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| A winning putt |
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| Wednesday, 17 September 2008 | |
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John Paton has lived in the Dordogne since 2002 and has played more than 400 rounds of golf on local courses. Born in Scotland, John has held a single-figure handicap for most of his 48-year golfing career. Here he offers a player’s view of one local course. Aparkland course with lots of trees and small lakes, offering a most enjoyable round of golf and calling for every club in the bag, the Golf Public de Périgueux is one of the best municipal courses in France. Interesting doglegs require precise irons off the tee to open up the angle to large, very true greens. In contrast, the par fives require long straight drives and an accurate second to set up a chance of getting close to the pin with a short iron. The par threes all have dangerous bunkerage as well as humps and hollows to take the misdirected ball away from the green. The lakes come in to play on only six holes but each offers an opportunity to get over ambitious and wet. (i.e. hitting your ball in the water). The front nine starts gently enough but as the second green, short par-three, third and fourth tee ground are all very close to the local kennels, concentration is needed to overcome the incessant barking. Consecutive par fives, the second a tight drive alongside a lake, lead to three shortish holes where birdies and bogies can be made equally quickly. The par-four eighth is a typical Périgueux hole, curving round a lake and tempting the confident driver to go for the green or enabling the accurate iron player to use, perhaps, a five iron-eight iron combination when going for a birdie. The second nine offers more of the same but there is no time to get complacent. The layout of the hole is displayed on each tee and needs to be checked for hidden hazards and approach yardages. The final lake protects the 16th and 17th tee-shots, the first a long par three, the second a drivable par four. Be careful that your bag isn’t a lot lighter after these two. A large driving range and a practice chipping and putting green are available prior to the round. The driving range has rugby posts in the middle so you can get in the mood by pretending you are going for a winning conversion at Murrayfield. The catering at Périgueux is excellent and a postround beer on the terrace can be enjoyed while watching following groups going for that winning putt on the 18th green. 
In the table above, the playing of each hole starts from
a teeing area (TEE), colour-coded based on the proficiency
of the golfer – white is category 1 men, yellow for other
men, blue for category 1 ladies and red for other ladies.
LENGTH is total distance for the 18 holes played from
each tee; the Standard Scratch Score (SSS) is the score
a scratch golfer (professional) should achieve; and SLOPE
is the degree of difficulty based on a formula provided
by the French Golf Federation.
Golf Public is on the north-west side of Périgueux, just off the road to Angoulême. Domaine de Saltgourde, 24430 Marsacsur- l’Isle, tel. 05 53 53 02 35, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , http://golfdeperigueux.free.fr/ |
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