Golf de Barbaroux

The verdict

Golf de Barbaroux is the rare course in the south of France that looks and plays like a championship layout transplanted from the Carolinas. Pete Dye, with his son PB Dye, routed it in 1989 through a quiet valley of pine and holm oak above Brignoles, in the rolling green heart of the Var, an hour from the coast and the Provencal noise. The result is a thinking golfer's course, full of angles, carries and greens that ask for a plan on every tee.

What sets it apart is the contrast: classic Provencal scenery of vines, scrub and red soil, wrapped around bold, very American shaping. Water threatens several holes, the bunkering is sharp edged and strategic, and the greens roll with the kind of movement that rewards the player who studies the pin before pulling a club. It is a course to relish over a couple of days from the on site hotel, and it pairs beautifully with the coastal layouts of the Cote d'Azur for a wider Provence golf trip.

The holes worth the trip

Barbaroux opens gently before the Dye character takes hold, and from there the round becomes a series of decisions. Several holes ask you to choose a line off the tee, flirting with bunkers or water to open the better angle into greens that fall away on the wrong side. The shaping is generous in width yet penal in the wrong spot, the signature of Pete Dye's strategic philosophy.

Water is the headline hazard on the holes where the valley floor gathers, with approaches that must carry to firm, contoured surfaces rather than run on. Elsewhere the design uses the natural slope of the Var hillside, doglegs framed by pine and the occasional bold green perched above a fall away collection area that turns a loose approach into a testing recovery.

The closing stretch tightens the screw, demanding committed ball striking back toward the clubhouse and rewarding the player who has kept something in reserve. Barbaroux gives back the most to those who plot a route, control trajectory and respect the greens, the purest kind of modern architecture set in unmistakably Provencal country.

Where to stay nearby

Barbaroux runs its own hotel and restaurant beside the course, which makes it an easy base for a focused two or three day golf break in inland Provence, with the first tee a short walk from your room. It is the simplest way to play the course twice and settle into the quiet rhythm of the Var.

For a wider trip, the towns of the Var and the western Cote d'Azur put more golf and far more to see within reach, from the vineyards of the Provence Verte to the coast around Saint-Tropez. It is an ideal region to build a multi course itinerary around, pairing Barbaroux with the resort courses of the Var and the Riviera classics nearer the sea.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts near Golf de Barbaroux.