GOLF
in the BIARRITZ area
The
Aquitaine Coast, includes the Côte d'Argent & the
Côte Basque. This is the length of Atlantic Ocean coastline
from the point where the sea and the River Gironde meet at Verdon-sur-Mer,
north of Bordeaux down to the Pyrénées Mountains
at Hendaye in the Basque Country on the Spanish border.
The Basque Country is comprised of 3 provinces, each rich in
history both architectural and natural:
Le Labourd : the coastline from Biarritz to Hendaye,
La Basse Navarre : Saint Jean Pied de Port, Irouleguy (and
its vines), Saint Etienne de Baigorry…
La Soule: the mountainous country of the interior
Pau, the elegant city of Henri IV in the foothills of the
mighty Pyrenees Mountains is surrounded by vineyards
(Jurançon,
Madiran). It is the starting point for exploring the Pyrenean chain, & the
Basque Country. It is the administrative capital of the Pyrénées
Atlantiques Department
GOLF COURSES
BIARRITZ GOLF PASS
GOLF
PASS Biarritz, allows you to play 5 different rounds. You can
play up to twice on the same course: Bayonne – Seignosse
- Moliets - Arcangues - Biarritz - Ilbarritz
Come and discover 6 of the most beautiful golf courses in the
Basque coast an south of Landes coast.
Makila Bassussary Golf Course - Bayonne
Holes 18 Par 72
Length 6161 metres
Architect: Rocky Roquemore
Facilities: Restaurant / Bar, Pro shop, Changing rooms,
Practice facilities, Electric buggy and trolley hire
Lined with beautiful age-old oaks, this huge site gave the designer
the possibility to lay out wide fairways and keep the holes well
apart. Rocky Roquemore has produced an American style layout set
beneath the Pyrenees. Makila is a recent creation 5 miles southeast
of Biarritz, with a variety of holes and hazards ranging from mountainside
holes to lower-level holes edged with water hazards.
This is a pretty hilly golf course (3 holes in particular)
but it would have been difficult to do otherwise in this
superb region.
If you are not in top shape, take a buggy as this course plays
6200 metres from the back tees and so is a good test for the
better player, but the middle tees are perfect for the
mid-handicapper.
The hazards are visible and the strategy pretty obvious as difficulties
are evenly spread around the course.
Maintenance is good although the terrain often suffers in wet
weather. A drainage programme should solve that one.
Seignosse Golf Club - Seignosse
Holes:18 Par 72
Architect : Robert Van Hagge
Length: 5774 m
Facilities: Restaurant / Bar, Hotel, Pro shop, Changing rooms,
Practice facilities, Electric buggy and trolley hire
Ranked amongst the best 100 courses in the World !
A jewel among the Basque country’s outstanding golf courses,
the Seignosse course, designed in 1989, has been carved out of
the magnificent forest clad landscape of South West France, the
immense pines and cork-oaks creating a cathedral like atmosphere
as you advance down the fairways.
Located in one of France’s very best golfing regions, this
is a course you’re unlikely to forget.
The layout of the course is a masterpiece, as is acknowledge
by some of the world’s top golfers. With its rolling fairways
and immaculate greens, Seignosse is a challenge for any golfer
but a pleasure to play whatever your ability.
Moliets Golf Club - Moliets
Holes 27 – 18 and 9 hole course Par 70 (18 hole) 31 (9 hole)
Architect: Robert Trent Jones Snr.
Length 5824 metres (18 hole) 1854 metres (9 hole)
Facilities Restaurant / Bar, Pro shop, Changing rooms, Practice
facilities, Electric buggy and trolley hire
It
will take about an hour to get there from Biarritz,
it is about 50 Kilometres north along the Landes coast.
The Golf de
Moliets is a remarkable golf course laid out in the pine forests
of Les Landes (for 13 holes) and along the coast (5 holes). A typical
Robert Trent Jones design, where the technical and strategic challenges
reflect an in-depth knowledge of golf.
While the more proficient golfer will find this a tough
challenge, playing from the forward tees is funnily
enough, often more conducive
to error. The famous jagged bunkers are a remarkable form of
defense for the greens, three of which are virtually
blind, and the putting
surfaces are neatly but never excessively contoured..
It’s a feast for the eyes which is consistently highly rated
in Europe’s Top 50 courses and the World’s Top 100
courses. Moliets boasts a very hospitable clubhouse.
Golf d’Arcangues
- near Biarritz
Holes 18 Par 71
Architect: Ronald Fream
Length 5758 metres
Facilities: Restaurant / Bar, Pro shop, Changing
rooms, Practice facilities, Electric buggy and trolley
hire Closed Mondays in winter
This course
is just to the South of Biarritz laid out on many acres of Oak
trees and meadows that wind around the Chateau d’Arcangues
and it’s village. This setting at Arcangues Golf Course provides
beautiful views over the Basque countryside and the Pyrenees, and
there is a nice balance between woodland holes and holes through
open country.
As it is often the case with Ronald Fream's courses,
the bunkers and greens have been given a lot of careful
thought, which is only
logical for a course as short as this.
Arcangues is a very technical course that needs a little
reconnaissance work before hoping to card a good
score. Also it features very
differently from the other courses in the region.
Golf de Biarritz "Le Phare" -
Biarritz
Holes 18 Par 69
Length 5402 m
Architect : Willy Dunn
Facilities: Restaurant / Bar, Pro shop, Changing
rooms, Practice facilities, Electric buggy and trolley
hire Closed Tuesdays – except
school holidays
It looks like
being an easy course, which does not require any important physical
efforts, but it’s really not. Its difficulty
lies in his technicality and it is not that easy to « score ».
70 bunkers are there to remind us, if necessary is, that golf is,
above all, a reflection and shrewdness affair.
The greens are fast, the rough very cautious.
The situation of the course, in town-centre - originaly
due to its old age - offers the great privilege to
be near all necessary
services : hotels, beaches, trades. Nearness the ocean, it
has the advantage, all along the year, of a temperate
climate : mild
in winter, rarely too hot in summer.
The Ilbarritz Golf - Biarritz
Holes 9 Par 32
Architect: Pierre Thevenin
Length 2176 metres
The training centre was designed and constructed in 198
, to revolutionize the method of golf training. The
course surrounding the centre
is a typical half of any 18 hole course. The site was chosen
for its beautiful location, on top of the cliffs
with undulating hills
and water obstacles, to host a long awaited first European golf
training centre, built in the same style as the existing centres
in Japan and the USA. It is a 14 hectares (35 acres) complex,
which permits amateur or professional players to
train or to perfect
techniques.
The centre offers golf tuition of the highest standards,
for groups or individual lessons, whether for initiation,
improvement
or just
general information as to what choice of club for distance,
with professional teachers from France, USA and Spain
and excellent
equipment.
The practice provides 14 stands in a circular formation,
with 2 putting greens, 1 pitching green, 2 chipping
greens, 10 bunkers
(with various depths & distances).
OTHER GOLF COURSES
Chantaco Golf Course - St Jean de Luz
Holes 18 Par 70
Architect: Harry Coll
Length 5833 metres
Facilities: Restaurant / Bar, Pro shop, Changing rooms,Practice
facilities, Club hire, Electric buggy and trolley hire
Designed by Harry Colt in 1928, this is a tight hilly course always
named in France’s Top 50 courses. There are two distinct
9’s, the first carved into the wooded hills and the second
dominated by water. Chantaco is one of the most celebrated courses
on the Basque coast thanks to its delightful charm, atmosphere
and sporting tradition.
Chantaco is just to the South of Biarritz close to the very
chic St. Jean de Luz. It has a very “British feel” in a
classic sense. The course meanders through woodland for the first
nine holes with water coming into play on the back nine. It gives
the impression of a quiet day's golfing, but even the most ambitious
golfer will find it more than a handful..
Chantaco has hosted the French Open along with other International
events and was founded by the Lacoste Family.
Chiberta Golf Course - Anglet
Holes 27 – 18 and 9 hole course
Par 70 (18 hole), 29 (9 hole)
Architect: Tom Simpson
Length 5647 metres (18 Hole) 1425 metres (9 hole)
Facilities: Restaurant / Bar, Hotel, Pro Shop, Changing Rooms,
Practice Facilities, Electric buggy and trolley hire
Chiberta is one of the great French examples of a links course,
designed by the legendary Tom Simpson. This course is one of the
most rewarding courses in France, and provides a wonderful day
of golf to all who play on it. The original design has been preserved,
although the wilder features have been smoothed away by automatic
sprinklers and a number of 'improvements'.
With fewer difficulties the course is more accessible
to all golfers, especially in fine weather.
The greens are excellent, and the hazards are clearly visible.
Strategies are pretty obvious, and the absence of any real relief
with the comfort of sandy soil makes for a pleasant walk.
However once the wind gets up, Chiberta becomes a test
where ball-control is essential, and where players
with a tight short
game will come
into their own. Maintenance has been much improved, and this
course is highly recommended by all who play on it.
Hossegor Golf Club - Hossegor
Holes 18 Par 72
Architect : Tim Morrisson
Length 5938 m
Facilities: Restaurant / Bar, Pro shop, Changing
rooms, Practice facilities, Electric buggy and trolley
hire
Hossegor is one of the great classics on the Basque coast
with a layout reminiscent of traditional British inland
courses where the hazards are primarily trees and
bunkers.
The Pau golf course
A quirk of history meant that some of Wellington's officers, stationed
in Pau after the Battle of Orthez in 1814, had the time and inclination
(they were Scots) to look around for somewhere to practice their
golf. They found the perfect spot just on the outskirts of Pau
... and 20 years later they returned, as simple tourists, to
build and found continental Europe's oldest golf course in 1856.
Artiguelouve
golf course
18 holes par 70, 5839 m
Architect : Jean GARAIALDE in 1986
A flat easy-walking layout measuring 5839 metres, characterised
by numerous dog-legs, water hazards and large greens, and divided
into two distinct parts. The first 6 holes, cut through the
woods of La Saligue, are tight and demand accuracy.
The following 12
holes occupy La Plaine, where wide fairways are an invitation
to open your shoulders and unleash your biggest drives.
Splendid views of the Pyrenees and some palm-lined
fairways!
ENQUIRE
relaxing after a round of golf in the hotel hot tub
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