France, as many readers of GCA will be aware, is probably the mainland European country with the greatest number and the most variety of top quality golf courses. In Morfontaine, it has what is almost universally recognised as Europe’s greatest course, and in Les Bordes and Golf National it has two of the highest ranked modern designs. What France is short of though, especially compared to the Netherlands, which has its holy trinity of Royal Hague, Kennemer and Noordwijk, is authentic links courses, the original and purest form of the game.

Harry Colt’s La Mer course in the town of Le Touquet, three quarters of an hour from Calais on the Cote d’Opale, is France’s best shot at a world-class links course. Built originally in 1931, La Mer, and its older sister course, La Foret, are at the centre of Le Touquet’s attractions, which include the famous casino, the enormous beach, and some high end shopping and restaurants.

The years have not been entirely kind to La Mer. During the Second World War, this part of the Channel coast, so close to England, was heavily fortified by the German occupiers seeking to protect the continent from the expected Allied invasion that eventually came in Normandy. Holes have been moved, the original clubhouse no longer exists, but most dramatically of all, hundreds of thousands of trees grew on the links, obscuring the beautiful sand dunes on which Colt laid out his holes and changing the nature of La Mer.

It has long been clear, though, that underneath all the trees and scrub was a high quality Colt links trying to get out. It was as a result of a visit to La Mer, in fact, that this magazine was originally conceived, so for us, the course’s restoration has particular poignancy.

Dutch architect Frank Pont and his French partner Patrice Boissonnas have been working at La Mer for a couple of years now. The complex is owned by Open Golf, one of France’s largest golf businesses, who have clearly realised that returning La Mer to something more closely resembling Colt’s original, makes good business sense. But the transformation is a long-term process – La Mer was too much changed for a bunker restoration akin to what the same architects did up the coast on Hardelot’s Les Pins course, to fix its problems.

Tree clearance is at the heart of the works. A massive programme of woodland removal will not be enough to return La Mer all the way to its former glory, but it was always the necessary first step. Over a number of winters, Pont and Boissonnas have overseen the cutting down of many acres of scrub and poor quality trees. It is a remarkable transformation, though frankly still far from complete. The excellent par three second hole is perhaps the most obvious example of the benefits of the work; once practically tree-lined, it is now the open links one-shotter that Colt planned, with the green set behind a saddle between two large dunes. Several bunkers are cut into these flanking dunes, and their deceptive effect is remarkable. Standing on the tee, the golfer would swear that the back of these bunkers protect the sides of the green; in fact, the bunkers end several metres before the green starts, in the area where the tee shot must be hit to hold the putting surface when played in the prevailing tailwind. Pont and Boissonnas have extended the green slightly, as well as rebuilding those bunkers, and the effect is impressive; one trap in particular blends beautifully into the dune. This is high quality work.

To the left of the green of the par four third can be found the site of La Mer’s original clubhouse. Open Golf is building a new clubhouse for the whole complex, close to the start of La Foret. It is a good walk from there to La Mer; many drive, parking their cars in a rough and ready unmade lot. That, and a small hut for the starter, are the only facilities that append directly to La Mer. It is an unsatisfactory situation, completely inappropriate for a course of this stature, and is being addressed by the team to help La Mer achieve the status it deserves. Bandon Dunes, which provides simple but appropriate facilities at the start of several separate courses, will provide inspiration – with permission currently being sought for a small clubhouse in the dunes, either at the exact spot of the original clubhouse or at a new site overlooking the first and eighteenth holes. This would be accompanied by parking and possibly a halfway house (there was one in the 1930s, just behind the twelfth green).

Holes four to six occupy the flattest and blandest terrain on the golf course. Pont and Boissonnas have improved the holes by tree removal, but with huge areas of glorious duneland still untouched, it seems a pity to use such dull land. Whether the French authorities will ever permit an excursion into the raw dunes must be very doubtful, but one cannot avoid looking with envy at this ground.

The par three seventh, though, is where the ground starts to get more interesting. The green – which the architects have expanded somewhat – has obvious similarities with the Redan template, and a classic Redan-style running shot will be rewarded here. The monster par four eleventh is La Mer’s most dramatic hole; one must drive from a high tee to a fairway that drops down then switchbacks back uphill while doglegging around a dune. It is epic, and the new green built by Pont and Boissonnas makes it even more so. Apparently the hole has been criticised by golfers for being too difficult, and perhaps the new green is a little severe considering what comes before it. But if it were a par five, as it could well be, no-one would be complaining – clear evidence of the impact the artificial concept of par has over golfers’ brains. It is a pity. Half par holes are great, but we golfers seem to prefer those whose real par is below the ‘official’ number, and moan about those that are harder than their given par.

At the far end of the course are the most dramatic changes. The fourteenth hole has a new green, built in a flat area and, at first glance, rather bland. Actually, closer examination reveals some pretty good slopes on the green that are hard to spot in the basically level environment. The fifteenth, broken up into a par three and a short four by architect Bill Baker some years ago, has been restored to Colt’s original intent, as a short, gambling par five. And the excellent new par three sixteenth plays from an elevated tee to a green protected by bunkers at front right. There is a hump at front left that a smart player can use to slew the ball across to access a right pin, but the shot has to be precise – go a couple of yards too far left and the ball will instead slew off the green entirely.

The biggest change of all, though, is still to be completed. Hole seventeen is, at present, rather unsatisfactory, as there is a steep slope to be climbed in front of the green. This is most unlike Colt, who was known for his brilliance in routing holes to avoid severe hill climbing. But Pont and Boissonnas have a surprise to spring. To the left of the existing fairway is a valley, now choked with tree growth, where Colt’s original hole was located. Picking one’s way in between the trees reveals great ground for golf, a much more comfortable walk and a better angle of approach to the green. The architects hope to restore the hole in the not-too-distant future, and it will be the icing on La Mer’s cake. Nearby Hardelot has risen from the bottom end of Europe’s top 100 to almost the top twenty as a result of its restoration. La Mer, which is similarly bumping around in the second fifty, could easily go much further. In my mind, there is a top ten, possibly even top five European course trying to get out here. Hopefully Pont and Boissonnas can help it escape. 

This article first appeared in Golf Course Architecture magazine - Issue 42.