Golf

What the press are saying about golf at Le Château

Posh is perfect (Hole in One magazine)

A Five Star Fairy Tale (Golf & Travel magazine)

King of the Castle (Golf & Travel magazine)

Golf Courses near Le Château de Houetteville

France and, in particular, Normandy are very well-served with golf courses, there are over 40 within an hour’s drive (the superb Champ de Bataille is only 10 minutes away).

As most golfers know French courses typically have three things in common:

They are normally very well designed, with the French style and panache coming through, usually in places of natural beauty or of historical interest
The cost is normally significantly lower than the UK, Spain or Portugal.We have negotiated significant discounts at some of the best local golf clubs
They are considerably less crowded, than we are used to. You will often have the freeways entirely to yourself.

Premier golf courses near Le Château de Houtteville

Here are some descriptions from our golf professional, Andy Beal, about the best courses around Le Château.

GOLF CLUB DU CHAMP DE BATAILLE
Champ de Bataille is quite simply a beautiful and classic tree-lined golf course.

Often likened to Wentworth, this delightful gem was created in 1990 by the American architect Robin Nelson and French landscape gardener Thierry Huau, and can stretch up to 5,987m from the back tees with a par of 72. Two new holes were recently designed by French designer Jean-Manuel Rossi and have replaced two holes that used to link the forest to the Chateau (originally the clubhouse)

The well-crafted layout meanders through centuries-old trees that guard handsome clusters of ferns and rhododendrons, the occasional trickling stream, and the calm waters of several lakes. Accuracy is always demanded from your long game, and when the greens play fast and firm you will also need a silk-like touch with your putter (even though the greens appear fairly flat and harmless at first sight). Every hole is a pleasure to the eye but you will need to keep your concentration as there are plenty of potential card-wreckers, the short par 3 17th perhaps the most dangerous of all.

The practice facilities are very good, and the eye catching clubhouse has a friendly and well-regarded restaurant.

Savour your time at Champ de Bataille, magnificent venues like this are hard to find..

Tel: 02 32 35 03 72
www.champdebataille.com
Approx.10-15 min WNW of Houetteville

GOLF D’EVREUX
Le Golf d’Evreux is a pleasantly open course that rolls happily over the landscape providing a very good quality test of golf.

French designer Jean-Pascal Foures created the 6,353m par 72 course in 1994, and with its slope rating is considered the 3rd most difficult in Normandy. The rough that borders the fairways and the fast sloping greens prove the main obstacles to easy scoring, though the last three holes throw trees and lakes into the equation too. The unrestricted and exposed feeling of the course may come as a welcome respite from the tight tree-lined courses more typically found in the area, but you will need to play good golf should you want to nail a good score. Make no mistake, this is a well-designed layout. If you want to practise, there are good facilities on site and rugby fans will no doubt approve of the unique target on the range (you will see…).

The clubhouse is a light and airy modern design, that offers fine views of the course and boasts a warm and sociable atmosphere.

tel: 02 32 39 66 22
www.golfevreux.com
Approx.10-15 min SSW of Houetteville

GOLF DU VAUDREUIL
Le Golf du Vaudreuil is an appealing, easy-going and well-laid out parkland course that offers something for everyone.

Created by the renowned Fred Hawtree, this traditional 6,224m par 72 course was opened in 1961, and I would not mind betting that most of Fred’s original design has remain untampered with to this day.

The fairways are generous, even though they are nicely set amongst the trees, and the greatest challenge is getting the ball close to the hole on the small raised greens. You are sure to get plenty of practice splashing out of the shallow sand traps and chipping from the greenside rough. The course is very flat and so makes for an easy walk, but the beautiful trees and the odd lake will catch your ball as happily as they catch your eye.

A charming old Normandy barn makes the clubhouse and you can warm up in front of the impressive fireplace on a cold day, or if it is sunny be sure to take some refreshment outside on the terrace where you can relax in the lovely surroundings.

tel: 02 32 59 02 60
www.golfduvaudreuil.com
Approx.15-20 min NW of Houetteville

GOLF PARC DE NANTILLY
Le Golf Parc de Nantilly is an impressive and mouthwatering combination of high quality American golf design and 200 acres of landscaped arboretum scattered with lakes and streams.

Created by Robert Hersant and American architect Ronald Fream, this 6,379m par 72 championship course will surely test every aspect of your game. A whole range of skill-matching tee positions, the imaginative shaping of the greens, the way the fairways wind through and around the lakes and copses, and the recurrent gorgeous views all show that this course has been very well thought out. You will notice that the many teasing slopes on most of the greens have not occurred by accident, either.

Buggies with built-in GPS system for accurate course planning are included in the green fees, and I can assure you that you will enjoy simply driving around the park that hosts some 15,000 trees and a dozen or so lakes. The 30 species of trees include sequoia, ginko and Douglas fir, and there is also a wide and pretty variety of flowers and shrubs to complement.

The clubhouse is presently on the small side, but is comfortable and welcoming nonetheless, and the restaurant’s conservatoried seating area offers splendid scenery as you might expect. There are also very good practice facilities on site.

At Le Golf Parc there is so much to take in and enjoy, that you are sure to want to come back time and again, especially as the scenery takes on spectacularly different guises with the changing of the seasons.

Tel: 02 37 63 06 30
www.legolfparc.com
Approx. 20 min SE of Houetteville (towards Paris)

GOLF DE LERY-POSES
Tel: 02 32 59 47 42
Golf-lery@wanadoo.fr
Approx. 20 min NW of Houetteville

GOLF DE SAINT-SAENS
St Saens is a picturesque parkland course that is overlooked by the splendid 19th-century manor house Chateau du Vaudichon.

Dating from 1988 the 6,010m par 71 course was designed by French architect Denis Robinson, and it is charming for both the beauty and variety to be found there. Three different elements make up the course: the tree-lined holes cutting through the forest, valley golf around the ‘Varenne’ river, and the more exposed stretch on the higher ground. Surrounded by the Eawy beech grove (reputedly the best in France), the golf course sits happily in the 200 acre estate providing an enjoyable mixture of picturesque and challenging holes for golfers of all abilities.

Tel: 02 35 34 25 24
www.golfstsaens.com
Approx. 60 min NE of Houetteville