Souillac - Certainly worth fighting over
Historians know the Dordogne-Correze-Lot area of southern central France for the Hundred Years War of the 14th and 15th centuries. On the face of it this was an extra-time battle between the French and English, but the Thomas Levets of the era were as much on the English side as they were against it. Nationality barely came in to it. Nor does it now.
Souillac Golf & Country Club
Souillac Golf & Country Club
Telephone:
+33 565 27 56 00
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Email Souillac Golf & Country Club
Website:
Visit Souillac Golf & Country Club
Courses:
4,883 yard, par 67
Far from the battlefields, the writer Doctor Boissel recognised the region for the blackness of its mushrooms, its truffles and the “beautiful eyes of its Mesdemoiselles”.
So what about the golf then? Deep-down France this may be, but these days Soulliac Golf & Country Club makes it a great venue for the British thanks to an accessibility beyond Hundred-Years War imaginings. The opening of Brive Dordogne Valley airport last year brought the start of a CityJet summer and autumn service from London City Airport and this, together with a Jet2 service from Manchester, has proved a major boost for the region.
Bergerac, on the region’s western edge, is already well served from Britain by air, to the benefit of Chateau des Vigiers and other such courses. Brive, a town of 50,000 on the Paris-Toulouse A20, opens up the hillier and more unapproachable east, home to a toughly independent Maquis force in World War II. Within ready driving distance are the steep valleys of the rivers Dordogne and, to the south, the Lot, the rushing waters carving great gorges from oak-clad hills and buffs.
For its part, Souillac Golf & Country Club, 40 minutes’ drive south-west of Brive, makes far more sense of friendship than antagonism. Founded in 1999 round a nine-hole course five miles out of town, it grew progressively until, in 2003, designer Jeremy Pern added a second nine. Gabled lodges in Canadian fir were discreetly added, for the most part set in hamlets under canopies of trees; up to 92 properties, in fact, with room for more in the generous 120-acre terrain. A consortium of owners, many of them British, took over control in 2010 to provide entertainment for themselves and value-for-money holidays to clients. Now, discerningly incorporated in to the landscape, are a bar and restaurant, two tennis courts and nine swimming pools (one for each hamlet of houses, and a central pool by the restaurant).
The course is special in itself, belying its 4,465m and par of 67 by the shrewd exploitation of its bosky undulations. Six par-threes, 11 par-fours and a single par-five (the fourth) give a slightly misleading idea. Bunkering and planting ensure the shorter par-fours enjoy a James Braid-style challenge and the threes can quickly wreck a card. Twin ponds at the 174m ninth are a sudden and awkward water hazard, but the over-riding challenge is from the tee and from the steeper climbs of the back nine in particular. It is easy to see why people play it again and again.
The first hole, a par-four of no more than 234m, is not strictly Braid, more a workout. A three-wood with gentle fade will set you up for a pitch for possible birdie – too straight or to the left, and a double bunker will gather your ball. The ninth is my personal favourite, a 174m, steeply downhill par-three where a well-hit four-iron missing water right and left of the green will swell the ego mightily.
The back nine generally plays longer than its card, not least because of the inclines, most of them shaded by fine oaks. The last four holes look straight enough on the guide, but the 106m 15th has a crafty double green and you have to make it to the top. To finish, 18’s bunkers, left and right, await tired legs and mis-clubbing to its 324m. In short, it’s a shorter course you’d do well to learn.
The lodges are split into spacious two, three and four-bedroom self-catering apartments. Each is set discreetly, some with terraced views of the course, others of the countryside. The hamlet-style clusters, each with its personal swimming pool, ensure plenty of company for children, while the terraced bar of the brasserie makes for ready chat. The car-borne have various restaurant options, but many will settle for home cooking or the restaurant’s magret de canard, foie gras, truffle (in season) or similar local speciality.
The alternatives to golf are many and varied. The Hundred Years War is a strange tale of Anglo-Franco discord where towns and villages far down into the Lot valley served their lords or changed allegiance for baffling reasons. Sarlat, Rocamadour, Beynac, Martel, Cahors, Beaulieu, Aubazine, Autoire … the names are a litany of church, abbey, castle and chateau, or, just as readily, humble house in honeyed limestone, town centres aglow with weekend country markets.
It’s all very French – and all the better for it.
