Grande Bastide

Open Golf Club’s current complement of French golf courses numbers twenty-one, with no fewer than eight of those layouts situated within the Provence-French Riviera region. Set in the foothills above Cannes, Golf de la Grande Bastide is located five and a half kilometres to the west of another Open Golf Club facility at Golf Opio Valbonne.

Designed by Cabell Robinson, a former associate of Robert Trent Jones Snr, the course at Golf de la Grande Bastide lies close to Grasse, the town that’s world famous for its perfumes, and the wide, gently sloping fairways are set out around a number of ponds and lakes. Greens have been sensibly contoured and they’re protected in the main by large, intimidating sand traps.

The 507-metre 4th is by far the most difficult hole on the front nine and it plays to a wide, shallow green that’s benched into the opposite side of a blind gully – golfers marking a par “5” on the scorecard here will definitely walk to the next tee with a satisfied smile on their face. On the inward half, the par fours at the 15th and 18th are really strong holes, where water must be avoided on both the right and left side of either fairway.