Médoc (Châteaux) - South West France - France

The Chateaux golf course located in the Medoc wine region to the east of Bordeaux is an excellent test and has already hosted the top professional and amateur tournaments of France. Due deference is given to the local wines with the 150 metre markers shaped as a wine bottle and each hole is named after one of the great wines that make this region one of the best, if not the best, in the world.

The course was designed by American Bill Coore in 1989 and is very much the senior of the two courses at this site. I would regard it as more heathland than parkland, the layout is flat and the holes are set out on a grand scale with large fairways and the many hazards are clearly indentifiable from the tee. The hazards are a series of very strategic good-sized bunkers or water in the form of streams or ponds which come into play on at least 6 holes. The greens are large with mainly gentle slopes, they look and putt immaculately. Similarly the fairways, bunkers and teeing areas are also maintained to a high standard, and this despite a very dry summer which has affected the standard of other courses that we played in the area.

Above all the Chateaux rewards the golfer who plots a path around the course taking great care to try and avoid the penal areas with both tee and approach shots. At 6300 yards from the yellow tees, but nearly 7000 from the back tees, the course is long but fast-running fairways make it manageable. The rough can be quite brutal but tends to only penalise shots that are badly offline.

There are so many good holes and to my mind no weak ones but highlights include:

All three par 5s with perhaps 14 the hardest, and this is surprisingly stroke index 18!

The two short holes on the front nine at 5 and 8, both only require mid irons or less and are played over water.

A magnificent par four at 11 with a stream crossing the fairway and then in play all down the left, before a green where you dare not go long.

The 4th which is the longest par four and plays to a well-protected raised green and is rated the hardest hole on the course.

A suitably challenging dogleg finishing hole again to a raised green.

The natural setting of the golf course is of high order and the challenge of Chateaux very fair, although I would expect it to appeal more to lower handicap golfers. The 36 hole purpose-built resort seems to attract golfers on package deals, but if you only have time for one round here, I urge you to play this course rather then the neighbouring Vignes, you will not be disappointed.

There is definitely a heathland (certainly not links!) feel to the Chateaux course, routed over a relatively flat space with little movement in the terrain the challenge comes from strategically placed bunkers, cunning raised green complexes, water and smart hole routing. In a very dry summer the course was in remarkable condition, turf and green quality as good as I’ve played on all year, only a few bare patches here and there but totally understandable. Only the wilted dried out rough bordering the fairways pointed to the water restrictions the course was operating under, it did make the course less penal and I’d expect in more normal times that adding to the test particularly from the tee. Your round will commence in fine style with a strong par 4, a split fairway gives different options and will govern whether it’s a short or mid iron approach, in fact the opening stretch is pretty tough, a 576 yard par 5 follows with the SI 456 yard par 4 coming at the 4th. The two par 3’s on the front 9 both bring water into play if the pins are cut into tight wet side positions, provides a stern test of control and nerve.

The back 9 commences in robust fashion with a dog leg right par 5, an especially challenging tee shot, the bold line is to flirt with the trees down the right and take the bunkers out of play but this is the riskier choice. 11 is a smart mid-length par 4 where there are several ways to play to avoid the stream which cuts the fairway. The par 3’s on the back 9 are longer but with no water, 17 in excess of 200 yards from the whites will see most players reaching for a long iron. The final hole maintains the quality, a long par 4 into raised green, to have a chance of finding it in regulation your tee shot needs to the carry the left rough and first fairway bunker, an inaccurate approach will be most likely leave a tough up and down in full view of the terrace! Greens ran with beautiful roll, lots of undulation but not extreme, certainly a solid test of putting if you find wrong spot. I loved the 150 yard markers nod the wine making heritage of the region, overall the whole resort is a quality experience, I also played the Vignes course which I will add a review for.

This is a nice course, but it is inexcusable to NOT have the Vignes Course at Golf Du Medoc listed, in my eye it is every bit as good if not better and irrelevant that it is not "Tournament Calibre".

Thirty years on from when the Château course at Medoc first opened for play, it’s easy to see now that even back then both Bill Coore and Rod Whitman were ahead of the game regarding the style and build of modern golf courses; offering fairway width, beautifully sculpted rough-edged bunkers and greens with plenty of interesting internal contour.

The Vignes course (which I unfortunately didn’t have time to play because of a late start on the Château due to fog and only managed to see via a quick buggy ride) also looks a fine complementary layout, offering resort visitors the chance to indulge in a 36-hole day of high quality golf – weather permitting, of course!

On such a relatively flat landscape, I can understand why a) so many of the greens have been pushed up to add visual stimulation and b) the putting surfaces are often edged with fearsome looking sand traps – and speaking of bunkers, the centreline hazards on the 1st were more than a little perplexing when teeing off just as the fog was lifting, not realizing they were an integral part of a clever split fairway!

Ponds came into play at both the par threes on the front nine, which felt a little predictable, but the two short holes on the back nine at #12 and #17 were free of water and both played to sand-protected greens instead. I felt the 18th was also a little anticlimactic, with resort accommodation buildings running along the left side of the fairway.

The 10th (“La Moulin”) is now a slightly right doglegged par five, having been lengthened in recent years (so the course now plays to an overall par of 71) but my favourite hole was the doglegged 11th, where a ditch crosses the fairway as it veers to the left then this water course runs alongside the hole before circling the back of the green.

It’s more an amalgam of parkland and heathland on the Château and comparisons to an “inland links” – whatever that might be – are a bit wide of the mark in my opinion. Whichever way you care to categorize the course, it’s still a pleasure to play and installing yourself at Médoc to spend time playing high quality golf and exploring some of the local wineries makes eminent sense to me.

Jim McCann

Bordeaux is the most famous wine region in the world- there are apparently over a hundred thousand hectares of vineyards in the area.

Any visitor to France should aspire to visit the region and its Grand Cru Class wineries.

Fortunately for golfers Golf du Medoc is a quality 36-hole golf resort located in the Bordeaux area, thus enabling savvy golfers to get the best of both worlds.

Coore & Crenshaw are now regarded as one of the premier golf architecture firms around, but the Chatueax course at Golf du Medoc was built by Bill Coore in 1989 and was very early in his design career. He did a good job!

The course is regarded as one of the best courses in France and has hosted the French Open.

The Chateaux course is sited in sandy soil surrounded by forest- however it is virtually flat terrain, which can make it more of a challenge to retain the interest as top courses do. There are advantages however with a flat site – it is easy to walk!

The course has a good variety of holes and well thought out strategies on every hole, starting with hole 1 with it's split fairway.

Coore has incorporated large raised greens with some steep fronts – particularly on the long par 4 ninth (Dauzac) and the 18th (Leoville Poyferre). It's a technique which has added definition to these holes.

The water holes provide some variation in look and feel of the course. The par 3 5th and 8th holes have lake carries, and lateral water. They are the postcard holes!

My favourite holes include the par 4 eleventh hole (Lascombes) with a burn running across the fairway on an angle at driving length and then down the left side of the fairway. The split fairway first hole (Lagrange) is also a beauty!

Unusually for a well-known golf resort, there are no conveniences on course, nor access to water. There are no distance markers other than those in the shape of large Bordeaux bottles at 135 metres to the front of green. Appropriately the holes at the Chateaux course are all named after Grand Cru Class wines.

Paths from green to tees were pretty rough during our stay, and not pleasant to walk or cart on – one can only assume they would not normally be like that. The resort accommodation and restaurant are modern and comfortable.

Golf du Medoc is a very good 36-hole resort and a perfect base from which to explore the famous Bordeaux wineries.

Peter Wood is the founder of The Travelling Golfer – click the link to read his full review.

I really like my new home courses. Les chateaux is a proper beast, real tournament golf course. It's long and tough. Greens are huge, elevated and very undulated! A real privilege to play here on a regular basis. If tournament style courses aren't your thing, the les vignes course is very good too...

I have played both courses at Golf du Medoc a couple of times, and I have to say that this is one of the best 36 hole venues that I have played at. The Chateaux course is the big "tournament" course and indeed it is a long, tough beast with enormous greens and lots of trouble everywhere. The French Open was staged here once and it is a shame that it has not been back as there is so much room. A wonderful test of golf for the big hitter, with widish fairways and good bunkering. I had read that the course was "linksy" in character but I felt that is resembled more a heath land course, some holes were quite Royal Melbourne like without the advantage of the range in topography. Standout holes being the 5th, a par three over water to a green that has water on three sides and the fourteenth, a really wonderful and tricky par 5. 16, 17 and 18 are a really stern test at the finish. But I cannot understand why the other, Vignes, course is not rated in the rankings? It is a really charming course, not short and with arguably trickier, Donald Ross, saucer type greens. The course meanders through beautiful pine forrest and has a couple of cracking holes around a lake. The first is a wonderful opener with beautiful trees down both sides of the fairway. Crossing the road after the tenth there are a stream of great holes, the par five 11th and 16th being both beautiful and strategically interesting.Both course are excellent and with two practise grounds, excellent short game areas and a wonderful hotel (that I will be staying at when I go back this weekend) it is a destination that all travelling golfers should know about. 20kms from downtown Bordeaux and the airport and with a great range of wines available it is very highly recommended by myself.

Played the Chateaux course a few weeks ago and was thoroughly impressed. What a great mix of holes, long and short. Around the tees it was a bit soggy, but for the time of year, it was in great shape. I would highly recommend playing this course if you're in the region as it is tough to beat.

This is the second time I've visited the Golf du Medoc Resort and was once again very impressed with the hotel and more importantly both 18 hole golf courses. I played Les Chateaux 2 years ago and have not stopped recommending it to people. Blessed with playing the Surrey courses around Ascot/Cobham this course has a mixture of the heather and parkland you experience there with a links feel to it - especially when the wind picks up. A previous review said you don't have to think about your shots too much... I disagree. The fairways on some holes are wide but bunkers are strategically placed and often catch you out if you try to be too clever off the tee. Given the lack of rain already this year the course is playing very well and the greens and most of the key area's on the fairways have been well watered. I'd fail to bore of playing here and enjoying the view from the bar terraced afterwards. One down side here is that pints are very expensive - wine is better value for money.Les Vignes has a slightly different feel to it and only just comes second to Les Chateaux. Plenty of interesting holes although the par 3's on this course are not as interesting or challenging as on Les Chateaux. Still there are trees and bunkers galore and the water comes into play on 2 or 3 holes. Quality of the greens is once again very good. The resort on the hole has very much a members golf course feel too it rather than a hotel/corporate/public course feel. Friendly staff, good food and drink and accommodation make for an entertaining stay. Close proximity to Bordeaux airport also means that there's no need for car hire as taxi's can be used. We travelled with YourGolfTravel.com and the booking system and customer service were excellent.14 Handicap.

big disapointment. drove 2 hours from Dordogne hoping to play a top course, vut found it all very bland. few good par 3's over water. but in general fairways are too wide and didnt have to think much. didnt bother playing Vignes as looked quite similar - played at pessac which in my view was better !