There are plenty of places you can go for an enjoyable European golf trip. Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Scotland. The list goes on.
And, as golfers, we tend to know what we are getting from each of them. They’re extensively travelled places.
Even England is the same. A lot of the Americans who come over here do so to play the trophy courses and Open venues we have to offer, while the discerning British golfer is heading to play in places like Gullane or Southport – what most of us view as proper golfing towns.
Then you have the more traditional and popular pre-packaged golf holidays offered in places like Portugal and Spain. They feel like safe bets for those looking to spread their wings.
But after spending 48 hours on France’s Opal Coast, I couldn’t help but come away wondering whether we have been overlooking a place that offers something slightly different to the rest. A place that feels a lot harder to define.
Le Touquet and Hardelot don’t exactly follow the trend the usual golf trip resort suspects have set. I visited as someone who was no stranger to either but I didn’t quite realise how close together they are. It was a pleasant surprise to find how much high-quality golf is saturated this part of Northern France.
Opal Coast golf trip: It feels like a holiday, but the golf feels familiar
You’re unquestionably abroad. You’re crossing the Channel, speaking another language and spending your evenings in a fantastic part of France.
But then I stood on the first tee and the golf feels remarkably familiar to what I play back at home.
We played a links course and three very different heathland-style layouts during our trip. The architecture and the terrain of all four felt much closer to the golf I would expect to find in Surrey.
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If anything it feels like a British golf trip, only you’re on the other side of the English Channel.
This is in part thanks to famed British architect Tom Simpson who originally designed Les Pines course at Hardelot. It was possibly the surprise of the trip for me and I came away wondering why more people aren’t talking about it.
The La Mer 18-hole golf course at Le Touquet is one of France’s rare links courses.
I can’t speak highly enough of how well the Opal Coast works as a trip. The variety of golf on offer sees to that. Le Touquet and Hardelot may only be a short drive apart from each other but they are two significantly different type of resorts.
But perhaps the biggest surprise of all was how much golf you can get for your money. We were told that four green fees across the Le Touquet and Hardelot courses could cost around €400.
Put that into the context of some of the UK’s comparable Top 100 venues and it becomes a bit of a no brainer. For similar quality across Britain you’d be lucky to get two rounds of golf for that price, with plenty demanding a significant chunk of that for one round.
If you look even harder, there are deals on offer through tour operators where you might even be able to get the accommodation for that sort of money. It’s phenomenally good value.
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Have you played golf along the Opal Coast or anywhere in France? Which has been the best golf trip you have been on? What is the one country you would like to play in? Let us know in the comments or by getting in touch with us on X!
