By Claude Granveaud-Vallat
Since 1989, below the Autoroute du Soleil, at the gates of Montélimar, the Golf de la Valdaine has been built around the Château du Monard, home of the Marquis d’Arlande – a pioneer of aerostation with the Montgolfier brothers.
This course, the cosmetics of a real estate residence born in the greenery, is the work of the Englishman Tom Macauley who, between the ponds, the arms of the Jabron – a sub-tributary of the Rhone – and a few doglegs, drew a route appreciated beyond the confines of the Drôme provençale.
On 75 hectares of which twenty or so are home to the villas enclosed between the fairways, the course, where the trees have grown in size over thirty years, is fairly flat and perfectly playable on foot. The wide fairways on the outward leg are ideal for taking points. On the 9th, skill and finesse are required to fly over the water on the drive and then on the approach, to attack this dogleg right par 4. On the return, the holes are shorter and narrower, with a succession of obstacles leading to fast greens, often with a double plateau. Along the Jabron, the Drôme Amen corner runs from the 11th to the 14th. As on the outward journey, the course ends with a dogleg on the 18th, but without the symmetry of the 9th and the water!
Les Hospitaliers
Le Manoir Le Roure
Two of the Network’s partner hotels offer beautiful Provencal stops, Les Hospitaliers and the Manoir Le Roure near the golf course, where you can relax and take the time to taste the specialities of the Drôme, truffles, Côtes-du-Rhône grape varieties… Not forgetting the nougat!
Golf de la Valdaine
1075 Rue du Monard, 26740 Montboucher-sur-Jabron
tel:+33 4 75 00 71 33
golf@domainedelavaldaine.com
www.domainedelavaldaine.com
