On Tour
In March of 2013 I made an expenses paid trip to Cologne to visit one of my best friends and his girlfriend, whilst I was there I was given the incredible opportunity to practice on the range and play the Jack Nicklaus designed golf course, as well as eat a Currywurst in the magnificent clubhouse of the Golf Club Gut Larchenhof. My friend, Stephen Sweeney, is a European Tour coach who I used to live with and have known for nearly 10 years and despite his global travels for work we have kept in touch and stayed close friends. I travelled to Cologne by train from London on Monday March 18 and I managed to get a sneak peak at the club and the course that evening as Stephen had forgotten something at work and had to return to get it before we began our evening of drinking and playing a quiz, in an Irish bar.
Gut Larchenhof is accessible only to members who have a valid key fob and the metal gates slowly open to allow you to drive on to the property. The range is spacious and is fully grassed as well as having covered teaching bays for when the weather turns nasty. I got a quick buggy ride around some of the holes nearest to the clubhouse, and I loved what I saw, water actually in play not just stuck out there for a hacker to hit. Small greens rather than huge, undulating ones that are found on most modern designs, and a largely empty golf course. It is clear that Jack Nicklaus's mission for this course was to provide the members with a world-class championship standard layout, not just a resort course they could have a hit on.
The next morning we left the flat in Cologne to be greeted by teaming rain from the grey skies over central Europe, and we stopped off at Koln Golf Club to collect the set of Titleist irons I was borrowing from Stephen's closest German friend Mario. Stephen spent the morning teaching, while he did so I smashed 200 balls off the mat to get used to the slightly longer and heavier irons. We tee'd off shortly after 12pm local time in nicer and drier conditions than the day had started in.
Gut Larchenhof is accessible only to members who have a valid key fob and the metal gates slowly open to allow you to drive on to the property. The range is spacious and is fully grassed as well as having covered teaching bays for when the weather turns nasty. I got a quick buggy ride around some of the holes nearest to the clubhouse, and I loved what I saw, water actually in play not just stuck out there for a hacker to hit. Small greens rather than huge, undulating ones that are found on most modern designs, and a largely empty golf course. It is clear that Jack Nicklaus's mission for this course was to provide the members with a world-class championship standard layout, not just a resort course they could have a hit on.
The next morning we left the flat in Cologne to be greeted by teaming rain from the grey skies over central Europe, and we stopped off at Koln Golf Club to collect the set of Titleist irons I was borrowing from Stephen's closest German friend Mario. Stephen spent the morning teaching, while he did so I smashed 200 balls off the mat to get used to the slightly longer and heavier irons. We tee'd off shortly after 12pm local time in nicer and drier conditions than the day had started in.
The first hole is a hole that wouldn't be out of place on a course built 100 years ago when driving ranges were a thing of the future, it is a short and comfortable hole that enables the golfer to warm into the round. However, my opinions of the course and judgement of this hole may well have changed had I played it this month when the rough resembles that of Muirfield, my tee shot went down the right side of the hole, clearing the first bunker but finishing in the rough. I hit my second shot heavy and was left with a knee-nocker of a pitch over two bunkers short right of the green. I played probably the best pitch of the last few years of my golfing life to around four feet and rolled in the putt for a par.
It quickly becomes evident though that length and accuracy are required to score well around this course, especially from the championship tees and when the rough is up. The fourth and fifth holes punish any imperfections in ball striking with a watery grave on the par three and short par four. The ninth hole shares the same lake as the 18th and requires a tee shot up the left, away from the bunkers to open up the hole for a shot to a shallow green. One of the few highlights of my round came at the par three eleventh hole with a 7-iron over the pin setting up a nice and easy par, followed by the short but difficult par four 12th hole which requires a tee shot up the right to open up the hole to an angled green.
Following the softer par five 13th the final five holes just do not let up at Gut Larchenhof. The 416m par four fourteenth is followed by the tempting par five 15th and 177m par three 16th which borders the lake on 17. The 16th begins a magnificent final three holes where anything but accuracy is punished severely. The 17th is 320 metres in length and has water for the entire length of the fairway and green on the right side, once the fairway is found any shot right of the pin is likely to end up in the drink. The 383 metre par four 18th requires a long and accurate drive up the right side, avoiding the bunker to open up the hole to a small, angled green with water short and bunkers long and left.
I didn't play very well but it didn't diminish my appreciation for the test posed by this formidable Jack Nicklaus layout. It was my first experience of golf in Germany and I sincerely hope it is not my last.
It quickly becomes evident though that length and accuracy are required to score well around this course, especially from the championship tees and when the rough is up. The fourth and fifth holes punish any imperfections in ball striking with a watery grave on the par three and short par four. The ninth hole shares the same lake as the 18th and requires a tee shot up the left, away from the bunkers to open up the hole for a shot to a shallow green. One of the few highlights of my round came at the par three eleventh hole with a 7-iron over the pin setting up a nice and easy par, followed by the short but difficult par four 12th hole which requires a tee shot up the right to open up the hole to an angled green.
Following the softer par five 13th the final five holes just do not let up at Gut Larchenhof. The 416m par four fourteenth is followed by the tempting par five 15th and 177m par three 16th which borders the lake on 17. The 16th begins a magnificent final three holes where anything but accuracy is punished severely. The 17th is 320 metres in length and has water for the entire length of the fairway and green on the right side, once the fairway is found any shot right of the pin is likely to end up in the drink. The 383 metre par four 18th requires a long and accurate drive up the right side, avoiding the bunker to open up the hole to a small, angled green with water short and bunkers long and left.
I didn't play very well but it didn't diminish my appreciation for the test posed by this formidable Jack Nicklaus layout. It was my first experience of golf in Germany and I sincerely hope it is not my last.
In my final year at University one of our modules was Golf Event Management, we had to decide upon a group of students to plan, prepare, run and evaluate a golf event of our choice. Myself, Paul Prescott, Tim Pacey and Douglas Kibble decided that we would go to France for our event, initially we planned to go to Disneyland Resort in Paris but that quickly became infeasible due to the costs involved. The basis for the event was to run a golf tournament abroad in the same timeframe as the finals of the Collegiate and Prospects Golf Tour in May for those who did not qualify. We initially ran a qualifying series awarding points at Prospect Tour events so that our event would gain visibility with the students and attract them to enter. We ended up inviting entries from 15 students and the event was staged at Pleneuf de Val Andre Golf Club on the Brittany coast near St Malo.
Pleneuf - Val Andre is a glorious town / commune on the sea with a population of just over 4,000 people and experiences warm sunshine throughout the summer. Its population swells in the summer to nearer 20,000 with the visiting tourists to the area and golf is becoming a big reason for people to come and experience the town and resort.
The group was split across two hotels, the Grand Hotel and the Hotel de la mer.
The golf course is still to this day one of the best I have played anywhere, its conditioning was superb and it offered and old-school challenge with small, undulating greens and punishing rough. You had to shape the ball and play for the right part of the fairway to give yourself the best angle to enter the green. Perched on headland sitting above the town the views were simply spectacular and no more so than on the 10th and 11th holes. The 10th is a short, downhill par four to a blind green from the tee and the 11th was a stunning dogleg left par five along the coast from a massively elevated tee, the view from this tee can be seen in the above video. The 12th is an uphill par four from a tee set back in the trees to a shallow green, it is followed by a medium iron par three and arguably the toughest hole on the course - the par five 14th with a narrow fairway and an even narrower approach guarded by a large tree on the left side.
The whole course, beginning with a reachable par five, is a test of any players game and if the wind blows it can be a truly demanding challenge even for the best pro's in Europe, let alone students.
The whole course, beginning with a reachable par five, is a test of any players game and if the wind blows it can be a truly demanding challenge even for the best pro's in Europe, let alone students.
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| Photo from www.bluegreen.com |
The biggest mistake I made in the whole process was the tournament itself, I tried to make it fancy by having a cut for the top half of the field and having two separate tournaments on the final day, it didn't work and it wasn't fair. I should have just set it as a 54-hole tournament. Regardless the tournament was won by Craig Dickinson.
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| The group at the end of a fantastic three rounds at Val Andre |
The course had been long used for Alps Tour events and in 2007 the Open Blue Green Cotes D'Armor de Bretagne was elevated to Challenge Tour status and has remained on the schedule ever since. The 2013 edition takes place this weekend and you can keep up to date with www.europeantour.com/challengetour.
In 2007 Peter Baker won with a score of 13-under-par beating Ross McGowan in extra holes, a year later Joakim Haeggman shot 5-under for 72 holes to claim the title, Lee James won in 2009 at 6-under and in 2010 Sam Walker won on -8. 7-under-par was the winning score for Phillip Archer in 2011 and last year the rising star Eddie Pepperall won in a play-off against Jeppe Huldahl after the pair tied at 3-under-par. As you can see scoring at this course is very challenging and it can be argued the course deserves much greater recognition and fame than it currently receives.
In 2007 Peter Baker won with a score of 13-under-par beating Ross McGowan in extra holes, a year later Joakim Haeggman shot 5-under for 72 holes to claim the title, Lee James won in 2009 at 6-under and in 2010 Sam Walker won on -8. 7-under-par was the winning score for Phillip Archer in 2011 and last year the rising star Eddie Pepperall won in a play-off against Jeppe Huldahl after the pair tied at 3-under-par. As you can see scoring at this course is very challenging and it can be argued the course deserves much greater recognition and fame than it currently receives.
France is awash with great golf courses in varying locations including St Nom la Breteche, Le Golf National, Paris International, Terre Blanche, Les Bordes and Golf du Medoc, many of which I would love to play in the future. With the Ryder Cup at Le Golf National now just five years away France is set to become the next great golfing destination of Europe.
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