Reputed to have cost around $11.5 million to construct, the course at Ile aux Cerfs (formerly known as Le Touessrok) is a prestigious IMG layout that bears the Bernhard Langer architectural stamp of approval. Debuting in 2003, it winds its way around the Ile aux Cerfs – a small island which lies just off Trou d’Eau Douce in Mauritius’s largest lagoon – with eighteen holes set out in an old sugar plantation.
According to Bernhard Langer, "What I have aspired to create with Le Touessrok golf course is a golfing experience that truly arouses all the senses. From the amazing natural setting to the challenges presented by the course I want it to be a game to remember for all who play."
The setting is absolutely idyllic – fantastic white sandy beaches flank fairways around the periphery of the property – but Ile aux Cerfs has gained the reputation of presenting far more than a pleasant, resort-style challenge; a view that has recently been endorsed by new French Golf Federation slope ratings for the course.
The natural topography is brought into play at every opportunity with a wonderful routing that takes golfers on an exotic tropical trip through lush mangrove forests, past shimmering tidal pools and over craggy volcanic lava outcrops, skirting the spectacular sandy shoreline on several occasions along the way.
Each of the four short holes on the course is visually stunning, but the best of these is possibly the 125-yard 8th, where its pulpit green sits high above the fairway, surrounded by trees. The 337-yard 14th is another feature hole on the inward nine and this tempting short par four plays to a long, narrow green at the end of a short uphill approach.
