Golfers with a love of French wine are being given the chance to experience award-winning excellence this summer with the second staging of an amateur tournament that combines the passion of golf and the magic of great Bordeaux wines.
Following its successful launch last year, Golf du Médoc Hotel and Spa – named the best golf resort in France by the 2010 World Travel Awards – will once again stage ‘Les Drives du Medoc’, a three-day 54-hole pairs tournament in the heart of the wine-growing region.
Taking place from July 6-9, the event will be played on Golf du Médoc’s two 18-hole championship courses and at Golf de Lacanau and features three different scoring formats – betterball Stableford, greensomes Stableford and Texas Scramble Stableford.
Including three rounds of golf and a practice round, competitors will also enjoy four nights’ bed and breakfast at Golf Du Médoc, daily wine and gourmet food tastings, cocktails and prizes of Médoc wines plus a gala dinner.
Golf du Médoc Hotel and Spa received global recognition last November after being named as France’s best golf resort at the prestigious World Travel Awards, and the popular four-star venue features two courses; the Chateaux and Les Vignes.
The World Travel Awards is the most comprehensive and prestigious awards programmes in the global travel industry involving votes from more than 183,000 travel agencies based in 160 countries.
One of the top-rated courses in the country, the links-style Chateaux – host for the 1999 French Open – features a mixture of heather and broom, water hazards, well-placed ditches and fast greens, and will once again stage the French PGA Championship in April 2011.
The Les Vignes Course, which measures 6,842 yards in length, is a gentler but no less memorable test as it meanders through a regional mixture of moors and pines, with the emphasis on course strategy rather than length.
Opened in 1980, Golf de Lacanau is located on the doorstep of the great wine region of Médoc 30 miles west of Bordeaux and sits amongst 50 hectares of heavy pine forests and winds its way between the dunes and the groves of broom, providing a different challenge on each hole.
Golf du Médoc is a 30-minute drive from Bordeaux airport which is easily accessible from the UK, with airport routes including London Gatwick, Luton, Manchester, Liverpool, Southampton, Bristol, Dublin and Edinburgh.
Les Drives du Médoc www.drives-du-medoc.com
Golf du Médoc Hotel and Spa www.hotelgolfdumedoc.com