Arras (Vallée)

Overview: La Vallée is the 18-hole course at Golf d’Arras in Anzin-Saint-Aubin, in the Scarpe valley of northern France. The current operator lists a par-72 layout measuring 6,117 metres, approximately 6,688 yards, with fairways moving between wooded ground, rolling land, rivers and ponds. Water is a recurring strategic feature rather than a single signature hazard, and the course’s two returning nines ask for careful club selection into greens that are often framed by trees or water.

History: The Arras complex opened in 1990 as a 27-hole facility designed by Jean-Claude Cornillot, with La Vallée as its 18-hole course and Les Aubépines as the separate nine-hole layout. La Vallée later became a regular French Open Dames venue, hosting the Ladies European Tour event eleven times between 1996 and 2009. That tournament history gives the course a documented competitive chapter while the surrounding resort has passed through several ownership and operating phases.

Did You Know? The back nine includes a demanding finish: the ranking-course account describes the 18th as a roughly 503-metre par five that doglegs through an avenue of trees and crosses a stream on the way to the green. Earlier in the round, the 190-metre eighth brings water into play around the target, giving the course two very different examples of how the landscape shapes the shot.