Le Touquet (La Forêt) - North East France - France

19th North East France - Best in Area 44th France Ranking
Golf du Touquet,
Avenue du Golf,
62520 Le Touquet,
France

  • +33 (0) 3 2106 2800

Championships hosted: Open de France

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 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.”

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Reviews for Le Touquet (La Forêt)

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Description: La Forêt course at Le Touquet is set beautifully among pine trees which provides a calm and peaceful environment for all golfers whatever their handicap. Rating: 7 out of 10 Reviews: 6
TaylorMade
Joe Sheldrake

This is a nice course played through the forest. Small and tricky greens are the order of the day but there are some very good holes here that make the course worth playing.

The first five holes are little more ordinary, played in between the holes of the lesser 9 hole course - these holes certainly lack the charm and character of the later holes.

6 is a strong hole. Played from an elevated tee in the trees, this is a long and tight par 5 with trees close in on either side. 8 and 9 are lovely holes - 8 doglegs left to a very narrow green and 9 doglegs the other way. Both are set beautifully in the trees and this is where the course really starts to get going.

The next few holes are great to play. Beautiful amongst the trees and tough, you need to be hitting it straight here. 17 is a lovely little par 3 played from an elevated tee and 18 is a cracking finish. Dogleg left with OB all the way down the right, you need to shape your tee shot here. Once managed, the green is quite large and gives you a good chance to walk off the course with a smile on your face.

Overall, a really nice course that is beautiful after a slow start and is worth playing if in this part of France.

May 05, 2020
6 / 10
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Nicholas Kjelgaard

This is definitely the lesser of the two courses but a nice round anyway. We have just finished 8 rounds in 8 days and of the courses we played I would rate this behind Wimereux, Belle Dune, the Hardelot courses and Touquet La Mer but ahead of Dunkirk and St Omer.

The course was in good condition and while there are some nice holes the start of the course 1-5 is a bit of a let down.

Additionally while we only ended up with a 4:15 round it took 20 minutes to play the first hole.

If you have one course to play in the area this is not it, but if you are away for a few rounds this makes for a nice opener.

July 01, 2018
4 / 10
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kevin charman
Le Foret has improved markedly during the past couple of years and is very much under-estimated, compared to its illustrious sibling Le Mer. In 2013 I would not have recommended it but now I would say it is a must play when visiting the area. It was presented in top-class condition, with greens running fast and true (putting Le Mer to shame! and way ahead of the very scruffy Hardelot Dunes). It provides a great mix of challenges - accuracy and finesse on holes like 2 and 8, strategy on 11 and 14 and power on 12 and 13. The finish too is very strong with 15,16,17 and 18 testing all parts of your game. When the clubhouse is finished, 18 will be a treat.
April 04, 2016
8 / 10
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Nigel Bratton
May favourite course on the Cote d'opale. The fairways are immaculate, the greens are fantastic and the layout of the course is challenging despite the perceived short distance. This course makes you think and you need to put the ball in the right place of the tee and on the green. Downhill putts can get away from you if you don't pay attention. If you want somewhere to stay, we recommend the Les Jumeaux Villa that backs onto the 11th green! 16 berth villa for a good group of golfers!
October 16, 2015
10 / 10
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Malcolm Searle
La Touquet is an easy to get to destination for golfers in the south of England so this course gets a lot of UK visitors, I played here on a fairly busy Saturday in April. As Cedric says it's not the most challenging course, but there's a good amount of variety, wide fairways and although it's a bit flat it's enjoyable enough. I especially enjoyed the 11th a par 5 with a very narrow approach opening into a dell like setting for the green and and the 15th a par 3 surrounded by trees My admiration was slightly diminished because I'd played Hardelot (Les Pins) the day before and was very impressed by the whole experience, if I'd played them the other way around I'd probably have enjoyed it more.
April 26, 2010
6 / 10
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Cédric
I must say I’d heard pretty bad reviews about this course before I played it last september. I decided to go anyway as it was the last course on this stretch of coast that I hadn’t played. How right was I! This is not the longest course in the world, it is pretty wide so you can let go the big stick without too many worries, so don’t expect a big test there. But it is such a fun course! And very beautiful too… Rather small greens in the first few holes and all of them very undulating, here is the challenge as length will not pose any problem to most of the players. The members I played with told me that the green keeping staff had changed a couple of years ago and found a huge difference since then. And indeed the course is very tidy despite the amount of (pine) trees that would tend to leave their leaves all around and “eat” balls, what a difference when all this is taken care of. I wrote it somewhere else but I will repeat it here again. If you are looking for a double bill, chose Le Touquet over Hardelot anytime when traveling in this area. La Mer is probably equivalent to the head course at Hardelot, les Pins… But La Forêt is so so much better than Les Dunes!!! (Or avoid les Dunes and play Belle Dune instead, certainly the best course in that area)…Back to La Forêt: if you are looking for a great walk in a beautiful forest and don’t want a too stressing test, this is your place! I’d play it anytime again. A very very pleasant surprise!! Cédric
October 31, 2007
8 / 10
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