NORTHERN FRANCE
Northern France is blessed with more courses per square kilometre than anywhere else in the country. Many have been designed by Brits, our green fees help sustain them and it’s hard to imagine even the combined threats of Covid-19 and Brexit shattering the golfing equivalent of this entente cordiale. So, when you next venture across the water... Where to play
Let’s work our way from east to west and identify the very best courses. Starting just south of Calais, there is a fabulous cluster of quality options.
Hardelot’s Les Dunes and Les Pins have both recently undergone big improvements that have propelled them further up the rankings.
Nearby Le Touquet has another glorious old course that has benefited from an extensive makeover. La Mer is spectacular; its views, bunkering and contouring all contribute to an unforgettable experience.
Head a little further south along the Côte d’opale for beautiful Belle
Dune. More youthful than the others, it can hold its own in the smartest of company. Located in the heart of a pretty nature reserve, it weaves first through maritime pines and then a number of towering dunes.
Leaving Pas de Calais we now enter Normandy to play one of the oldest courses in France, Golf de
Dieppe-pourville. It’s a wonderful clifftop course with superb views. Designed in 1897 by Willie Park Junior, son of the first Open Champion, it’s the oldest course in Normandy and the seventh oldest in France. It reeks of history and the clubhouse is a classic that has undergone extensive renovation.
There’s another old and even more spectacular clifftop course on the western edge of the delightful seaside town of Étretat; when the wind howls, keeping your ball in play at
Golf d’étretat can be a struggle. Further south and west we arrive at fashionable Deauville with its wide, sandy beach. A mile or so inland is the superb Golf Barrière
Deauville. With great views over the town, this Tom Simpson parkland course enjoys plenty of elevation.
Omaha Beach has four loops of nine including the loveliest of the lot, La Mer. German defences next to the sixth green that rained fire on the Allied forces scrambling up the beach below put double bogeys into perspective.
Around on the western side of the Cotentin Peninsula is possibly the purest links course in France. A classic Colt design with distinctive plateau greens, Golf de Granville recently celebrated its centenary and has benefited from a fair amount of refurbishment. Fashion designer Christian Dior, who lived nearby, loved the course and the Dior Cup remains an annual competition to this day.
Heading further west, we enter Brittany, where the rugged terrain and wilder weather is reminiscent of Scotland. Just to the west of St Malo is the stunning links course at Dinard, with views of the sea on every hole and one of the most beautiful clubhouses in the world.
Drive for about an hour further west and you come to Pléneuf-valandré, a glorious clifftop course that has hosted the Challenge Tour in recent years. The views are spectacular and the thrilling 11th hole is worth the green fee alone.
The final selection is a little way down Brittany’s Atlantic coast. Not far from Lorient, Ploemeur Océan is an absolute joy. Half the holes are links while the other half are inland and almost parkland in character. The combination of the two styles doubles the pleasure of this attractive seaside challenge.
Off the course
If a succession of kind bounces and fluky putts leaves you feeling lucky, you might be tempted to extend your run of good fortune at the casino in Deauville. And if you prefer horses to a pack of cards then there’s a lovely racecourse right in the middle of town. August is the best time to go racing as there’s a meeting pretty well every day and admission is remarkably cheap compared to the UK. And if you’re feeling brave, sand yachting is available at a number of beaches in Normandy and Brittany – as the name suggests, it’s yachting, but on sand.