Biarritz Le Phare

Overview: Biarritz Le Phare occupies a compact, historic setting in the city and on the plateau above the Atlantic. The course is not defined by huge movement in the land; its challenge comes from the way Harry Colt's later work lengthened and sharpened an older links, with narrow fairways, mature trees, and greens that demand accurate approaches. The urban surroundings add a different kind of character, as holes sit within a long-established parkland environment rather than an isolated resort. At 18 holes and par 69, the course asks players to control trajectory and position, especially when the coastal air changes the feel of a short approach. Its modest scorecard hides a course with a deep architectural and cultural history.

History: The British Golf Club at Biarritz was inaugurated on 13 March 1888 with an 18-hole course and a separate nine-hole ladies' course. The following year Tom and Willie Dunn were asked to redraw the links. In 1920 the committee commissioned H.S. Colt to make the course longer and more demanding; his recommended changes were recorded as complete on 4 February 1924. Wartime requisition and later land changes altered the wider routing, while tree planting in the late 1960s helped create the present appearance.

Did You Know? At its 1888 inauguration, the Biarritz course was accompanied by croquet, cricket, tennis, and pigeon shooting facilities. That unusual mix reflects the resort culture in which the golf club began, when a round formed part of a much broader sporting day on the Phare plateau.