Golf is not what brings people to this coast, which is precisely why it is good here. The courses are old, wooded and hilly rather than manufactured, the season runs nine months, and on a Tuesday in October you can have most of them almost to yourself. Six are worth planning a morning around.
Royal Mougins
The most polished of the group and the easiest to arrange. A Robert von Hagge design in a valley above Mougins, dramatic, tight, and considerably harder than it first looks — water on several holes and elevation changes that punish an approach struck without thought. There is a hotel, a spa and a good restaurant, which makes it the obvious choice for a golfing day that includes people who do not play.
Golf Country Club de Cannes-Mougins
The historic one. Laid out in 1923 and remodelled since, it hosted the Cannes Open for a decade and remains the serious player’s course of the region — long, parkland, umbrella pines, and greens that have been read by better golfers than most of us. It is a members’ club that admits visitors with a handicap certificate on weekdays, and it is worth the formality.
- Royal Mougins — dramatic, well-appointed, easiest access. 18 holes.
- Cannes-Mougins — the historic championship course. Handicap required.
- Monte-Carlo, La Turbie — 900m up, the view of the trip.
- Terre Blanche, Tourrettes — two Faldo courses, an hour inland, the best facility in the south.
- Old Course Cannes-Mandelieu — 1891, flat, pines, a ferry across the Siagne.
- Saint-Donat, Grasse — quieter, closer, an excellent second round.
Monte-Carlo Golf Club, La Turbie
Not in Monaco at all, but nine hundred metres above it on the plateau at La Turbie, reached by a climb that is half the pleasure. The course is short, quirky and exposed, the greens are small, and the view down over the principality and the whole coast is unmatched anywhere in European golf. Play it for the setting rather than the architecture, and play it in the morning before the cloud comes up the hill.
We arrange tee times, introductions and transfers, including to the members-only clubs.
Terre Blanche
An hour inland toward Tourrettes, and the best golf facility in the south of France: two Faldo courses — the Château for championship play, Le Riou more forgiving — a serious academy, and a resort around them. It is far enough from the coast that it becomes a day rather than a morning, and it is the right choice if golf is the actual point of the trip rather than a diversion from it.
Old Course Cannes-Mandelieu
Laid out in 1891 by the Grand Duke Michael of Russia, and one of the oldest courses in continental Europe. Flat, short, running between hundred-year-old parasol pines beside the Siagne, with a small ferry that carries players across the river mid-round. It is not a test of golf and it is a delight — the round to play with mixed abilities, or on a hot day when the hills are unappealing.
Saint-Donat, Grasse
Fifteen minutes above Cannes, quieter than the Mougins clubs and a well-regarded Robert Trent Jones Jr layout through olive groves and streams. Access is straightforward, the pace is unhurried, and it makes an excellent second course for a stay of a week.
Access, in practice
Three tiers. Public-access resort courses take a booking online. Members’ clubs admitting visitors want a handicap certificate, proof of licence, and a reservation — weekdays only at several of them. And a small number operate on introduction alone, where the tee time comes through a member.
Bring the paperwork. French clubs ask for a licence and handicap more consistently than clubs in Britain or the United States, and arriving without either is the most common reason a round does not happen. Dress codes are enforced.
When to play
April to June and September to November are the seasons. In July and August, play at seven in the morning or after four; the middle of the day inland is genuinely hot and the courses are full. Winter play is possible throughout and the courses stay green — a January round at Cannes-Mandelieu in fifteen degrees is one of the quieter pleasures of this coast.
For guests staying in the hills above Cannes or Mougins, three of these six are within twenty minutes of the door, which makes an early round and a late breakfast at the house an easy habit. We arrange the tee times, the introductions where needed, and the transfers — tell us where you are staying.