143 - Lyon (Sangliers)

Location: Lyon, France

Rating: 7.8

Lyon Golf Club is situated in a beautiful tranquil and serene location. Woven into a forest, there are 2 sets of 18 holes and I was fortunate enough to get a weekend round on the Sangliers course, the supposed nicer one of the two 18’s.

The course is predominantly a park/woodland type course with a mixture of some holes with water hazards. At 5,800 meters of the traditional ‘men’s’ tees it is not a short course and with these hazards mixed in you can have some lengthy approaches to the greens. The design is such that you end up laying up on a fair amount of the holes and then hitting over water towards the green, every golfer’s nightmare.

The general condition of the course was good without being anything spectacular, the fairways had a fairly thick grass that I’m more used to seeing in South Africa and the greens were soft enough but ran well. A nice reward for those of us who can occasionally hit a good enough shot to get spin.

The practice facilities are very good, there’s a driving range as well as a chipping/pitching area and a lovely large putting green. Overall it is an enjoyable place to play and very calming/relaxing but at €105 for a round on the weekend I wouldn’t be rushing back to play.