Le Touquet and northern France

Has anybody played golf at Le Touquet or any of the other courses in the area?

Preliminary searches indicate that Le Touquet La Mer and Hardelot Les Pins are the 2 must-play courses in the area, but would be interested to hear what you guys have to say about the quality of these venues and the other courses worth playing.

Planning a trip in mid-September and looking for any advice about courses to play, places to stay, things to do, tips on getting there etc.

Thanks all!

St Omer where they play a European Tour/ Challenge Tour event while the US Open is on is well worth a look.

Hardelot and Le Touquet are the best courses in the area. There are a few built more recently that I haven't played.

As I recall the courses seem to be very quiet. That's true of all French courses in my experience. They are expensive, the clubs have a stuffy atmosphere, not at all like Britain or Spain.

That area is Paris sur la plage until September, when everyone leaves. Don't expect a Marbella style nightlife, it's pretty quiet after the end of August.

Belle Dune is well worth a visit and is just along the coast from Le Touquet

Thanks guys.

At the moment we are looking at playing 4 rounds: St Omer, Belle Dune, Hardelot les Pins and finishing at Le Touquet la Mer.

Good luck at getting a mortgage for that trip!

You might be able to save a bit by playing both the Hardelot courses, or both the Le Touquet courses rather than one of each.

Thought I would report back to the gang on how we found our trip.

Day 1: Hardelot Les Pins

After a trouble free drive from north London to Kent, we boarded the shuttle at Folkestone on time. This was the first time I had done this and I was really impressed with the efficiency of the set up - it is so easy to get to the end of the motorway and then drive on to the train, and of course you can just load up the boot with all your stuff and not have to worry about suitcase weight or packing your clubs into travel bags. Also pretty handy to stock up on wine on the return trip!
When we emerged from the tunnel the sun was shining, and only 30 minutes later we had left the "Autoroute" and were rolling in to the golf club car park. After a spot of lunch on the terrace overlooking the 18th green we  headed out.
Les Pins lives up to its name... the course is situated in a forest and holes meander between stands of mature pines, giving many holes a lovely feeling of seclusion. In places, the trees encroach a little too much, and extensive restoration work is in progress to bring the course back to the same playing characteristics envisioned by the architect Tom Simpson in the 1930's. See this thread for some great photos and architectural insight: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,46034.0.html
I found the routing of the course fantastic with some really great holes mixing risk and reward with. I hit a hybrid or long iron off the tee on many holes whereas one of my mates pretty much smashed his driver on every hole and had some really good birdie opportunities but also lost several balls in the trees. 9 was a great hole, par 4 double dogleg with a draw required off the tee over a mound of fairway bunkers to a hidden fairway, then a faded second shot around trees to an elevated green. I found the par 3's delightful but fairly straightforward. All of them required only a short iron, with the challenge coming in the form of heavy bunkering and tricky sloping greens. At 6500 yards from the back tees it's not a long course by modern standards and with 5 par fives as well, this course isn't that difficult to score on if you can keep it straight.
I was surprised by the slow pace of the greens however. I expected firmer faster greens given that European Tour qualifying is in progress here this week.

Day 2: Belle Dune

Another sunny day, and what a beautiful course! About 40 minutes south of Le Touquet, Belle Dune is set in a protected nature reserve and the course starts with some holes through a forest where avoiding the trees is key, then moves into the dunes with some fantastic links style holes which are really exposed to the wind and have significant changes in elevation, then finishes with some flatter holes skirting marshland with prominent water hazards. 8 was a cracking hole with a drive from an elevated tee past a WW2 gun turret then an uphill approach toward a green high up in the dunes. The holes in the dunes were the most spectacular with much greater changes in elevation than I've seen on any UK links course, but ultimately I couldn't really describe them as links holes. I found the greens and the course condition in general to be better than Hardelot, although technically probably not as much of a challenge. This is a course that could be transformed into a championship layout with better green complexes.

Day 3: Le Touquet La Mer

A dull overcast day, but barely any wind meant good scoring conditions for our final round. La Mer was clearly a step up from the previous 2 days, both in terms of the challenge of the layout and the course presentation. The course can genuinely claim to be a links, with many holes wandering through towering dunes and a spectacular finish with a drive from the top of the dunes with panoramic 360 degree views down to the 18th fairway below.
The fairways were generally quite wide but if you missed them the rough was thick and punishing. It must be tough to hit the fairways when the wind blows, but in calm conditions I found myself hitting a hybrid off the tee on quite a few ocasions to avoid fairway bunkers. The greens were generally quite large, only a few had major slopes to deal with, and they were slower and more receptive than I would usually expect on a links course. At EUR80 a round, this course represents great value compared with the links courses just across the channel in Kent, and a car park packed with UK registered cars seemed to confirm this. Off the back tees this stretches to over 7000 yards and in firm running conditions with fast greens this would represent a really tough challenge with its roller coaster fairways and elevated tees on the back nine. A classic seaside links, top notch Harry Colt.

All in all, 3 courses that are well worth revisiting.

raycastleunited wrote:Has anybody played golf at Le Touquet or any of the other courses in the area?

Preliminary searches indicate that Le Touquet La Mer and Hardelot Les Pins are the 2 must-play courses in the area, but would be interested to hear what you guys have to say about the quality of these venues and the other courses worth playing.

Planning a trip in mid-September and looking for any advice about courses to play, places to stay, things to do, tips on getting there etc.

Thanks all!

Hardelot is the best around. Great golf course. and you rarely get a slow round!!

Golf travel is your best bet to book through as they have great deals.. The annoying thing about staying in certain hotels around that area is the fact that there are no cab services about. So getting in and out of town is best done driving!! 

Le touquet is only ok , nothing special..

Saint omar is a great golf course, and the hotel on the golf course has an amazing restaurant

Hey mysti, not sure about that.

Hardelot is a nice course, but I would rate La Mer at Le Touquet well above it.

... and we had a slow round at Hardelot!