Le Touquet Golf Resort (La Forêt)

Horace Hutchinson originally designed the La Forêt course at Le Touquet and it opened for play in 1904. Lord Balfour, then the British Prime Minister, opened the course by cutting the traditional ribbon and then playing a round. The First World War destroyed part of the course, but it was soon restored so tournaments could once again be held on La Forêt. In 1958 Philip Mackenzie Ross was commissioned to renovate the layout.

La Forêt is set beautifully among pine trees which provides a calm and peaceful environment for all golfers whatever their handicap. It’s not as technically demanding as La Mer with wider fairways, but La Forêt has small and tricky greens which remain difficult targets to master.

At a touch over 5,800 metres, this is not the longest course you may play but the par four 13th must be taken seriously as it measures 421 meters and, as on La Mer, no resting on laurels here! A number of course improvements have recently been undertaken that include modifications to the 8th (stroke index 1) which is now fairer. The 14th and 15th holes have recently been renovated including new greens for the 11th and 14th holes.

La Forêt is an excellent accompaniment to the more sought after La Mer and a further 9-hole course “Le Manoir” par 35 and 2,800 metres long, lies inside the routing of the La Forêt which is an ideal course for beginners. Le Touquet is certainly the complete golf destination.

Charles Debruyne from Le Touquet Golf Resort told us the following in relation to the club’s staging of the Open de France:

“The routing that is used nowadays is the original one that hosted the Open before the Second World War, designed by Colt & Alison. After the war they used a 14-hole loop (instead of 18) on La Mer, with four holes from La Forêt, allowing a start and finish at the nearby Manoir Hotel, which was being used as a clubhouse at that time.”