Royan

The Office National des Forêts granted land to the City of Royan in 1977 and a 9-hole golf course was officially inaugurated on the 16th of April the following year by Pierre-Etienne Guyot, president of the French Golf Federation. The golf school opened three years later and it’s produced many good golfers since then.

Such was the early success of the golf facility, an additional nine holes were added in 1987 so that Royan became the first 18-hole course in the local Charente-Maritime department. The City of Royan still owns the complex, with management entrusted to an elected body that has financial autonomy from the local authority.

A new clubhouse opened in the summer of 2000, following the great storm of 27th December the previous year, when around two thousand trees were lost in the terrible winds. The club is now part of the national Golfy network, with 750 members, and it continues to grow in the modern era, improving both the course and its services.

Routed through the Forêt de la Coubre, where fairways were fashioned by literally carving playing corridors through a sandy-soiled pine plantation on the Arvert peninsula, at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, the course now extends to 6,005 metres from the back tees, playing to a par of 72.

Highlight holes include the stroke index 1 par four 5th, the right doglegged par four 9th, the short par four 11th and the 200-metre 17th, which is the longest of the four par threes on the scorecard.