golfshake as about four miles away.

The course is open all year. The club’s opening times are 8am to dusk from Monday to Friday, and 7am to dusk at weekends and on bank holidays, so a winter round needs an early start, as daylight in South Wales ends in mid-afternoon in December. The club’s home page shows separate weekday and weekend prices, so a weekday round is the cheaper option. Reviewers report that the course stays dry after heavy rain, and the views over the bay that they praise are best on a clear day.

Green fees

Earlswood sets separate rates for adults, juniors and students, on weekdays and at weekends and bank holidays: see the club’s website for current prices.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location and outline of the course and its name; Wikidata, the Wikipedia deletion log and golf directories for the separate British Steel (Port Talbot) Golf Club; the Earlswood website for the description of the course, par, length, opening times, booking arrangements, membership, hire, loyalty card, dress code and address; the club’s course planner for the yardages and pars of every hole from both tees, the ponds, bunkers and trees; Visit Wales and Golf Today for the downland description, the 14th hole, the facilities, the second telephone number and the directions; GolfNow and Golf Sherpa for the 1993 date; Golf Today for the designer credit; Companies House for Gorvett Estates Limited; GolfNow, Golf Sherpa, 18Birdies and Golfshake for the ratings; Golf Sherpa for the stroke indexes; and Golfshake, Hole19, 18Birdies and GolfPass for the opinions summarised above.

Where sources disagree, we say so. Length is 5,174 yards from the yellow tees on the club’s website and planner, Golfshake, GolfNow, Golf Sherpa and 18Birdies, while GolfNow’s summary and Golfshake’s course details give 5,169 yards; Hole19 shows a card of 4,648 yards from the red tees, and BlueTees Golf lists hole yardages adding up to about 4,890 yards, neither of which matches the club’s planner. Course rating and slope are 62.1 and 104 from the yellows on GolfNow, against 68 and 113 on Golf Sherpa and 18Birdies. Visit Wales calls the course municipal, the club family-run. Directories describe it as parkland or downland. Golf Sherpa’s facilities list includes buggies and practice greens that the club does not mention. The postcode is SA10 6JP for the club and SA10 6JF on GolfNow. Hole19 places the course in Skewen. The course planner on the club’s website was uploaded in 2017 and carries no date of its own, so a layout change since then cannot be ruled out. The 1golf and GolfPass pages refused our requests, BlueTees Golf hides most of its hole data behind a registration, and we found no history of the course in the local press or on the club’s site.

The opinion section summarises reviews and directory descriptions read in October 2026. We report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we reproduce no quotations from reviewers. Nobody from Panxis has played or visited this course, and this page is no substitute for a round.

The club has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say over its content. This page contains no commercial link and earns us no commission. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.

Other courses nearby

Closest to this one in our British directory:

• Fairwood Park Golf Club — 8 mi
• Langland Bay Golf Club — 9 mi
• Llanishen Golf Club — 29 mi
• Cardiff Golf Club — 30 mi