Golf d’Hardelot - Les Pins

Few courses on the Côte d'Opale carry the pedigree of Les Pins. Laid out through a dense maritime pine forest just back from the beaches of Hardelot-Plage, this is one of northern France's most celebrated layouts — designed by Tom Simpson, the brilliant and eccentric English architect responsible for some of Europe's finest pre-war courses. Simpson routed the holes in harmony with the pines and undulating sandy terrain, and the result is a course that feels more like a Scottish heathland track than a conventional parkland: firm, fast, strategic, and demanding of imagination as much as power.

Hardelot sits roughly halfway between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Le Touquet, in a stretch of the Pas-de-Calais coast that has quietly sustained serious golf for over a century. The region draws a devoted following of French and Belgian golfers, and a steady stream of visitors crossing from Britain who recognise the quality of links and near-links golf available here.

Les Pins rewards patience and course management. The pine corridors demand accuracy off the tee, and the sandy subsoil means the course drains beautifully and plays well even in the grey, blustery conditions the Opal Coast delivers reliably for much of the year. It is, by any honest measure, one of the finest tests in France.