Golf de Pont Royal

The verdict

Pont Royal carries a piece of golf history that no other French course can claim: it is the only design Severiano Ballesteros ever completed in France. Opened in 1992 on former hunting ground near Mallemort, it reflects the man, demanding imagination and precision over brute force, with shots that ask you to flirt with the garrigue, the pines and the slopes rather than simply hit and hope. The setting between the Luberon and the Alpilles is pure Provence, lavender light and stone villages within easy reach.

It is not the longest course in the south of France, but it is one of the most strategic, which is why the World Golf Awards named it the country's best every year from 2021 to 2024. Plateau greens, tumbling fairways and well placed trouble reward the player who plots a route and punish the one who does not. For a Provence golf trip built around food, wine and a handful of genuinely good rounds, Pont Royal is the headline act.

The holes worth the trip

Ballesteros routed Pont Royal across rolling Provencal terrain, and the land does much of the work. Fairways spill and climb between stands of pine and patches of garrigue, the wild scrub of the south, and many of the greens sit on plateaux that demand a committed, well judged approach. Miss on the wrong side and the recovery becomes the kind of inventive shot the designer himself loved to play; find the right angle and the course opens up.

The character is strategic rather than penal. There is room off many tees, but the smart line is rarely the obvious one, with the reward for taking on a corner or a carry the chance to attack a flag rather than defend a bogey. The closing stretch and the par 3s in particular ask for control and nerve, and the wind that funnels through the valley can change a club or two on the exposed holes.

For the visiting golfer it plays best as the centrepiece of a Provence itinerary, a morning of imaginative golf followed by an afternoon among the vineyards, the Luberon villages or the Roman heart of Arles and Avignon nearby.

Where to stay nearby

Pont Royal has its own resort village and hotel on site, which makes a relaxed, self contained base with the first tee a short stroll away. For a wider Provence trip the handsome towns of Aix en Provence, the Luberon hill villages and the Roman cities of Arles and Avignon are all within easy reach, offering some of the best food, wine and light in the south of France.

To build out the golf, the natural pairings are the two heathland and hill courses at Terre Blanche near Fayence, Le Chateau and Le Riou, and the Dye designed Royal Mougins behind the coast near Cannes, all within a comfortable drive east.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts near Pont Royal.