Golf du Petit Chene

Have had the pleasure of playing this course many times since 2002, but presently enjoying a longer stay in this area so have been back played it several times in successive weeks. This is a Formule Golf course, so you can bulk-buy green fee tickets at discount. These can be arranged to be used at different courses within the same group, so this course might be well be worth including as a stop on a society tour. In fact, this year I have been pleasantly surprised in that I have been allowed to use green fee tickets that I bought and which expired last year. Nice touches like that go a long way! What strikes you initially on arriving at the course is the clubhouse, which is a chateau that has been beautifully restored in the last few years. This has a small but functional bar and a very good restaurant that looks out over the inward holes of the course. Be aware that this does not open every day, so it would be prudent to check when booking. The course itself is a bit of a mixture, with some fairly straightforward par-4s to get you underway. A big wake up call awaits, as Hole 4 is a 200 yard par-3 with water in play all the way on the left, so a good well-directed blow is essential here. Number 5 is a longish par-4, uphill to a well-guarded green, whilst number 6 is a lovely par-5 back over the brow of the hill and downhill all the way to the waiting lake behind the green! The course gets really interesting from Hole 10 onwards, with water very much in play on the next six holes. The closing hole is a gem, in that it is a genuine double-dog-leg par-5, down into a valley with a stream at the bottom, then back up to the green. 480-odd yards off the yellows may not seem far, but a second shot to the green is seldom on, as if you cut the first (right) dog-leg off the tee, there is a likelihood of either ending up in the stream, or being blocked out by the tall trees that guard an attempt to cut the second (left)dogleg. Played as a true par-5, this is a relatively straightfoward hole, but the temptation is always going to be there to go for it!! As with many French courses, if you stay on the generous fairways, they are a joy to play. Here, the rough has been allowed to grow up somewhat and it can be a real struggle to move the ball forward if you stray right or left. The greens are a bit patchy this summer, but putts run true and approach shots will stop on a sixpence, which is a bit of a novelty, being used to playing on the billiard-table-hard links greens of north-east Scotland. There are some cracking courses in the Poitou-Charentes and the Vendee, all relatively unknown compared to Brittany and Normandy and this one is well worth a day out.