The RGV Tour De France touched down on September 24th, 2024 at Charles-de-Gaulle airport outside of Paris and the recreational golf vehicle was immediately boarded. Normally when people visit France they head immediately to the Eiffel Tower or something silly like that. However, Play Golf in France understands me and the first order of RGV Tour business was to play some golf.
The inaugural course on the RGV Tour De France was Chateau de Raray. With my co-pilot and loving girlfriend named Rachel, this French introduction was fitting. It was a cloudy and rain soaked journey around Raray but we couldn’t care less, the tour was officially underway.
The 18th hole at Raray
With course #1 in the books it was time to settle into the RGV and eat some croissants. Ms Rachel and I headed north from Paris and entered into the commune of Babaume for the first night on the road. We settled into a church parking lot and argued about who got to put what clothes where inside of the RGV. Rachel won almost all of the closet space, but it mattered little, plenty of golf and exploration was on the horizon.
The next afternoon, the links of Wimereux were calling. With native gorse, sandy soil and ancient links turf, Wimereux quickly became a favorite of mine. Like many links courses, the course relies mainly on its wind defense to keep the challenge level high. However, the wind laid down for us on the back nine and we took advantage with several French birdies.
After the very enjoyable pure links experience at Wimereux it was just a short drive to our next destination at Golf d’Hardelot. Several days of 36 holes were on the horizon. We pulled into the parking lot at the Pines course at Hardelot as the rain began to pour. We snuggled up to a corner of the parking lot and slept as sound as one can sleep with rain pounding the ceiling all night long.
It was 7am when Herve knocked on the RGV door. I was eating cereal that we had picked up the night before. Even though the weather was awful, i was ready to go. Herve and I hit it off immediately but the rain continued to dump for the first 7 holes. When we arrived on the 8th tee box, the first little bits of sun poured across the fairways of Hardelot. It was the first sun on the RGV Tour De France and it was glorious.
The RGV Tour De France's first sunshine.
Herve hits one in tight.
The Pines course at Hardelot was originally a 9 hole design back in 1905 and Tom Simpson was hired to turn the course into 18 holes. Simpson’s other successes include: Chantilly, Fontainebleau, Chiberta and Morfontaine in France. I am able to confirm that Simpson’s work at Hardelot is of high quality.
After taking a bit of a stroll to experience the local chateau, we headed down the road for some more golf. The Dunes course was on the menu and after some pasta in the clubhouse overlooking the 18th hole, it was time to take on course #4 of The RGV Tour De France. The Pines course was my favorite of the two but both provided some great holes in and around the trees.
The view from the clubhouse balcony at Hardelot's Dunes course
The 15th hole after a brief but intense downpour
The life of living in a recreational golf vehicle came back to me quickly. Sleeping in golf course parking lots and waking up to golf every day is a great way to live. Undertaking the experience in France is similar to the American RGV Tour with several key differences.
There is much more bread in France
You have to put this thing called Ad Blue in your gas tank. I still have no idea what it does.
They have laundry machines outside of the grocery store.
Everything is reasonably priced compared to America.
You don’t have to tip everyone. They just give you the bill and its all good.
Filling prescriptions is easier and much more efficient even if you are an American visiting France.
While the sun managed to emerge from clouds several times over the first few days, the 4th day on the RGV Tour de France would only show one brief moment of sunlight. The remaining portion of the day on my visit to Le Touquet Golf Resort I would undergo one of the top 10 most devastating rain battles that I have encountered on the golf course.
That tiny little sliver of sun pictured above would disappear quickly behind the clouds and an overcast sky. That overcast would quickly give way to sideways rain as I hustled around the golf course. Even in the downpour, I paused from time to time to take note of the quality architecture among the links inspired landscape. it caused me remorse to be passing by so quickly with water soaked camera equipment. This course would certainly shine on a day with better weather.
A blow the pin out of the green type of day at @golf_du_touquet pic.twitter.com/HsOrSvWTwY
— Patrick Koenig (@patrickjkoenig) September 27, 2024
We drove away from Touquet with our tails between our legs and soaked in rain. Fortunately the forecast for the following day looked promising. “We might actually get a sunrise tomorrow” I exclaimed to Rachel as we drove up the narrow winding road to Golf d’Etretat. A car ahead of us was parked and taking up the majority of the road but we pushed towards them. “Don’t worry babe, we got this.” We came damn close to taking the rear view mirror off of that Fiat as we inched by. In fact, we weren’t inches, but centimeters away. God bless the metric system.
We cozied into the far corner of the parking lot of Golf d'Étretat that night. As we fell asleep we could hear the waves crashing back and forth over the cliffs that once inspired Monet to paint. This spot is an early leader in the contest for best parking spot on The RGV Tour de France.
For the 7th course on the RGV Tour De France the weather decided to cooperate for the first time on the trip. Along with the temperatures the moods were immediately elevated into dangerously high levels. We both agreed that Etretat was worth the journey to France alone.
Rachel and I walked the 5 minutes down from the golf course and explored the tiny little beach town of Etretat. That beach is made entirely of smoothed rocks and features a view of the 10th hole where there is a popular walking path that give visitors access to the trails along the stunning cliffs. During my round, I managed to make a birdie in front of a group of tourists. There wasn’t much cheering, but I did manage to hear several French comments, which I just assumed were something about my greatness.
Golf d’Etretat is one of the most visually stunning golf courses that I have photographed. Most of the golf course holes themselves are very flat and provide a classic test of traditional golf. This provides a splendid juxtaposition to the stunning cliffs on the edge of the property. The result is a golf course that is very fun to look at and also an enjoyable round of golf for just about every skill level.
In addition to a splendid sunrise, we were also treated to the very first sunset on The tour. It was something special to watch the sun go down over the from the middle of the 4th fairway. The RGV Tour de France was officially off and rocking hard.
