Opio Valbonne

Open Golf Club’s current portfolio of golf courses spans four countries – France, Belgium, Spain and Morocco – and eight of the layouts are situated within the Provence-French Riviera region. Set in the foothills above Cannes, Opio Valbonne lies less than a ten-minute drive from another Open Golf Club facility at Golf de la Grande Bastide.

The Opio Valbonne course is a Donald Harradine design – one of three French golf projects the architect was involved with in the early 1960s (the other two were Rochefort en Yvelines and Chaumont en Vexin) – and it occupies a relatively small portion of an enormous 220-hectare property which has at its centre of activity the recently renovated Château de la Bégude.

It’s a totally charming place to play golf, where tree-lined fairways return in two loops of nine to an open courtyard area that nestles between the clubhouse and the hotel. An old Roman aqueduct adds even more appeal to this rather attractive 19th hole setting, running along the right hand side of the 18th fairway.