Residence Tunis

As it’s located close to where the first Tunisian course opened in the 1920s at nearby Carthage, it could be said that golf in this part of the world truly returned to its roots with the opening of the 18-hole championship layout at The Residence Tunis in 2008.

The two courses may sit a few miles from each other but, in truth, they also lie at completely opposite ends of the golfing spectrum.

The Golf de Carthage course stands for the game of golf as it was played in a bygone era (despite a redesign by Yves Bureau in the 1990s) and its layout still measures less than 5,000 yards in length with not a single par five hole on the scorecard.

On the other hand, The Residence Tunis represents modern, state of the art, golf with all the refinements that one would expect from a contemporary Robert Trent Jones II design.

Lying conveniently close to Tunis-Carthage International airport on salt flats beside the up-market resort of Gammarth, the course is a plush golfing playground for guests residing in the attached five star hotel of the same name and its presence on the Tunisian golfing map has catapulted the game in this country right up to date in the 21st century.

Fairways are laid out as two returning nines with back-to-back par fives – “Tenacity” and “Courage” – routed either side of a small lake at holes 3 and 4. Unusually, holes are configured as a trio of par threes, fours and fives on the outward half with the short 7th a real feature hole beside the salt lake. Holes 12 to 14 skirt the same stretch of tidal water before the round concludes with a long par five that doglegs left to the home green.