Golf de la Forêt de Montpensier

Few courses in the Auvergne can claim as dramatic a natural backdrop as this one. Set within the ancient Forêt de Montpensier in the Allier department, the course plays through woodland that carries genuine historical weight — the forest takes its name from the Dukes of Montpensier, a branch of the House of Bourbon whose château once dominated this corner of the Bourbonnais. The landscape is rolling and wooded, characteristically Allier: dense mixed forest, open clearings, and the kind of unhurried rural quiet that central France does better than almost anywhere.

The course itself is a tree-lined layout where route-finding and course management matter more than raw distance. Fairways framed by mature oaks and chestnuts reward accuracy over power, and the forest setting means that conditions — light, wind, moisture — shift meaningfully from hole to hole.

Serbannes sits a short drive from Vichy, the elegant spa town on the Allier River with its own golf tradition and strong regional sporting culture. For visitors exploring the heart of France, this is the kind of local course that reveals the country's golf landscape beyond the marquee destinations.