Discover the detailed guide to all the golf courses located in the Auvergne Rhône Alpes region. You can leave a comment, a vote or an anecdote on all the golf courses in the golf directory
Located between Bresse and Dombes, 50 minutes from Lyon and 10 minutes from Bourg-en-Bresse, the Bresse golf course is recognized as one of the most beautiful courses in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. On a former hunting area of 90 hectares of totally unspoiled nature, in the heart of a century-old forest, the golf de la Bresse has an 18-hole course and a 6-hole pitch and putt ideal for beginners.
The golf de la Bresse offers a bucolic course that will delight nature lovers and a gourmet break that will delight the taste buds of gourmets!
The golf courses:
The Golf de la Bresse offers 2 courses: A 6-hole, a real training tool and an 18-hole, varied, accessible to all levels of play. This course is a real challenge. Looking easy, numerous water hazards and strategically placed bunkers will offer you a real golfing challenge. Only the best ball handlers can hope to bring back a nice scorecard to the Clubhouse. In addition, the golf de la Bresse has a practice on water with 30 stations including 6 covered (The ideal place to hit balls in the water without penalty points)
Open to all golfers with a game index of less than 36.0 and holders of a license issued by an official federation, the Domaine de Divonne golf course allows you to discover an exceptional site of 60 hectares facing Mont Blanc, at the foot of the Jura, close to Lake Geneva and Switzerland.
Remarkably technical, it offers the particularity of starting and ending with a Par 3. Respect for the natural valleys gives the course - Par 72 - 6.030 meters - an additional attraction. It has six Par 3, six Par 4 and six Par 5 enamelled with water obstacles. This 18-hole championship is recognized among the five most beautiful French golf courses.
Like Palmer, Ballesteros, Lee Trevino or even Chris Dimarco and Ernie Els, come, you too, swing and try the subtle difficulties that each hole holds.
Only 10 minutes from Chambéry, at the foot of the vineyards of the commune of Apremont and Mont Granier, the Granier golf course nestles in the unspoiled countryside of the Combe de Savoie. More precisely on the edge of the Chartreuse Regional Natural Park. It benefits from a spectacular mountain setting - offering a breathtaking view of the Bauges, Chartreuse and Belledonne massifs and a particularly quiet rural area, away from the noise and nuisances of city life.
A family story
The Granier-Apremont golf course was created on a private initiative in 1986, and is located in the Freney marsh in Apremont.
It is a small family business which today involves two generations, sharing the same philosophy: simplicity, conviviality, eco-responsibility, sharing.
The employees of the company are also part of this "family" and testify every day to their investment in the quality, the beauty of the field, the pleasure of the players, and the sustainability of the club ...
9-hole course FFG approved
Arranged with a concern for the preservation of the natural site, the course extends over a relatively flat ground but whose varied typography makes all its beauty and all its interest. It is a somewhat technical course, but which remains accessible to players of all levels, holders of the green card and their FFG license of the year.
The course is embellished with 2 ponds, and many areas left in the natural state.
History of a century-old journey
It was in 1907 that work began on the development of the Golf du Sporting club de Vichy. the course is born in the vast wasteland on the banks of the Allier. Joseph Aletti, director of the Société des Grands Hôtels de Vichy, was the instigator of the project to meet the needs of Vichy customers at the time. At the same time, the original pavilion was built by the architect Gustave Simon, architect of the Farm Company. The Golf de Vichy was inaugurated on May 1, 1908.
The Sporting Golf Club Vichy course
It is a fairly flat course offering a nice view of the banks of the Allier facing Vichy. It is very attractive and renowned in Auvergne thanks to the variety of species that line its fairways and raised greens, well defended by strategically placed bunkers. It will suit golfers of all levels.
The golf course has a club house with changing rooms for men and women, a restaurant and an 8-station practice, a putting green and an approach area. The 9-hole course is drawn by Arnaud Massy, famous French champion winner of the British Open, originally from the Basque Country and renowned teacher.
The Riom golf course is an initiation and improvement area dedicated to the practice of golf in Auvergne. It is located in Riom, near the Clermont area. It is a pretty little French town located in the Puy-de-Dôme department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Its compact 18-hole course, lined with bunkers and water obstacles will require you to express all your golfing skills to score. it is suitable for all beginners or experienced players and offers a range of varied situations. The gentle relief and a few strategically placed obstacles spice up this 1553-meter course.
The Mont-Dore golf course culminates at an altitude of over 1100 meters. Located 45 minutes from Clermont-Ferrand, it offers sumptuous views over the Sancy. You will be completely captivated by its different panoramas.
It may not seem difficult on paper, but the course is not that simple.
Indeed even if wide fairways will allow you to get lost on the Drive without too much damage, the greens well defended by a few strategically placed bunkers will put your iron game to the test.
If you want a change of scenery and breathe the fresh air in peace, come and play the course, hit balls on the practice, take a lesson with the "pro" or even just have a drink.
Golf Lyon Tassin is the ideal place to learn golf, train and progress, just 4 km from downtown Lyon. It welcomes you in a protected natural setting, bordered by hundred-year-old trees.
The course
The course is accessible and fun for beginners and takes 1h20. Fairly short with holes ranging from 40 to 90 meters, this course remains technical even for experienced players.
The practice
The Lyon Tassin golf course offers a practice practice with all the most modern and recent elements:
34 stations on the latest generation synthetic departure areas, including 15 on the upper floor. These mats guarantee optimum playing comfort, reducing the risk of injury.
During the winter, the practice is lit from 17 p.m. to 30 p.m.
SRIXON 2 pieces balls, to allow you to train in playing conditions, with a quality product.
1200 m2 of synthetic putting green area, guaranteeing a "rolling quality" and a speed similar to the best greens in the region (speed of 3,40 minimum), and this all year round.
A varied chipping green area to work on the different forms of approach, rolls, lifts, lobes ...
The best of technology to monitor and evaluate your progress during lessons.
Golf Lyon Tassin has the smallest and lightest golf radar available on the market (Flightscope), which allows players to review their swing through instant video analysis.
You will have all the statistics in real time, the speed of your club head, that of your ball, its trajectory… As well as a virtual representation of your swing.
The Chamonix Golf Club course nestles between the Mont Blanc and Aiguilles Rouges mountains, at the bottom of the valley. In the collective imagination, a mountain golf course is necessarily associated with strong reliefs, which is absolutely not the case here. In this sumptuous setting, the remarkable work of the American architect Robert Trent Jones Sr takes on an unexpected dimension.
The course is technical, subtle, embellished with small water obstacles and defended by numerous bunkers.
Pleasure of the eyes and pleasure of the game, this course will leave you with unforgettable memories. The fairway of 17 offers you the north face of Mont-Blanc and this cascade of seracs formed by the Bossons glacier.
The Golf de Chamonix also has a training structure. This includes, among other things, a practice of 32 stations including 14 covered, 2 putting green and pitching green.
It is in an authentic setting at the foot of the Aravis chain that you will be able to discover the Grand-Bornand golf course. Located at the bottom of the Bouchet valley in Grand-Bornand, the Grand-Bornand golf course is a relatively flat course.
This 9-hole course at the foot of the Aravis chain offers a magnificent view of its highest point: Pointe Percée. The golf course is open every day from the beginning of May to the end of October. In addition to a 9-hole course (par 30), the golf course has a 200m long driving range with 20 posts, 6 of which are covered, a 9-hole pitch & putt, a putting green and an approach green.
Golf history
It was in 1987, after his parents-in-law stopped farming that Marc Perrillat decided to create a golf course.
The attic is then converted into a reception area and the cow meadow becomes the practice area.
Over the years, golf has grown. First 1 hole, then 3, 7 and then 9 compact holes in the mid-90s.
In 1989, the Golf Club Aravis association was created.
Now, the reception has grown with a dining room, a bar, a pro-shop and a large terrace overlooking the driving range.
On the field side, we now have 9 holes approved by the ffgolf.
The 9-hole picth & putt course was opened in May 2016.
9-hole course
The 9-hole course is approved by the FFGolf for classification competitions. Total length: 1509 m, par 30. Slope 120. Relatively flat course, it is ideal for learning golf thanks to the variety of its holes and its difficulties. For more experienced players, it therefore allows you to work on your iron game and your little game: varied distances, difficult green attacks and some slopes requiring a good reading on the greens.
The Belvédère golf course deploys its greens and fairways in an exceptional setting in Saint Martin Bellevue, near Annecy and its lake, in Haute-Savoie.
The 9-hole course
Valloné, the 9-hole Belvédère golf course winds through a centuries-old forest. You will appreciate its calm and the superb view of the vertiginous cliffs of the Bornes and Aravis summits.
Training zones
You can discover the joys of golf by learning about the Belvédère golf practice. This offers covered and uncovered posts on quality carpets, as well as 2 striking zones on grass. Also, Putting green, training bunker, approach zone will allow you to work on your little game.
But above all, you will discover a warm and family atmosphere and will be welcomed on site by Patrice Cuttaz and his team.
The Golf de Flaine-Les Carroz takes shape in a Unique setting in Arâches-la-Frasse, a pretty French town in the Haute-Savoie department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Located at an altitude of 1900m, it is one of the highest courses in Europe. It offers a breathtaking panorama of the Aravis Massif.
At the start of hole 14, the view of Mont-Blanc awaits you is sumptuous. It is a course worthy of the greatest mountain golf courses, both technical and spectacular. 4h30 of golf await you with uneven and grandiose panoramas where you will spend an intense and sporting day.
Open from July to September
Built in the heart of the Faramans marshes by the architect Hugues LAMBERT, the golf de la Bièvre was inaugurated on June 18, 1994, it is managed by the Community of Communes of the Pays de Bièvre-Liers.
This compact 4-hole course, technical, approved by the FFGolf, with an infrastructure of 20 practice stations including 6 covered, a practice on grass, a putting green, a bunker and an approach area are located in the heart of nature, in an exceptional and friendly setting, it will allow you to rank up to 26,5.
The Bièvre Golf Association was founded on September 16, 1994, its vocation is to ensure the management of sports activities and to support through its action the promotion of golf as a competitive sport and as a leisure sport. It creates a friendly dynamic in this leisure sport that is golf to allow everyone to feel at ease in the club, by organizing classification competitions, outings on regional courses and playful meetings. .
At the foot of the Vercors, a stone's throw from Valence and Romans, stretches over 50 hectares of woods and greenery, the golf course of Valence St Didier.
The 18-hole course (par 71 for 5595m) is linked together harmoniously, alternating plains, reliefs and forests, for the pleasure of beginners and experienced golfers. In summer, thanks to its automatic watering, fairways and greens remain flexible and very green.
In addition, the departure of hole n ° 9 offers an exceptional panorama on the clearing of holes n ° 14, 16 and 17 as well as on the village of Marche.
The club house, a friendly and family space, extends to a shaded terrace where you can savor regional specialties and daily menus.
Valence St Didier golf course is the first golf course created in Drôme and designed by architects Thierry SPRETCHER and Géry WATINE
Open since 1993 in the town of Serbannes, the “inland” course of the Vichy-Montpensier golf course is a superb 18-hole course nestled in the heart of the Bourbon Territory and the historic Domaine de la Forêt de Montpensier.
A true haven of peace in the heart of unspoiled nature, the golf course combines the advantages of being a few minutes from motorway access, accommodation and entertainment in the city center of Vichy, with that of providing visitors with the serenity of a route rich in authentic natural flora and abundant wild fauna.
Career
Designed by architects James Engh and Thierry Sprecher, the course, open all year round, is subtly laid out in the middle of a magnificent forest of hundred-year-old oaks.
If the slightly undulating fairways seem generous, the permanent presence of the forest, a few water obstacles and many streams require you to drive with precision and to negotiate the green attacks well.
Practice
A practice with 6 covered stations and 20 grass stations.
A large selection of targets from 50m to 200m, rugby poles, a net and flags.
All over a width of 100m and a length of 250m.
Putting Green and Small Game
A putting green with all the slopes necessary for putting training and a chipping green with a training bunker, enough to work all shots around the green.
The Alpe d'Huez golf course has a magnificent compact 9-hole course surrounded by the Oisans mountains. Suitable for beginners as well as experienced players, it will meet all your golfing expectations. Indeed, with its fast greens, its strategically placed bunkers, its well-maintained fairways and a superb driving range, the Golf de l'Alpe d'Huez will seduce you.
It is an ideal golf course to begin and improve your game. Open all summer, this golf course includes a 9-hole course facing the Pic Blanc, a driving range, a pro-shop, a training area ...
Course: 9 holes - 670 meters par 27
Practice: 25 positions including 7 covered
Giez golf course is located in the town of the same name in the Haute-Savoie department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It offers two golf courses that wind between the foothills of the Bauges massif, in the Faverges valley.
First of all, Le Belvédère (18 holes) which offers a magnificent view of Lake Annecy and Mont-Blanc. But also. Les Castors (9 holes) which is especially reserved for beginners. Water and mountains are everywhere.
Le Belvédère 18-hole course
The 18 holes of the "Belvédère" are the work of Didier Fruchet. The course unfolds in a natural environment of rare beauty. Its first 3 holes soar through gaps and cross the river. The next 5 take you to a plateau from where the gaze multiplies the views of Lake Annecy, Mont Blanc, La Tournette or the Aravis massif. The following holes approach the clubhouse in a wooded plain, playing with the river. With your steps, the pleasure of the game which will exercise all your golfing talents, is combined with that of the landscapes and their colors which vary with the seasons.
Les Castors 9-hole course
The 9 holes of the “Castors” are also the work of architect Didier Fruchet. The course unfolds on the edge of a nature reserve, along the Eau Morte river. With its vast driving range and putting green, it is ideal for learning and improving golf.
At 2.000 meters above sea level, the Courchevel golf course and its 9 holes stand out in a mountain landscape rich in alpine flora and fauna.
Over more than 1200m, it is a technical and unique terrain which offers a real challenge to the game. It welcomes all players from the end of June to October and allows to be classified up to 26,5 index with a slope of 113 Take up the challenge and participate in the many competitions organized every weekend.
President's editorial
”Dear golfing friends,
This year is special because we are going to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Courchevel golf course.
In 1989, at the initiative of Martial Mugnier, deputy mayor of Saint-Bon and Armand Carlevato, director of the Municipal Authority, the Courchevel golf course was born and since it has participated in the summer attractiveness of our resort.
Today, the association has more than 130 members and welcomes many tourists throughout the summer.
According to them, they appreciate this jewel in the heart of our beautiful mountains and the friendly spirit that reigns there. ”
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the very dynamic involvement of the entire Committee, the reception team and the gardeners.
I would also have liked to announce that the extension of the golf course would start in 2019, the studies being practically completed but the budgetary choices of the municipality were not in this direction.
The entire Committee joins me in hoping that this great project will come to fruition very soon.
Have a good golf season everyone! “
The Miribel-Jonage public golf course is a lovely 9-hole golf course. It is a Par 30 with a length of 1564 meters. It is located 15 minutes from Lyon, in the heart of a 2 hectare park of unspoiled nature. it also has a practice area with 200 stations, 40 of which are covered, as well as a putting green.
Open since 1993 in Vaulx-en-Velin, 69-Rhône.
Property of the Municipality of Savigneux, the Etangs golf course was created in 1991. It is located on a remarkable site, near the natural area of the municipal pond. The course covers 42 hectares and is dotted with 9 ponds.
The golf course offers an 18-hole course over 5.562m (par 70), a partially covered practice, a putting green, a pro-shop area, a restaurant, seminar rooms for the organization of parties, cocktails, meetings, events. , weddings.
Despite its low relief, golfers appreciate its technicality, the calm of its environment and the view of the Forez mountains.
Launched in 1991, the golf course of Savigneux les étangs has only reached maturity with 18 holes since 1997.
Its Par 70 is flat enough not to require a cart. On the other hand, the landing net is recommended with the presence of numerous water obstacles which decorate this wooded course, ideal for beginners or to improve their level of play.
Swing in the heart of nature, at the gates of the city of Bourg-en-Bresse. Come and discover the practice of golf in a privileged setting, on the shores of Lake Bouvent and at the foot of the Revermont mountains.
The Bourg-en-Bresse golf course offers many services and facilities:
A technical 9-hole course with the possibility of doing 18 holes (twice the 2 holes),
A compact 6-hole course to start or perfect your game,
A golf school of a hundred children,
Introductions for beginners, on compulsory registration, some Sunday mornings
A welcome from the city's schoolchildren,
Affordable prices and a friendly atmosphere.
The Bourg-en-Bresse golf course is a public golf course, managed by a 1901 law association. It is open every day from 9:00 am to 18:00 pm (19:30 pm in summer). The sporting aspect is privileged with many competitions organized throughout the year.
The 9-hole course
Par 35 of 2 meters, the Burgien course is technical but accessible to all.
The first two holes allow a nice warm-up before tackling the 3, bent by a river and a large sandy beach.
After catching his breath on the next hole, the golfer is now in the heart of the matter: the reliefs of 5, 6 and 7 open to all daring but also to all obstacles.
The penultimate hole is not reassuring with its very rigid layout.Finally, the arrival on the 9, as majestic as it is, is not for all that an invitation to reverie ...
But it is when passing the clubhouse that we can finally indulge in a few relaxations ... But a second round is already needed!
The Practice
To train you and perfect your approaches and your technique, the Bourg-en-Bresse Golf Course provides you with a number of facilities:
A large practice with 27 open positions and a grass area
A covered practice with 10 stations
A putting green (6 holes)
An approach green that allows you to make lifted and putt shots
A training bunker
A technical synthetic green (7 holes)
The Sorelle golf course is an 18 hole with Hotel and Restaurant "semi-gastro". La Sorelle is a unique place to spend a real moment of relaxation in the heart of nature, just 40 minutes from Lyon. Nestled in a green setting of 74 hectares between Lyon and Bourg-en-Bresse, the 5777-meter course unfolds its invigorating sequences in the middle of three-hundred-year-old trees, giving pride of place to natural obstacles.
His history
Designed in 1990 in the spirit of Scottish golf courses, the 18-hole, par 72 course for 5777 meters from the rear tees. The course follows the natural valleys leaving the beautiful part to nature. You will need to show delicacy and a precise iron game to attack its small sloping greens.
Many changes have been made since the resumption of golf by a new team in March 2014: construction of 18-hole golf cart paths, new mower park to increase the quality of mowing fairways and roughs, work to improve the quality of the greens , new clubhouse, opening of a 7-bedroom hotel in 2016 ...
By discovering the Sorelle, you will also have the chance to discover a site steeped in history: the Château de Richemont, from the 13th century, will stand in front of you from hole N ° 10.
You will be able to see one of the last poypes (ancestor of the castles) of the Ain at hole N ° 3, or even find the ruins of an ancient Gallic fountain.
Located twenty minutes from the center of Lyon, in the countryside, the Lyon-Verger golf course offers two courses:
“Le Verger” (18 holes), created in 1977, is hilly with greens well defended by carefully placed bunkers; You will need to be careful with your faceoffs and often privileged irons and fairway woods to keep the ball in play and prepare your second shot well for the green attack.
Architect: J. de Préneuf & M. Niedbala
Characteristics: 18 holes - par 70 - 5508 meters
the "Pré 9" (9 holes) is technical with two ponds, ideal for working on your game.
The courses are open every day, the practice is closed on Wednesday morning.
Architect: J. de Préneuf & M. Niedbala
Characteristics: 9 holes - par 33 - 2222 meters
Located at the gates of Annemasse and Geneva, in an idyllic setting facing Lake Machilly, Machilly golf course is the ideal place to discover this sport and practice it in optimal conditions.
The compact 9-hole course allows people wishing to start golfing to do so in a friendly atmosphere and for the more experienced, to polish their game.
Beginners, experienced players, children, juniors, seniors, this golf course is for you.
The club is open from mid-March to mid-November from Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays except public holidays)
The Maison Blanche Golf & Country Club was founded in 1992 in Echenevex, in the heart of the Pays de Gex.
It benefits from a unique geographical location which offers breathtaking views of the Alps and the Lake Geneva basin. Both courses have been carefully designed by architects Peter Harradine and Olivier Dongradi.
Les Sources: A championship course, 18 holes par 72, will enchant you with its diversity and its relief; you will be sure to remember some of the "signature" holes such as the 5, 9, 15 or 18. Precision, endurance, technical skill and concentration are required to play this course. This exciting course will often take you into comical situations enhanced by enchanting panoramas
The Allondon: A 9-hole par 31 course, ideal for beginners, it allows all players to train in a magnificent environment with the quality of a championship course.
Beyond the 27 holes, the Club has a restaurant, a driving range, a training area as well as a heated swimming pool and a tennis court which make it a real "Country Club".
The Maison Blanche Golf & Country Club is a private club with a welcoming and sporting spirit. The life of the Club is punctuated by numerous competitions throughout the season.
A few minutes from the center of Grenoble, swing at the foot of the mountains on the golf course of Grenoble Seyssins.
In the majestic setting of the Chartreuse and Vercors massifs, the Grenoble Seyssins golf course offers you a magnificent view of the eternal snows of the mountains which overlook it. Its 9-hole course is hilly and varied. The faceoff is often decisive with rather small and very well defended greens. Good irons players can easily score on this course. Indeed, its rather short and narrow layout makes it rather technical, but it remains nevertheless accessible to all.
The Golf du Beaujolais is a pleasant, technical course, accessible for all levels. Lateral water obstacles are present on 8 holes, the greens are vast, the surfaces worked. Thanks to the drainage and the rolling hills, you can play all winter long on summer tees and greens.
20 km north of Lyon, the surroundings of the golf course offer players the vision of valleys with well aligned vines and villages with golden stones. Golfers will have a lot of fun meeting in the club house installed in an important Beaujolaise house made of local stones, and tasting in its cellar the 10 wines selected by the club.
The course unfolds in the middle of the vines and takes on all its charm in autumn. In fact, the leaves of some trees take on incredible shades in autumn: red, orange, golden yellow, purple ... The layout is technical but accessible to all. Relatively long, the course has a few strategically placed water features and bunkers. You will need a precise set of iron to attack some relatively narrow greens.
Finally, the Beaujolais golf course has a covered and grass practice range for training, as well as a 5-hole compact.
Inaugurated at the beginning of the nineties, the Superflu golf course has a 9-hole course (par 34) which extends over approximately 13 hectares in the Loire, in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
It is crossed by the Forez canal and built around a building from the end of the nineteenth century.
Its 9-hole course
The Superflu Golf Club course is a fairly technical 9-hole course which consists of, 2 par 5, 3 par 4 and 4 par 3. Its 2367 meters, will satisfy the desires of everyone and golfers of all levels. Indeed its different parts of water and its greens well defended by numerous bunkers make the course technically interesting.
Training areas
For training, the Superflu Golf Club also has a 300m² putting green. Also, a practice of 15 stations, including 6 covered is decorated with different targets allowing you to work all the compartments of the game.
The Golf des Volcans is located in Orcines in the heart of the Auvergne Volcanoes Regional Natural Park in France.
History
Created in 1984, the Volcanoes golf course only had 9 holes. Today it is 32! In addition to the 18 holes, whose small name is Les Bruyères, a compact 9 hole, the Pariou, was born in 1989, then another 9 holes, the Fougères, is currently emerging from the forest, little by little, since only five of the its holes are open. All under the imposing presence of the Puy de Dôme.
The history of Golf des Volcans actually began long before its creation. "In the 1970s, some members of the Charade golf course found themselves a little cramped at home ... and began to prospect in the region until they found the Orcines site", explains Roger Cruzin, former president of the Volcanoes and current president of the Auvergne League.
Course & setting
In summer, the setting is absolutely exceptional with this course which deploys greens and fairways between pines and countless birches whose silvery trunks sparkle from the first to the last hole, with the velvety sides of the Puy de Dôme colored in multiple shades as a backdrop. of green. The lights are fantastic and very changeable with the regular passage of large clouds. If we add the absolute tranquility of the place, we get a little golfing paradise.
Winners
The Volcanoes golf course hosted a Challenge Tour event for 16 years, the Open des Volcans, from 1992 to 2007. This tournament brought together many of the champions who are currently part of the European Tour. The German Martin Kaymer won there in 2006, the Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts took 2nd place in 2002.
Created in 1988, the Golf du Domaine Saint-Clair Annonay in Ardèche Verte continuously benefits from technical improvements. Well located in the park of an XNUMXth century castle, between the Rhône Valley and the start of the Monts d'Ardèche, south of Lyon near Annonay, the course is renowned for its panoramic location and the width and quality of its fairways. trees, which provides a pleasant feeling of space!
The architects, Thierry SPRETCHER and Gery WATINE, have created many famous golf courses in France, including the Golf du Domaine de Saint-Clair. The Domaine de Saint-Clair golf course offers 18 holes. Its course, Annonay is a par 72 of 5631 meters open since 1989 in Saint Clair-Annonay. The view of the Ardèche mountains and the Chateau de Gourdan will accompany you during your game.
Inaugurated in 1990 under the leadership of architect Michel Gayon, the Golf Club Ésery, a 27-hole area located in Haute-Savoie, stands at the gates of Geneva and the Mont-Blanc Massif, on the Franco-Swiss border.
Its Club-House is built on the remains of a castle built in the XNUMXth century, of which the two round towers still remain, present on the club's emblem.
Easily accessible by the motorway network, you will appreciate its proximity to the ski resorts (Chamonix 1 hour by the Autoroute Blanche A40) but also the quick access from the city of Calvin (Cointrin airport 35 minutes). Golfers from the Lyon basin can also easily reach it in less than 2 hours (A42 / A40 or A43 / A41 motorways).
With its two courses on the slopes of Esery (one 18 holes and one 9 holes), two approach zones, two putting greens and its 30-station practice, the Golf Club Ésery meets the expectations of every golfer, whatever or his level and his desire of the day. Nature, silence and the beauty of the panorama will enchant lovers of the little white ball.
The 18-hole Sacconay
Very hilly holes, fairly narrow tees (holes 4 and 12) and few trees around the fairways, so many characteristics that will remind you at times of the spirit of the British links.
A course appreciated by golfers in search of challenges, the scene of renowned competitions (French Internationals of Mixed Foursome, Swiss Interclub Championships, etc.).
9 holes Champs des Combes
For its part, the 9-hole Champs des Combes gives the site of Esery exceptional playability whatever the time of year.
Varied and technical (slopes, ponds, doglegs), it is a great challenge for beginner golfers but also a great training ground for experienced players.
Dreaded by all, hole n ° 6 offers a diabolical sequence: a pond to cross at the start and dogleg downhill.
An eco-responsible golf course
Committed to a recognized eco-responsible approach, the Golf Club Ésery will obtain in 2019 the silver level of the "Golf for biodiversity" label and will be among the very first golf courses to obtain this distinction set up by the National Museum of Natural History and the ffgolf.
Golf in the mountains
In the Rhône-Alpes region, architects have also used their imaginations to design routes in the mountains. On slopes that skiers and snowboarders descend, in winter, quite schuss, without thinking for a single moment that their acrobatic figures are supported on the fleshy lips of a bunker covered with a thick white coat.
Building a golf course on these steep slopes might seem like an impossible task. The first in France to take up the challenge was the Englishman Henry Cotton who created the Mont d'Arbois golf course in 1923. At an altitude bordering on 1300 meters. Then it was the turn, sixty years later, of Robert Trent Jones to realize the Chamonix golf course in the grandiose setting of Mont Blanc massifs and Aiguilles Rouges.
The bet was daring and still is given the very short period of time to complete the work (from June to October) and make the installations profitable (at best three months in the year). Unlike Méribel, the Chamonix golf course is relatively flat, the course serving as cross-country ski trails in winter. Despite these constraints, mountain golf courses have multiplied. Indeed, there are eleven in the departments ofIsère, Savoy and Haute-Savoie. For resorts that have always lived on the only winter months, golf and new leisure activities like mountain biking, rafting or paragliding have allowed them to diversify income from tourism and live two seasons instead of a. It is not uncommon to find a field steward putting on skis in winter and taking on the combination of ski instructors. Two seasons, two jobs.
Golfers have also discovered a new way to practice their passion. Because we do not play in the mountains as in the plains. The driver is not the most used club in the bag, we prefer irons starts, more precise and easier to control. The ball flies higher and longer, an important parameter in the choice of the club. The slopes also play a significant role in the game strategy and, on the greens, the slopes always spin towards the valley. In the mountains, you have to let go of your certainties. Here, the score is less important than the pleasure. Because the concentration is undermined by the decoration of these immaculate landscapes. In the mountains, we take our time. The fairways of these golf courses that some qualify with a touch of irony as "goat courses" being too steep to run to the ball.
For the sake of communication and fierce competition, the stations embarked on a race for altitude. In 1984, the Arcs open their 18-hole course at an altitude of 1850m. Never mind, two years later, Robert Berthet realizes the Flaine golf course at 2m. The record seems unbeatable. But in 000, opened the golf course of Tignes at 2m, record broken. The following year, Isola 100, in the Alpes-Maritimes, equaled Tignes. Since then, no golf course has reached this high.
Near Grenoble, the courses have found refuge at medium altitudes. Like that of Grenoble-Bresson, a beautiful achievement by Robert Trent Jones Jr, whose highest point is measured at only 400m above sea level. But from the top of its fairways, we play in front of the Belledone chain, at Chartreuse massif and Vercors. And, on hole n ° 9, a long downhill par 5, Grenoble appears in a wide gap of trees. The second shot to the green becomes striking.
It is not enough to give an architect a mountain backdrop to give free rein to his creativity. At Saint-Etienne golf course, it is a landfill that Thierry Sprecher has rehabilitated to transform it into a green hole in the heart of the old mining town. “When I was brought to the site, it was full of stones. Dogs howled at the death, it was a real trash ", says the architect. As the workers' history is part of the heritage of Saint-Etienne, a stele was installed at the back of the green of 2, testimony of the firedamp from the Chana well which killed a hundred miners in 1942. The green is placed on the entrance to this well, forever closing the pages of a painful history.
In Lyon, capital of the Gauls, Villette d'Anthon golf course or Lyon golf club was the pioneer in the Rhône department. Built in 1965 in an area of two hundred hectares, along the river, the two courses designed by Hugues Lambert are tributes to game. The championship course, the Sangliers, displays back-tees with an unusual length of 6m, and was the scene of the 727 French Open and the Lyon Open until 1979. The second 1994 holes, bears the name of Brocards, from the name of the one-year-old deer that frolic with their mothers in the undergrowth. These two courses with numerous water obstacles are also home to wild swans, gray herons, little egrets and black kites. A real Noah's Ark, a few kilometers from the famous Lyon “bouchons”.
Less than three hours drive from the Mediterranean and Italy, two hours from Switzerland, and one hour from winter sports resorts, the third largest city in France occupies a privileged location in France. When the weekend comes, the people of Lyon are spoiled for choice. Because near the Swiss border, golf courses abound and the Lyonnais meet there on weekends the Genevans who only have the border to cross. White House, Esery, Bossey and Evian are the four favorite courses of the Rhone and the Swiss.
But the Evian golf course is one step ahead of its competitors. Because this city of water on the shores of Lake Geneva also offers a casino to the appetite of players on a green carpet and two international class hotels, the Royal, a palace open since 1909, and the Hermitage with more Savoyard charm. . At the start of the 1904th century, celebrities flocked to the Royal's large salons. On the promenade along Lake Geneva, Isadora Duncan, Countess Anna de Noailles, Princess de Hohenlohe showed off their dresses while princes, Maharajahs and finance barons chatted while smoking cigars in the smokehouse. Little looking at expenses, the Aga Khan reserved the honorary apartment in the west wing of the palace every summer. For more than forty years, the spiritual leader of the Ismailis would animate the evenings of Evian and the afternoons of the golf course, the first course of which dates back to XNUMX.
This 18-hole course on Lake Geneva was rustic. At that time, we were far from modern standards. It was not until the renovation undertaken, from 1988 to 1990, by the former assistant of Robert Trent Jones, Cabell Robinson, that the Royal Club Evian reached the level of quality demanded by the customers of the two big hotels. Then, at the instigation of Groupe Danone, owner of the luxury facilities of this Savoy spa town, a major women's tournament was created in 1994: The Evian Masters. Thanks or dynonism of Antoine Riboud then of his son, Frank, the tournament has become the unmissable event on the European women's circuit. Since the creation of the tournament, the endowment has gained altitude, the course has been embellished and has recently been adorned with waterfalls and rivers to magnify the elegant swing of these balls from the greens. During the four days of the competition, these young women are treated like queens. As was in their time the dancer, Isadora Duncan, or the poet, Anno de Noailles, companion of Gabriele D'Annunzio. From the lascivious fairways of Mâcon-la-Salle to the gala evenings of the dinner of the champions of Evian, it is the story of the eternal feminine that is being written. A subject all in curves and delicacy.
Informed oenologists say that Mâconnais wines have a thigh, that they are elegant and round. Is it while tasting a Pouilly-Fuissé or a Juliénas that the architect Robert Berthet took a bite out of Mâcon-la-Salle course ? Or was it while satiating with women's bodies that he imagined this route with suggestive curves? “In order to follow the idea through, it still needed a“ swollen ”customer and a suitable site. Patrick de la Chesnois endorsed the idea. As for the site, La Salle, in Burgundy, region of gastronomy, heady great wines, land of croups (as geographers say) seemed to me to meet all the criteria ", wrote the architect in a magazine of Golf dedicated to the eternal feminine.
Eighteen holes in homage to the body with its greens and bunkers in the shape of a foot and a hand, its areas between the tee and the fairway like long tapered legs and sheathed in dark green ... A golf course which takes on all its erotic dimension from helicopter. At ground level, the forms seem to escape the gaze of viewers.
In Mâcon-la-Salle, the female body is not simply sublimated by the architect's pencil stroke. Nature is responsible for giving it an adornment: “The rough is clothing. Sometimes veil, sometimes light (golfers say "short grass"), draped along the body, sometimes thick fur of broom and roses or even the hair of fruit trees…. There is also, placed like a necklace around the green of n ° 11, a string of "apple bunkers" and, there, I no longer remember why, the apple ... "