An ode to the dormy house
Jeremy Ellwood recounts some of his fondest memories from dormy house stays during the course of his golfing travels
here’s something about staying in a golf club dormy house that really does it for me, especially out of season for some strange reason. I’ve been racking my brains to pinpoint what perhaps triggered this enduring appeal, and believe my first ever dormy house experience was at this year’s Open Championship venue, Royal St George’s in Kent, many years ago on a Golf Monthly winter away day.
The dormy rooms there are primarily for the use of members and their guests, as are the ones 50 miles south-west down the coast at Rye, but the vast majority are open to all, including those
Tat Royal Lytham & St Annes, where I have also been fortunate enough to stay on a couple of occasions. However, when I say ‘vast majority’, we are talking about the vast majority of a relatively small number, for there is still, perhaps slightly surprisingly, only a handful of clubs throughout the country that offer small-scale on-site accommodation, though I believe that figure is slowly growing.
Apart from those two Open Championship venues, I’ve stayed at three more dormy houses over the years – Tenby, Royal Porthcawl and Pyle & Kenfig, all in south Wales – plus the ‘Fairway Lodge’ at Bigbury Golf Club in Devon last year, which is
effectively a dormy house in all but name. The Lodge at Cowdray Park in Sussex and the rooms at Gower Golf Club in Wales are a couple of others I’ve stayed at that spring to mind when it comes to small on-site accommodation offerings. Other clubs where I know members of the GM team have stayed in dormy houses include Burnham & Berrow in Somerset, Alnmouth in Northumberland, Formby in Lancashire and Aberdovey and Royal St David’s on the west Wales coast.
Lone ranger
For the last three or four Januaries I have gone away alone for a couple of nights for a bit of early-year thinking time, usually to small-scale golf club accommodation and typically on the coast. Last year it was Prince’s, Royal St George’s next-door neighbour, which is admittedly several notches above dormy house status, but my other trips have taken me to Royal Porthcawl, Cowdray Park and then Tenby and Pyle & Kenfig just a week into this year.
Sometimes the accommodation is purpose-built, but more often it’s a conversion of existing buildings or space. In several instances, it’s former staff accommodation, as at Pyle & Kenfig close to Royal Porthcawl, which opted to convert its steward’s flat into four ensuite twin rooms about five years ago, while Cowdray’s Lodge is the former clubhouse.
It was the same at Tenby in Pembrokeshire, where I had stayed previously about seven years ago on a whirlwind trip around Wales with GM photographer Kevin Murray. Here, however, the number of rooms has grown from the three originally converted from the steward’s flat with the addition of four more purpose-built rooms in 2014. “It was quickly apparent that demand had outgrown supply,” club secretary/manager, David Hancock, told me in January when I asked about this expansion since my previous visit. “However, it was also apparent that one of the main requests for stay-and-play visits was from the small society group (10-14 players) looking for a short golfing break.”
Even though the majority of my dormy house visits have been solo, that first visit to Royal St George’s was with about that number of people, as was another memorable Golf Monthly trip to Royal Porthcawl a few years ago to celebrate (if that’s the right word) my 50th birthday. So I can understand the appeal of a group of mates wanting to go somewhere where they can simply park up on arrival and then potentially not use the car again until the journey home, and where the environment is a little more personal and cosy than it might be at one or our many fine golf hotels and resorts. I guess it’s that kind of home from home experience where the atmosphere is more akin to that of your home club’s bar than a hotel bar.
“It’s not about luxury and grandeur – it’s about being there at the heart of the golf club at the start of the day”
In the heart of the action
For me as a solo traveller, I think the appeal is simply going to sleep and then waking up at a golf club. Having worked at a golf club for a number of years, and in the industry for over a quarter of a century, there is still something about the golf club environment that means it is where I’m at my most comfortable and happy when away from home. My natural habitat, if you like.
It’s certainly not usually about the standard of accommodation, for although the dormy rooms I’ve stayed in have always been warm and comfortable, we are generally not talking five-star standard here. The rooms can sometimes be quite small, but that kind of adds to the appeal for me. It’s not about luxury and grandeur – it’s about being there at the heart of the golf club at the start of the day before anyone else, and potentially up and about around the club before anyone other than the greenkeepers.
I have to confess that when I’m visiting golf courses, I quite often find myself thinking this would be a great place to wake up in the morning. The eyecatching yellow-painted ‘castle’ at Dunfermline Golf Club in Fife springs to mind, as does the grand building in Thrybergh Park that Rotherham Golf Club uses as its clubhouse. If others enjoy the dormy house experience as
much as me, I would say adding on-site accommodation is certainly one avenue of diversification clubs might want to consider or explore.
One of my favourite dormy house memories is of wandering out of my room at Royal Porthcawl, mug of steaming coffee in hand, to greet the dawn and gaze out over the links and beach as the sun gradually rose. Another memory is from that first trip to Royal St George’s with the GM team, where we hadn’t quite clocked the distinct absence of late-night taxis before heading out for a team curry in Sandwich. Faced with a long walk home, we somehow managed to grease the palm of the curry house owner sufficiently for him to agree to ferry us back to the golf club.
Food, glorious food
Where to eat is one thing you have to factor in, especially out of season when the clubhouse won’t be open in the evenings. A bit of research is essential here, but usually you are not too far away from somewhere decent.
Hancock feels that is one of the big pulls of Tenby. “I think where we may have the advantage over other golf clubs that offer accommodation is that Tenby has become such a popular and attractive tourist resort now, and there are excellent restaurants and pubs within a ten-minute walk of the club.”
On this January’s visit I resisted the temptation to bounce around the local hostelries because of impending work deadlines, and it was the same at Pyle & Kenfig, despite two decent-looking pubs within a mile or so. For those travelling alone, staying at a deserted golf club a little way from immediate civilisation may not appeal, but I had no such qualms and actually relished the solitude and quiet.
And, of course, the majority who visit are likely to be in groups of varying sizes, and that is where the dormy house really comes into its own. Most rooms will be twins or doubles, and prices to stay and play when sharing can be extremely eye-catching, sometimes to the point of it appearing that either the accommodation or golf are almost ‘free’ relative to normal prices, depending on how you apportion the cost.
It’s certainly a very cost-effective way to play the Open links at Royal Lytham, while also giving you the opportunity to savour all the rich history sealed within the clubhouse walls. But it’s invariably an extremely costeffective way to sort the golf and accommodation at any dormy house you might choose to visit.
At Tenby, for example, one night with breakfast and two rounds of golf starts from just £79.50 per person out of season based on two sharing, and from £119 per person in the summer. At Pyle & Kenfig, the equivalent rates are £99 per person out of season and £130 per person midweek in the summer. At Clyne Golf Club, also in south Wales, where my GM colleague Rob Smith is heading later this year, they offer bed and breakfast plus unlimited golf in the winter for £49 per person based on two sharing! And summer prices for dinner, bed and breakfast plus two rounds were just £89.50 based on twin
“Most rooms will be twins or doubles, and prices to stay and play when sharing can be eye-catching”
occupancy when I checked their website for this feature.
One perhaps surprisingly common word throughout this article has been ‘Wales’, which is undoubtedly blessed with a higher ratio of golf club dormy houses than the other home nations. Why? I don’t really know. I’m tempted to say an element of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’, which I guess would be understandable in this part of the world. But I suspect it’s more about seizing the opportunity, and I do feel there is perhaps a lesson to be learned here at a time when diversifying in some way may be the key to long-term health and survival for many clubs. Put me down as a real dormy house fan, please.