Hossegor

Overview: Golf d'Hossegor is an 18-hole parkland course in the Landes, sheltered from the Atlantic by a mature forest of pines, cork oaks and strawberry trees. The profile is par 71 and 6,540 yards. Its sandy soil helps explain the firm, well-drained character, while the wooded setting gives the course a distinctly different identity from the exposed links of the nearby coast. The routing follows a classic British idea of using natural openings and rows of trees to frame the holes, with narrow corridors, small greens and changing angles rewarding accuracy. Hossegor's appeal is architectural restraint: the course is not built around spectacle, but around the relationship between sandy ground, forest, green position and the shot required to reach the next target. It remains a technical course in which thoughtful placement is more valuable than simply trying to overpower the layout.

History: The golf project was born with the development of Hossegor as a resort in 1927 and became a course in 1930. Arnaud Massy, architect John Morrison and landscape designer Charles Bouhana were the principal figures behind the layout. The club chose a sheltered forest site and a typically British style, using the natural openings, pine rows and sandy ground to create a course that fitted the Landes landscape. In 2003 Cabell Robinson was commissioned to adapt the greens, bunkers and tees to modern playing conditions. The 2023 calibration is noted by the club as the latest official rating milestone. Hossegor therefore combines a 1930 design idea with carefully documented later work rather than presenting an untouched historical snapshot.

Did You Know? Hossegor's original project was part of a wider ambition to make the resort a destination for what contemporary promoters called elegant sports. The course's creators responded by placing a British-style layout inside a Landes forest, using shelter and sandy ground instead of an exposed seaside setting.