Le Touquet Golf Resort- La Mer course, hole 1
History
There are three courses at Le Touquet Golf Resort- La Mer, La Foret & Le Manoir- the latter being a nine hole course adjacent to classic Le Manoir hotel.
La Mer opened for play in 1931 and was designed by renowned architects Harry Colt and partner (Charles) Hugh Alison.
During World War Two four seaside holes were lost with the building of fortifications.
The course was left devastated and unplayable through untilit opened again in 1959.
Then La Mer essentially played as a 14 hole course using four holes from La Foret to allow the start and finish of the course to be close to the Le Manoir hotel.
Harold Baker further modified the course in 1997
More recently Frank Pont and Patrice Boissonnas used aerial images from pre war days to find and restore the four missing holes and bring La Mer back to the original 18 holes.
Le Touquet Golf Resort- La Mer, hole 16
Course
We stayed at Le Manoir hotel, so our unusual introduction toLa Mer began with a solid walk down the road and through the Le Manoir nine hole course.
It was in the middle of a hot summer and the links was brown and running..
Perhaps I was a little jaded after two months on the road playing the great links in the UK, or my expectations were just set too high?
I thought La Mer was interesting and a decent links, but perhaps not special.
I thought the course started strongly with a lovely opening par 5 to get players away, and then a classic long links par 3 on the second.
A succession of decent links holes followed.
The uphill par 3 tenth hole added a bit of drama, and I thought 16 was a well bunkered par 3, and the approach to seventeen demanded my attention!
The course is regarded highly by the golfing pundits and is considered one of the best links on the continent.
Notable holes include:
- hole 1, a gentle par 5 opening hole that gives you options on the tee (see pic top of page)
- hole 2, a long par 3 set in low dunes
Le Touquet Golf Resort- La Mer, hole 2
Le Touquet Golf Resort- La Mer, hole 2 approach
- hole 10, a dramatic uphill par 3 with a challenging green
Le Touquet Golf Resort- La Mer, hole 10
- hole 16, a longer par 3 with bunkering that draws the eye (see pic mid page)
- hole 17, an curving par 5 framed by trees, and with a green sitting high in the dunes
Le Touquet Golf Resort- La Mer, hole 17 green back
Le Manoir hotel is a lovely place to stay.
With 45 holes of golf on site and another 36 holes at Golf d’Hardelot close by, it is a very good golfing destination.
And it's right on the French Coast!
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