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Wednesday, 17 September 2008 |
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,
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http://golfdeperigueux.free.fr/
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