Brittany Golf Course Guide

Charles de Gaulle once said: “To bring together a country that has 265 different cheeses is no simple matter.”

France may have a whole range of regional flavours, but none is more powerfully idiosyncratic than Brittany; Bretons, fiercely proud of their Celtic traditions, are a class apart from your average Frenchmen.  And for the Briton in search of Breton culture, Brittany has never been easier to reach. It’s only a ferry ride or an hour’s flight away, and has a fantastic variety of courses – from links to parkland to courses built around grand Chateaux.

But, perhaps most important of all, Brittany is still a relatively undiscovered area when it comes to golf; and because of that you stand an excellent chance of encountering empty fairways, all at an incredibly reasonable price.

Golf de Cicé Blossac, on the outskirts of Rennes, for instance, is a quality parkland course that has held several big amateur events, and yet even in high season you won’t be expected to pay more than £47. With a par of 72 and a standard scratch of 73.4, much of the difficulty on this 6,127-yard course comes from the lakes, which come into play on eight of the holes.

The course is usually in immaculate condition and they often get the generous greens running at a fiery 12.5 on the stimpmeter. The 18th is an especially memorable finishing hole, dog-legging right, around the water, and finishing in front of the clubhouse.

The course itself is under new ownership, with an Irish consortium keen to attract golfers from Britain and Ireland. You will find warm hospitality in the clubhouse and there is a regular ‘Gastronomic tournament’ where local restaurateurs set up on every other hole and cook a speciality dish for you to enjoy on your way round with a glass of red or white wine. It certainly leaves that greasy sausage sandwich in the halfway hut in its wake.

The moment you get to Golf des Ormes, you enter a grand, stately world of the past. The golf course is built in the heart of a 370-acre estate close to a 16th century Chateau, near the town of Combourg. The wall, which surrounds most of the property, is said to date back to the Middle Ages.

There is a stately feel to the golf as well, with some holes set amongst century-old trees and others in more open areas. The signature hole is the par-4 3rd, which is one of the prettiest in northern France.

Halfway between St Malo and Cap Ferehal there is a short course at Pen Guen, which is ideal for beginners and juniors. It is a par 68 and only 4,945 yards long, but offers some breathtaking views over the sea. This is fun, holiday golf at its best; and as the course makes its way along the seashore, bordered by pine trees, broom and hydrangeas there are some great holes on the higher ground.

Val André is only 15 years old but is rapidly becoming one of the must-play courses, not only in Brittany but France. When you stand on the tees of the 10th and 11th, hundreds of feet above the sea looking down on that perfect sandy beach, you will see why. But the 9th, 12th and 14th holes all have their own beauty too, and the opening par-5 1st, which dog-legs to the right, with the second shot played to a small green that lays below the fairway, is one of the best opening holes I have played. It gives you a great chance of reaching the green in two, but once there you still have a lot of work to make par let alone birdie or eagle on this tricky green.

Golf de Baden was somewhat unkempt when I visited, but this does not take away from the dramatic backdrop from the 1st tee, as you look down to a green with boats and yachts bobbing away on the beautiful Auray River behind. A double green shared by the 7th and 11th holes, adds intrigue to the layout; and the run of holes from the 14th to the 18th are stunning. Indeed, the uphill par-4 17th is reminiscent of Woburn, as you stare up the fairway from the tee.

Staying at the Hotel le Roi Arthur with its nine-hole track, Golf du Le Lac au Duc, is a pleasure. It has great facilities with the practice putting green and range just yards from the hotel reception. One of the best kept nine-hole courses you’ll ever play, with views of the largest natural lake in Brittany from many of the holes, this layout comes dramatically to a head with a finishing hole running alongside the water.
The Dinard/St Malo region has been popular with the British as a continental alternative to the Victorian seaside town as far back as the 1860s when it was colloquially referred to as the ‘Monaco of the North’.

If fun is what you’re after, then it’s tough to beat Dinard. Now part of a nature reserve, it was built in 1887 by Tom Dunn, and as such is the second oldest club in France (behind Pau – 1856). The course runs, for the most part, atop the cliffs on this craggy coastline, providing views of the sea from almost every hole.
The course is short (5,847 yards, par 68) but runs over beautiful linksland and because it’s exposed, is very tricky in any sort of wind. Small greens together with gorse and broom, make it tougher still; and the man who can hit a long iron straight will always beat the big, booming driver. There is still a very British feel to the club and many of its loyal followers hail from the nearby Channel Islands.

The final course I visited was the beautiful parkland at Golf de Saint Malo, which is over the other side of the estuary from Dinard, with the backdrop of the Forest of Mesnil and Mirloup lake running through it. The strength of the course lies in its par 3s, none of which is better than the 6th hole, which is 170 yards long and requires you to hit your tee shot through a funnel of trees, down to the green beside the lake way below.

The golf traveller is a fairly sophisticated animal these days, and with all the different media outlets, it has become more and more difficult to find areas with proper ‘hidden gems’.  Brittany has a whole bunch of them and because it’s so close to mainland Britain, you can sample many of them during a long weekend. Just make sure you don’t tell too many more golfers about them.

Where To Play

How To Get There

• Ryanair to Dinard
  from Stansted, East Midlands
  www.ryanair.com
• Flybe to Rennes and Brest
  From Manchester, Edinburgh
  www.flybe.com
• Brittany ferries to St Malo, Cherbourg, Caen and Roscoff
  From Poole (Cherbourg), Portsmouth (St Malo, Cherbourg and Caen), Plymouth (Roscoff)
  www.brittanyferries.com