Golf courses in Occitanie

The golf courses of Languedoc-Roussillon: The south of France, Provence, the Pyrenees chain, the Spanish border ...

Until the 80s, Languedoc-Roussillon only played the sun card. Before this region which stretches from Nimes in the Pyrenees decides to become an Eldorado of the grass. From the Petite Camargue to the Cathar castles, stroll along the Mediterranean fairways.

Falgos golf course 

In the heart of the Pyrenean massif, the Falgos golf course is the last stop before Spain. The air is pure, the light bright. We are at an altitude of 1100 meters in a wooded area of ​​six hundred and fifty hectares. The winding road ends at the terminus of Falgos area. Then, the only paths traced in the mountain are the fairways of this impeccably maintained 18-hole course and the tracks for electric carts. From the hotel terrace, the panorama is magnificent. On the left, the bay of Rosace which opens onto the Mediterranean, and the Spanish villages of Cadaquès and Figueras, homeland of the surrealist painter Salvador Dali; on the right, the snow-capped peaks of Canigou. In this region of Languedoc-Roussillon, where the first traces of humans, a 320-year-old skull, were unearthed in the Arago cave in Tautavel (Eastern Pyrenees), golfing time is just in its early stages. And Falgos is the last child of this spontaneous generation of journeys that blossomed at the end of the 80s.

In Falgos, on feast days, the guests drink the muscat pourron for a feast under the stars. As an accompaniment to the corgolode, (good big snails cooked on a grill) that we eat on the tables set up near the green of the 9. Projectors pierce the depth of the night with their tunnel of light. The green of the proctice in front of the hotel takes on unreal colors. These summer evenings, laughter, the crackle of the wood fire and the whistling of bullets break the silence of the Pyrenees. We can have fun without fear of disturbing because, in Falgos, we are or end of the world. 

Focus on the golf course of Nîmes-Campagne

First golf course to open in Languedoc-Roussillon, the golf course of Nîmes-Campagne has drawn on the treasures of history to build its legend. Because at the time of the pastis, the incredible stories punctuate the ceremonial of the aperitif. It is whispered that the Templar treasure could be buried under a leafy fairway, in an undergrowth, or under the foundations of the clubhouse, a miniature White House in true Washingtonian style.

These immense riches accumulated by the Order of the Templars turn the heads of gold seekers. No one knows if he really exists, but everyone dreams of it. Because Nimes-Countryside was built on an estate, used as a resting place for knights who returned from the Crusades with their booty. It is in the midst of these hundred-year-old trees that part of the finest French pros have received from the hands of a wizard, Tito Lassalle, the art of the game of golf. A difficult job of detection given the absence of other routes in the region. For nearly twenty years, Nîmes-Campagne has singlehandedly embodied golf in Languedoc-Roussillon. Before the promoters were interested in this region neglected by high-end tourism.

Play golf in the Camargue 

Grande Motte Golf

In architectural firms, leisure cities are sketched out on the drawing boards. In the 60s, utopia is in motion and the radiant cities are the fantasies of the new builders. In the little Camargue emerges from the earth La Grande Motte and its famous waterfront pyramid buildings, a tribute by its creator to the Mexican temples of Teotihuacan. Green spaces, cycle paths, spacious car parks, La Grande Motte, born under the leadership of Jean Balladur, cousin of the Prime Minister, claims to be a futuristic city. This unbridled urbanism gives pride of place to sports fields and, in 1987, the American architect Robert Trent Jones arrived in Montpellier to put the finishing touches on the Grande Motte golf course. Forty-one holes, divided into three courses: a 6-hole school, an 18-hole “executive” without any bunker and a championship course, the “Flamands Roses”.

At La Grande Motte, hole n ° 7 serves as a justice of the peace. A par 5 which also ends with an island green. “Either we pass the hole without damage or we come out of the green with a double number on the score card. And with eleven more holes to play, the afternoon can turn into a nightmare, ”say the connoisseurs, nibbling at the clubhouse bar a plate of tellines, a kind of small shellfish returned in a marinade of white wine and garlic. tasting as an aperitif. 

The inhabitants of Montpellier and de la Grande Motte, totally new to golf, will quickly progress on these educational courses. Then the organization of the Open AGF and access cards to the European circuit will contribute to the recognition of this group in France and abroad. 

Montpellier-Massane golf course

Today, the clientele of foreign golfers is enjoying the heyday of Langedoc-Roussillon. Germans, English, Swedes, Swiss have found there an alternative toAndalusia overheated and overcrowded in summer. Here, green fees are half the price, the sun is shining and the sea is only a few kilometers away. In the process, a family of public works contractors, the Jean Jean, launched the Montpellier-Massane golf course. As at La Grande Motte, a discreet real estate program allows the golf course to live and flourish. “We are not philanthropists, proclaim the two brothers. We love golf, but without the construction of the two hundred and fifty houses visible only from the first holes, Montpellier-Massane would not exist ”.

From Tunisia where they had gone to build football pitches, the Jeanjeans brought Ronald Fream back in their luggage. The American architect has a credo: “A beautiful golf course is admired at sunset when the shadows are cast. When there is none, I say that golf has been poorly designed ”. To play hide and seek with the sun, Ronald Fream gently modeled ancient vineyards and orchards to form raised mounds and greens that reveal the magic of light when the rays of the day star become grazing. The American not only worried about the aesthetics at the twilight of his first French creation, he put the entry player under pressure with hole 5, a par 5 and his island green offering two options. (caution or attack) on the second shot. In competition, this hole is the most feared and the five to six hundred red carp which frolic in the water obstacle are often disturbed by the balls which crash like meteorites at the bottom of the pools. 

From Saint-Cyprien to Cap d'Agde, from La Grande Motte to Montpellier Massane, Languedoc offers a great density of golf courses 

De Saint-Cyprien au Cap d'Agde, from La Grande Motte to Montpellier Massane, foreign golfers have a blast. With a friendly welcome, reasonable green fees and pleasant courses without being masterpieces, the coastal golf courses fully play the card of cosmopolitanism. On the other hand, at Carcassonne, a walled town that seems straight out of the images of Orson Welles' Falstaff, the golf course receives few visitors. Yet the city of Carcassonne, a jewel of medieval architecture surrounded by three kilometers of ramparts and fifty-two crenellated towers, figures in all the guides in the world. And around, the Cathar castles, impregnable fortresses built on vertiginous drops, are the joy of children and parents who plunge back into a part of the history of France, stained with the blood of the sacrificed.

Auriac and Carcassonne 

Built on the Auriac estate, the Carcassonne golf course is the mirror of these military architectures surrounded by moats and stone walls. Golf architect for the occasion, the club's pro, the Basque Jean-Pierre Basurco placed the tee of 1 in front of a wall of grass that must be crossed with a well-supported blow of wood to enter a plateau where meander the fairways. On the way back, the 9 is a small par 3 protected by the Saint-Jean stream that you attack from a high-pitched tee. True mirror of the city ​​of Carcassonne and its impregnable ramparts.

Some anecdotes and quotes from the golf courses of Languedoc in Occitanie. Did you know ? 

• Mount Canigou and its snow-capped peaks gave its name to the course of 18 holes of Saint-Cyprien.
• At a thousand hundred meters above sea level, Falgos is the last golf course in the Pyrenees
  Orientals beforeSpain.
• The pretty port of Collioure was the object of inspiration of the Fauvist painters.
• In Falgos, you can only hear the whistling of bullets and the song of birds. The first village is miles away ...
• At La Grande Motte, the course is flat but its difficulty lies in the abundance of water obstacles.
• A par 3 typical of the American architecture of Robert Trent Jones on the Flamands Roses course of the Grande Motte is the signature hole of the course
• THEreal estate identifies the first holes of the Massane golf course. The very discreet presence of the houses does not spoil the beauty of the course.
• Marshes are omnipresent on the golf course of La Grande Motte. During migrations, they are the refuge of large wading birds.
• Massane is home to the David Leadbetter Golf Academy. Its trainees are measured every day on the difficult greens with multiple plateaus.
• Thousands of golfers looking for an internship have passed through the doors of the Saint-Cyprien clubhouse.
• Better not to venture beyond the fairways of Saint Cyprien. As at 16 of the Canigou course where a sign indicates the presence of quicksand.
• In Carcassonne, it is the club's pro, the Basque Jean-Pierre Basurco, who designed this very nice course.
• Au Carcassonne golf course, the Black Mountain stands out from the horizon when the sky is limpid.