Pont and Boissonnas open two new greens at Le Touquet
Two new greens have opened on the La Mer course at Le Touquet in France.
Originally designed by Harry Colt, but much altered in subsequent years, Le Touquet hired the French/Dutch partnership of Patrice Boissonnas and Frank Pont to lead a long-term improvement project two years ago. The goal of the works is to restore Colt’s original course wherever possible, and to make the course feel more Colt-like where this is not.
The new greens are at the eleventh and thirteenth holes. The long uphill par four eleventh has seen extensive reworking in the last year, with a bunker added in the dune to the left of the fairway, threatening aggressive drives, and the green, previously located in a hollow, moved to the top of a slope, creating a skyline effect.
At the thirteenth hole, Colt’s green had been moved, and its replacement is closer to the original location. A new set of teeing grounds have also been built, with the main tee only a few steps off the back of the twelfth green.
Elsewhere on the course, Pont and Boissonnas have led extensive tree and scrub clearance with the aim of opening up sightlines and returning the course to a more authentic links feel. The course’s owner, Open Golf, is considering options for providing a clubhouse at the property – at the moment only a small starter’s hut exists – but this is unlikely to materialise for several years.