Golf du Touquet

Played La foret in May 2011. I had played the course twice previously and had avoided for several years due to the worsening state of the fairways and greens. Unfortunately this is still the same case, the greens in particular were terrible and I would rather have putted on the tee's or fairways. The course itself is a nice flat walk and relatively easy with open fairways and limited danger from the tee. If you visiting Le Touquet I would suggest leaving this off the schedule. La Mer is a better and tougher challenge. Best courses around are Hardelot Les Pins, St Omer and the best course in France Belle Dunne (in my opinion)....

We picked a glorious late-September week-end to play both courses at Le Touquet. First up on Saturday was Le Foret, and as we were teeing off in early afternoon we had time to have a nice lunch in the clubhouse and use the excellent practice facilites, consisting of a driving range, short-game area and putting green. On to the course, which at about 6,100 yds off the yellows is not overly long, but makes up for it by requiring plenty of thought off the tee. Good drives will be rewarded amply, but any waywardness will have you amongst the trees and hitting out sideways. There are opportunities to use your driver, but fewer than you might think. The rough is pretty sparse though, and it's not unusual for off-target shots to be sitting on pine needles or sandy soil. Unfortunately, a better summer than usual, combined with the popularity of the courses, has resulted in a peppering of very bare patches on the fairways, and a little patchiness on the greens too. Having said that, a good putt was still running true and quite fast, and it's obvious that a spell of rain should return the course to a higher standard. I didn't bring my 'A' game to this course, and as a consequence struggled to score, which is as it should be. If we had played in early-Summer I can imagine La Foret to be a great test. The following day, again experiencing glorious weather, we teed up at the sister course - La Mer. This is rated a more difficult test, being some 400+ yds longer and having a SSS some 3 shots higher than La Foret. My higher-handicap playing partners certainly found it tougher to recover from poor tee-shots throughout, even though the fairways offer larger targets. Being nearer the sea, there is more of a links feel to this course at times, although there are still plenty of tree-lined fairways too. Going off-line tended to incur a higher penalty, with lots of gorse bushes to attack your shins. For some reason, after a slightly shaky start, I was managing to score quite well on La Mer. It seemed to have survived the rigours of the summer slightly better than Le Foret, ensuring that straight shots were consistently rewarded. Avoiding the deep greenside bunkers helped, as even with the generous but fine sand, they were tricky to recover from. The more generous, sun-baked fairways also allowed a well-struck iron or rescue club tee-shot to within a mid- or long-iron of the green, even on the longer par 4's. In addition, a lucky chip-in on the deceptively tricky 12th allowed me to rescue a bogey following a lost tee-shot. And shooting 2-under for the last 5, mainly thanks to an eagle on the foreshortened 17th, left me with a 6-over par 78, which will live long in the memory. Le Touquet has something to offer most golfers. My higher-handicap, shorter-hitting friends preferred Le Foret. I would play La Mer again first, as I suspect would most lower handicap players. Either way, it's a treat, although shop around for discount deals as the standard green fees reflect the affluence of the surrounding area.

Played La Foret on nice day In September. I thoroughly enjoyed this course, but wish with hindsight that I played the higher rated La Mer. Not by any means is this a bad course. Its carved through a forest and has beautiful fairways, and greens and everything that you could ask for. But it just lacks that somthing extra that would turn it into a truly great course. It shows the quality of the golf on offer at Le Touquet where both courses are the equal of nearly everything in Surrey but are affordable for all. Highly recommended.

La Foret is a spectacular track, reminiscent of some of the great English inland courses (eg. Wentworth and Sunningdale). It may not be excessively difficult but thick woodland on either side of most fairways, plus quick greens, make it a challenge. I played this course in mid-September and it's extraordinary that it can be in such good condition after a summer of very heavy use. Highly recommended.

Played Le Pins @ Hardelot. La Mer & La Foret @ Le Touquet and Belle Dune over the May Bank Holiday weekend. I can't find a single fault with any of these courses. It's been about 10 years since we went to Le Touquet last time when I vaguely remember La Mer being magnificent. La Foret was ok then, but has now been brought up to a superb standard as well. We played the other two courses last year when Belle Dune was magnificent - and still is. Le Pins was good last year and has now gone up a notch and is top drawer. An overriding memory of this trip was the speed of the greens. At my club they are quite quick in the summer months, but they are nothing like these. They were so true, but so quick that it made scoring very difficult. La Mer & Belle Dune are pure links golf and La Foret & Le Pins are parkland. These courses are so consistently good that it's a bit of a wrench to choose to go to a different venue next year. My score ratings here are for the main Le Touquet course - La Mer.

Played both le touquet courses last week. Le Mer is a real challenge and you have to be on best form to have any hope of playing to handicap. That said it was a great pleasure to play it. Pity that the club house is 10-15 mins walk from the 18th as on a hot day this can be a bit much. La foret is a good course but a bit easier and if you're playing 36 in a day as we did it is better to play this in the afternoon. The greens were very good (on both courses)and generally the condition of both courses were top notch. One very minor gripe was the lack of any water fountains around the courses as in hot weather like last week they would be very welcome. Go and play them you'll have great fun.

Le Touquet La Mer I played the course last October and loved it. Although there is no clubhouse and the starter was full og Gallic moroseness the course is a joy with springy fairways and fast greens. we were lucky to be playing on a fine still day because this place would be a pig in a strng wind. Apart from being a stern test of golf you rarely see another hole from whchever tee, fairway or green you are on. Designed by Harry Colt, who built Sunningdale, anyone playing La Mer will have to be hitting decent shots off the tee. Hook, as I am prone to and you will need as many balls as the guy in the car park can sell you. You might even be buying your own ball back at the end of the round. Fortunately my ball and I stayed together all round and I shot a 10 over which delighted me. I also throughly enjoyed my lunch at the large clubhouse adjacent to the Forest course. Sufficiently so to be going back to play Le Touquet in May.

La Foret: Played this course late last month and although we had been suffering from a lot of rain my friends and I were very impressed with the condition of the course. The tees were in very good condition as were the fairways with lots of grass and a nicely defined first cut of rough.The greens were in very nice condition although a little slow, all in all a pleasant round of golf in nice surroundings. Not too long a course, on most holes a reasonable drive will allow straightforward second shots, much better than playing so called "championship" courses where even a cracking drive leaves you hitting 4 irons or 5 woods to par 4 greens!! Going back at end of July to play again along with the two Hardelot courses and La Mer also Arras. Report to follow!!!! Have fun.

Played both Le Foret and La Mer in April 2001 - weather was fantastic, but both courses had suffered from torrential rain in the preceding weeks. Greens at Le Foret were atrocious nad only marginally better at La Mer. Le Foret - pretty woodland course with some testing holes - par 3s in particluar. However, not a long course and reasonably accurate iron play will see the mid-range handicapper around in a sensible score. La Mer is a totally different ball game - now this really is a golf course! Off the back it's a long way round and when the wind gets up it's a real challenge for even the single-figure guys. Some superb holes and great variety - shame you can only glimpse the sea from one hole. If you're not hitting the ball well, be prepared to stick 3 figures on your card! But if you're in the zone and the sun is shining, this is golf at its most enjoyable.

we played la mer on a beautiful may day with just enough breeze to keep the temperature down. just as well because we were the lead group of 20 and we found ourselves behind a french family oblivious to any one else on the course. divots flew and balls (seven) went in all directions. were we unlucky or is this normal. no sign of any control on this or any other course. good food and don,t ignore the ball sellers. 150ff for 15 reclaimed callaways is a good deal.

La Foret is a great course crafted through very attractive pine woodland. There are some excellent (and fairly forgiving) driving holes with inviting tree lined fairways. Equally a couple of the par 3 holes in the shelter of the forest are very attractive. La Mer is also worth playing but for a links course it is frustrating not to get a glimpse of the sea (unless you play a truly disastrous shot!). My first choice would be La Foret every time.

La Mer - Only facilities at the course are a car park and a starters hut. The course shares a clubhouse with La Foret that is about half a mile away. It is a typical links course with undulating fairways and some plateau greens and tees. Generally well designed and in good condition with several of the opening holes having wide fairways. Some ditches and a couple of ponds, but nothing to worry most golfers. Close to the sea and cut through many sand dunes, sea breezes can make the course more challenging, but the classification of "championship" could be considered a little generous. Players will not see the sea - unless they are a little wild!\r\n\r\nLa Foret - As the name suggests, most of the holes are built in mature woodland. A little further inland, it is more sheltered and flatter than La Mer. No major water hazards, but many of the greens require accurate approach play. Not a long course but very enjoyable and my preferred choice of the two Le Touquet courses.\r\n\r\nBuggies and trolleys are available for hire.\r\n