Golf du Roncemay

Golf du Roncemay occupies a genuine château estate in the Yonne département of Burgundy, where the course wraps around and through a restored medieval property that doubles as a hotel. The design by Tom Simpson — one of the great British architects of the early 20th century, responsible for Morfontaine and Ballybunion's Old Course among others — gives Roncemay a classical, unhurried character that feels entirely at home in its surroundings. Fairways move through mature woodland and across open parkland, with the château itself providing a constant visual anchor.

The Yonne sits at Burgundy's northern edge, where the landscape softens into the rolling countryside of the Gâtinais. This is wine country in the broader sense — Chablis is nearby — and the pace of life here shapes the golf experience as much as the design does. Roncemay is a destination in the fullest sense: guests stay on the estate, dine well, and play at leisure.

For visiting golfers, the appeal is the completeness of the package. This is not a course you slot into a busy itinerary — it rewards a stay of a night or two, treating the golf as one pleasure among several rather than the sole purpose of the trip.