Chantaco

Golf de Chantaco golf club was founded in 1928 by René Thion de la Chaume and the great Arnaud Massy marked the occasion with an exhibition match along with fellow countryman Jan Gassiat and a couple of Jersey professionals, brothers Aubrey and Percy Boomer, who between them won more than a dozen continental Opens during the 1920s and 1930s.

Simone Thion de la Chaume, the 13-time French Ladies Amateur champion, accepted the presidency of the club from her father in 1930, holding the position for 44 years until handing over to Catherine Lacoste. She then guided the club for a further 35 years before passing on the presidential baton to her niece, Camille Lacoste, in 2009.

She in turn was replaced in 2013 by Veronique Smondack, Catherine’s daughter, so the club has always been managed by a member of the Lacoste family. As of 2019, the new president is Jean Marie Lacoste, the grandson of René Lacoste, and he has exciting plans for the future of the club.

The following edited extract is from France’s Most Beautiful Courses by Jean-François Lefevre: “The family legend will ensure that Chantaco remains unique in French golf. Fourteen grandchildren mean that the course will be taken over by someone in the family so that Chantaco and its fourteen thousand trees will continue to perpetuate the family tradition and the spirit of the game.”

The course lies just outside the little fishing town of St Jean de Luz, a short half an hour drive south of Biarritz, and it’s one of the most celebrated golfing layouts in the Basque region, largely through the charming ambiance both on and off the course that’s been cultivated over many years by its owners.

Designed by Harry Colt, the course consists of two distinct nines, with tree-lined fairways wandering through woodland on the front nine and water coming into play on the inward half. Five of the holes are configured as par threes and three are set out as par fives.

Extending to 5,833 metres from the back tees and playing to a par of 70, Golf de Chantaco hosted the Open de France Dames for professional women from 2012 to 2017 and the French Open for their male counterparts was also held here in 1970, an event won by Australian David Graham.