Not 15 miles south of Hardelot, Le Touquet is a resort town with a broad sandy beach. Unfortunately, the seafront has been developed with concrete and glass structures which were seemingly inspired by German bunker construction. Thankfully, a few blocks further inland Touquet retains its 1920/30s charm which is reassuring. Despite the famously adventurous architecture, the resort owes its origins to the English, who developed the town as a golf and gambling haven. The modest sized (~50,000 residents) Le Touquet is not only famous for golf and gambling, the town has hosted a stage for the Tour de France four times, held professional tennis tournaments and perhaps most remarkably, is home to the Enduropale. This motorcycle race is held each February on the beach and through the dunes. If all this hasn’t sold you on Le Touquet, PG Wodehouse lived there for a quite a period before he was interned by the Germans in 1940.
Just a few miles away from the town centre is the golf resort with three courses, one being a 9 holer. Most golfers come to play La Mer, a true links which had fallen on hard times during and after WWII. The course was bombed and defensive bunkers were built by the Germans. The course didn’t re-open until 1963, but 13-16 were abandoned. In 1992 the 13-16 area of the course was re-opened, but not to Colt & Alison’s design (built by Dutch firm Copijn & Loon) In recent years F Pont and P Boissonnas have been working on restoring La Mer. Barely a hole has been left untouched in one way or another. The result is a fairly open, scrubby looking site which I expect was the goal. I suppose the crux of the restoration work was recapturing 13-16. However, tree removal and greens modifications were also elemental aspects of the work.
Touquet hosted six French Opens, including a win by Seve Ballesteros in 1977. While generally not thought much of these days, the French Open has a long history and is the oldest Open on the continent. JH Taylor, J Braid, W Hagen, H Cotton, B Locke, B Nelson, P Oosterhuis, G Norman, S Lyle, N Faldo and more have made the trip and come away winners. It is surprising then that the course is a good 10 or so minute walk from the new clubhouse. This set-up is entirely unsatisfactory for one of the premier courses in the north of France. The resort doesn’t even offer a buggy service to the first tee. Instead, golfers walk (or for those in the know, drive to first tee) through the middle of two or three holes on the resort’s lesser courses, whose first tees do start near the house!
Having a championship pedigree, it shouldn’t be surprising that La Mer is a fairly difficult course, especially when the wind is up. Yet, the legger left par 5 opener isn’t overly onerous. I do like the hidden swale shy of the green. In one form or another this is an oft repeated theme throughout the course. That said, unlike Hardelot Les Pins, the course was firm enough to run shots through swales and up to plateau greens.
Turning back on the opener, the second is a downhill par 3. Many tee shots will wind up in a chipping area to the rear of this original green (one of a handful remaining today).
A look at the hole from the 10th tee offers a good idea as to the scrubby, natural apperance of the site.
Playing through a saddle, the 3rd looks quite interesting, but it is a straight-forward hole.
I believe the house used to be located left of the third green as this 1937 aerial seems to indicate. The reader will also notice the proximity of the sea in the upper part of the photo.
An unexciting three-shotter, the 4th does offer some respite from the field-like experience with a raised green.
The next two holes feel slightly awkward and may not be part of the original routing. The 5th is a hole which is difficult to commit to memory. Although, I am quite partial to the fall-away green. At first glance, the 6th is a bit dull. Upon further reflection, I like the widened fairway out right to create a fake dogleg. There is also a beautiful swale left of the green which will suck slightly underhit approaches away from the putting surface.
The quality of La Mer shines through in the middle section. I am not positive, but I suspect the lion's share of orginal greens are in this section. The quasi-Redan 7th is a severe version of the concept because the hole doesn't really allow for a run-up shot to access a far left hole location.
Many tee shots will go long.
The thrilling 8th feels constrained, but ample fairway is out of sight on the right. There is a pond lurking left which looks like it isn't original.
The fairly large green is well above the fairway floor and runs back to front.
A long, legging right par 4, which on the day was beating back into the wind, the 9th plays like a par 4.5.
[img width=800https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48096527893_956ac41663_b.jpghttp://http://
http://From this angle the false front is very evident.
Perhaps the best short hole on the course, the 10th plays over valley to a green which is smaller than one might predict.
There is very little green surface behind the fronting bunker.
Another banger par 4, the 11th plays even longer than the 9th.
A great many people will be left with a shot of this type length for their 3rd.
The green rests on a saddle ridge which connects the two dunes.
Another hole which looks like a breather, the 12th is deceptive due to the plateau green.
We now come to "lost holes" (13-16) which were recently re-incorporated into the design. If these holes were meant to put La Mer over the top into the class of best in Europe I am not sure success was achieved. This section strikes me as disjointed mainly because of the un-Colt-like walks between holes, but also because of the blind water on 14 and the rather listless 15th. Although, having the terrible 17th follow-on from these holes is enough to taint anyone's opinion. One positive aspect of the these holes is they are certainly more keen with better greens. The best of these holes is probably the 13th, although the green is somewhat reminiscent of the 11th. To access the right hole location one can play left toward OOB and run a shot up the slope.
More to follow.
Ciao