Granville Golf Club (Links)

The fairways at Golf de Granville date back to 1912, when a number of somewhat primitive golf holes were first laid out by local golfers amongst the Bréville dunes on France’s Atlantic coast, forming the first – and so far only – links layout in the country.

The course was requisitioned by the military during the Great War before Harry Colt was brought in to carry out remedial work shortly after hostilities had ended. World War II also brought about closure of the course and it took some time for it to recover once enmities had ceased.

In more recent times, Martin Hawtree (in the early 1990s) and Stuart Hallett have worked on the course, resulting in its selection as host venue for the French Mid Amateur Championships in 2008.

In addition to the 18-hole Links layout, Granville also boasts a short 9-hole course, called Les Dunes, that extends to 2,216 metres with three par threes and six par fours on the scorecard.

Stuart Hallett kindly provides us with the following exclusive comments:

“I have been working with Granville since 2006, in order to progressively renovate the golf course. At that time, the course didn't look like an authentic links, and it certainly didn't play like one either. Our goal has been to revive the original character of the course despite some lost holes in the early 1990s.

We have re-seeded fairways and greens and ensured the return of fescue turf with annual over seeding by green keeping staff. An extensive restoration and remodelling program has been carried out on tees, bunkers and a number of green surrounds. Large numbers of evergreen trees have also been removed.

The 7th hole was altered from a previously poor par three to an attractive short par four and the green on the 14th hole was moved from a heavy soiled corner of the course onto sandy links ground.

We still have plenty of projects and general improvements to put into place but the course has certainly been transformed. The look and feel of the golf course is a unique experience, especially here in France. The praise of visitors and purists is constant and very encouraging for the future.

One person has made all of this possible; club President, Jean Capelle. Since taking office in 2006, he has fought tooth and nail for the course to be developed, thus giving us the freedom to work and move forward.”

Since the start of the new millennium, the club has upgraded a number of holes which has led to removing the blind tee shot on #5, introducing a new forward tee on #10 and installing new mounding behind the green on #13. A long overdue fairway irrigation system was also brought into operation in March 2021 and a project to renovate the revetted bunkers is ongoing.