France
A feature from the IAGTO Directory
2018
France
France 2018 Ryder Cup host offers great golf with an essence of je ne sais quoi For three days at the end of September 2018, France will be the focal point of the sporting world when the golf stars of Europe and the USA battle it out in the 42nd Ryder Cup in Paris.
15th hole, Le Golf National
Each day, an expected 70,000 spectators will watch the biennial event unfold on the Albatros course at Le Golf National, in south-west suburb Saint-Quentin-enYvelines, while a TV audience of almost 500 million from 180 countries will make it the world’s third most-watched sports spectacle after football’s World Cup and the Olympic Games.
Whatever the outcome, it will enable the world’s most-visited tourist destination to showcase itself globally for its golf. With 600 golf courses of at least nine holes, France has the third-highest number of facilities in Europe behind England (1,907 courses) and Germany (732 courses) and offering more than Spain and Portugal (349 and 87 courses respectively) combined. More than 160 courses are IAGTO-affiliated, 111 have on-site accommodation and around 50 offer spas. Its golf courses encompass a variety of settings and styles, including seaside links, parkland and mountain golf courses as well as those set amidst vineyards. Many also rank among Continental Europe’s top 100 golf courses.
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© Peter Ellegard
France
Almost 200,000 foreign French delegation golfers play in France each year. at IGTM 2017 Its top markets are the UK and Ireland (40%), Netherlands (14%), Belgium (12%), Switzerland/Austria (10%) and Germany (10%), followed by Spain, Italy, the US/Canada and Japan/China/Korea.
National tourist board Atout France is aiming to boost awareness of the country’s golf product through the Ryder Cup. At the 2017 International Golf Travel Market in Cannes it spearheaded France’s biggestever delegation, hosting a final night Ryder Cup party to highlight regional gastronomies. Marketing directory Sophie Lacressonnière says: “It is a huge opportunity to position France as a golf destination. France is known for its great gastronomy, culture and diversity but not enough for its golf. So this is the most important occasion for us to say there is a huge range of golf in France, and that visitors who come for the gastronomy, culture and everything else can play golf during their stay.” A Play Golf in France website has also been developed by IAGTO to showcase the various regional golf destinations (www.playgolfInfrance.com).
10th hole, Le Golf National 47
France
Paris and environs Golfers who want to combine golf and a stay in France’s vibrant and beautiful capital can tee off in style just a short drive from Paris, with its glorious monuments, museums, shopping and nightlife.
6th hole, Le Golf National
Le Golf National opened in 1990 as a national centre for golf in France, with architects Hubert Chesneau and Robert von Hagge creating the Albatros stadium course – which will host not only the 2018 Ryder Cup but also the 2024 Olympics golf events – from ploughed fields and landfill. It recently underwent a 10-month makeover to improve irrigation and drainage and to add wooden edging to its lakes, while renovations to the on-site Novotel hotel included adding a spa and gym. The resort also offers the 18-hole Aigle and nine-hole Oiselet courses.
UGOLF Exclusiv Château de Cély
While several top-ranking courses in the Paris area are private – among them Morfontaine, Saint-Nomla-Bretèche and Saint Germain – there are more than two dozen courses around the capital visitors can play. They include UGOLF Exclusiv Château de Cély, Domaine de Crécy, Golf de Fontainebleau, Golf Disneyland and Golf de Chantilly.
Northern France The Opal Coast (Côte d’Opale) is a popular holiday destination whose attractions take in seaside resorts with thalassotherapy centres along its 120km of beaches, dunes and cliffs, wonderful nature ideal for hiking and cycling, great gastronomy from local produce to wonderful restaurants, cultural appeal in the form of historic cities, museums, exhibitions and shows, and sports such as sailing, kite surfing and paddle boarding. It also offers a full calendar of festivals and events. Les Dunes, Golf d’Hardelot
Golf was first introduced by the British, around resorts including Le Touquet and Hardelot-Plage. Today, there are 11 18-hole courses and three ninehole courses. The region’s nine golf clubs have combined to offer a golf pass for visiting golfers.
Among its courses are: Golf du Touquet Golf Resort, where the Harry Colt-designed La Mer course has recently undergone renovation to restore it to Colt’s original design, and which also has the 18-hole La Forêt and nine-hole Le Manoir courses; Golf d’Hardelot, featuring celebrated Tom Simpson layout Les Pins, also recently restored, and sister course Les Dunes; links courses Golf de Wimereux and Golf de Belle Dune; Aa Saint Omer Golf Club; Ladies French Open venue Golf d’Arras; and Golf d’Abbeville.
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Golf de Belle Dune
France
Normandy
Golf de Dieppe
Easily accessible via air, land and sea, and with a 600km coastline bordering the English Channel – or La Manche, as it is known in France – this most beguiling of French regions has long tempted visitors from near and far. Hardly surprising, given the allure of its stunning cliffs and beaches, historic towns and cities, picture-postcard villages and its celebration of food and drink, quite apart from the infectious joie de vivre of its inhabitants. Normandy has also attracted visiting golfers for over a century and today offers a choice of over 30 courses, two dozen of them offering at least 18 holes. Settings range from clifftop and seaside locations, including one of France’s few links courses, to rolling parkland, dense woodland and the Seine Valley, close to the meandering river. Golf is remarkably good value in Normandy, particularly through the Normandy Golf Pass, which offers combined green fee packages for nine of its best courses.
Barrière Golf Deauville
Courses include: Barrière Golf Deauville, overlooking chic seaside resort Deauville; Golf d’Étretat, spectacularly set atop chalk cliffs; Golf d’Omaha Beach, above the World War II Normandy Landing beach; historic Golf de Dieppe; the forested Golf du Champ de Bataille; and links course Golf de Granville.
Brittany Surrounded on three sides by water and with 2,730km of coastline, Brittany is deeply rooted in both the land and the sea, offering breathtaking landscapes where visitors can discover glorious beaches, rugged cliff-lined coasts, islands that comprise France’s largest coastal bird sanctuary, moorland, ancient forests, beguiling villages and medieval walled towns. Its cultural heritage is celebrated in numerous festivals and events, among them traditional fest-noz Breton dance festivals.
Golf Blue Green Pléneuf-Val-André
Brittany’s golf courses span everything from links to manicured parkland, in settings including cliff tops, forests, seaside and riverside, and are remarkably uncrowded and reasonably priced. Golf can form part of a break that includes spa and wellness activities, gastronomy, exploring cities, heritage and history through its forts and castles, and water sports. The region’s best courses include: Dinard Golf, established in 1887 and France’s second-oldest course; Les Ormes Golf & Resort, on a château estate now a holiday resort on the Emerald Coast; Saint Malo Golf Resort; former National Open venue Golf Blue Green Saint Laurent; Golf de Cornouaille; Golf Blue Green Pléneuf-Val-André; and Golf de Brest Iroise, France’s most westerly course.
Dinard Golf 49
France
South West The south-western corner of France offers visitors contrasting cities two hours apart: Bordeaux, the stately wine capital of the world with 65 appellations and a UNESCO World Heritage-listed historic heart, and elegant Biarritz, a seaside town on the Bay of Biscay that has been attracting holidaymakers since Europe’s royal families began visiting in the mid-1800s. Bordeaux, known as the Pearl of Aquitaine, is ideal as a base for a golf, gastronomy and wine holiday with courses close to the city and the opportunity Golf du Médoc for visitors to visit vineyards and enjoy the area’s wines, cuisine and culture. Courses include the two 18-hole layouts at Golf du Médoc, Les Châteaux and Les Vignes, with both having every hole named after a wine château, and Grand Saint-Emilionnais Golf Club, American designer Tom Doak’s first Continental Europe layout and just six miles from wine town Saint-Émilion. Biarritz has 16 golf courses within a 100km radius, in the Basque Country (courses include Golf de Biarritz le Phare, Golf de Chiberta and Golf d’Arcangues), the Landes (courses include Golf de Moliets, Golf Blue Green Seignosse and Golf Club Hossegor) and the Bearn Pyrenees (including Pau Golf Club, the oldest golf course in Continental Europe).
Golf Blue Green Seignosse
Provence-Côte d’Azur The French Riviera enjoys exceptionally sunny weather with many treasures to unravel: an outstanding cultural heritage, sublime landscapes that have inspired greatest artists, magnificent countryside, tranquil hilltop villages, pristine beaches with blue azure waters, Mediterranean cuisine and an indulgent lifestyle. Not to mention chic seaside resorts such as Nice and Cannes, host to the 20th IGTM in December 2017. The Côte d’Azur has 17 courses open for green fee play, 10 of them located in towns around perfume capital Grasse. The courses include the historic Old Course of CannesTerre Blanche Mandelieu, established in 1891, Cannes-Mougins and Saint Donat country clubs, Royal Mougins Golf Resort and Open Golf Club venues Grande Bastide and Opio Valbonne. The neighbouring Var department offers a further 15 courses a short drive away, with its facilities including Terre Blanche – named Europe Golf Resort of the Year in the 2013 IAGTO Awards – as well as Saint Endréol and Dolce Fregate golf resorts, the Robert Trent Jones Sr-designed Golf Blue Green L’Esterel and Pete Dye’s Barbaroux golf courses. In total, the six departments of the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur region offer almost 65 golf courses, nearly 10% of all France’s golf courses. The new Côte d’Azur Golf Pass gives golfers special deals for multiple rounds on 20 partner golf courses in the area. 50
Saint Endréol
France
Pyrennees-Mediterranean This region comprises 200km of Mediterranean coastline, much of it sandy beaches, the marshy Camargue area famous for its flamingos and horses, fishing ports, the Pyrenees, thermal spas, extensive vineyards, pilgrimage centre Golf Club Montpellier Massane clubhouse Lourdes, Roman Nimes and Narbonne, medieval towns such as Cahors, artists’ favourite Collioure, bustling cities including Toulouse and Perpignan, and World Heritage Sites including walled Carcassonne, Cathar Castles, the Vauban Fortresses and the Canal du Midi.
Carcassonne
Among its golf courses are Golf Club de Nimes, Golf de la Grande Motte, Golf Club Montpellier Massane, Golf International du Cap d’Agde, Golf de Nimes Vacquerolles and Golf de Falgos.
Other areas There are more excellent golf courses in other parts of France, too. Among them, Evian Resort, overlooking Lake Geneva, hosts the Evian Championship, the fifth and final Major in the LPGA Tour’s calendar and the only ladies’ Major to be held in Continental Europe, each September. Les Bordes Golf Club’s water-lined course is a design by Robert von Hagge in the Loire Valley that ranks among the very best courses both in France and Europe. The Kempferhof, a resort located 15 minutes from Strasbourg, features another von Hagge course regarded as one of the most beautiful in Europe and a château hotel. Parkland golf course Golf de Reims is less than 10 minutes from Reims in the heart of the Champagne region. Golf Vittel Ermitage offers two courses, one dating back to 1905, in the spa town of Vittel in Lorraine. For more information, visit www.playgolfinfrance.com (launching early 2018) By Peter Ellegard
Evian Resort
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Cover Photo: Resor t at Pelican Hill • www.pelicanhill.com
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