It's a nice surprise, nestled in the heart of the Authie valley, in Hauts-de-France. The Nampont Saint-Martin golf course has two 18 holes in the countryside, each with its own identity. " This is my father (François-Xavier Podvin) who is at the origin of this golf course, starting with 6 holes in 1978 ", explains the director, Laurence Bécu. In 1984, the Belvédère course reached adulthood (18 holes) before the birth of its little brother, the Cygnes course, at the turn of the century.

Designed around a small castle which once hosted François 1^er, then served as a customs post for the collection of the salt tax, the Cygnes course flirts with the banks of the Authie and exudes a delightfully rural atmosphere. “There is no real estate here. We do not use fertilizers and do not water the fairways, underlines Laurence Bécu. And there are deliberately no signs to indicate the holes, my father wanted golfers to be disconnected, forget their worries and live a unique experience in the heart of nature. "

Thus, in addition to the necessary adaptation to particularly slow greens and the many ponds, one of the main difficulties of this charming 18-hole course with wide and welcoming fairways lies in finding… the next hole. In short, the very definition of natural golf, with swans, ducks, birds of different species as playmates and even cows, which stop grazing to watch you drive at the start of hole n ° 8. A diabolical par 4, which takes you from the Somme to the Pas de Calais by crossing the Authie, where sometimes a few surprise guests invite themselves.  “Recently, two seals settled two years in a row on this hole, after having skirted the river from the sea, located 10 kilometers away ", Confides Laurence Bécu.

The Cygnes course in Nampont is the guarantee of a pleasant golfing walk full of surprises. Coot nests adorn the right of the panting hole 2, a short par 4 in left dodleg protected by numerous water features. On the next par 3, which faces the stronghold and requires flying over the water feature of the practice, barnacle geese, pairs of mallards and a heron will watch for the slightest scratch on your part. The 9 offers a superb view of the church of Nempont Saint-Firmin, the 12 is one of the longest par 5 in France (589 meters from the white balls), the 14 - the signature hole - offers an island green, the poplars and the weeping willows spicing up the end of the route. Finally, gourmets can, in season, taste blackberries at the start (ladies) of holes 4 and 11 or apples at the tee of 15.

On the other side of the road, the Belvédère course offers a different face, with its steep par 3s drawn in the heart of the Austrian pine forest, poplars and plateaus overlooking the Authie valley. Here, the greens, which are based on limestone, are a little more rolling. In summer, wild strawberries await you at the start of the 7th, while a century-old ash tree and typical farmhouses of the Picardy region serve as a backdrop on the 8 and 9. In the evening, you can distinguish the lighthouses of the coast on the superb hole 13, a par 5 overlooking the valley. A course that we could almost rename "the Hares" or "the Rabbits", as our fierce leporidae are numerous to come out of the woods at the end of the day.

Nampont Saint-Martin, a golf apart. In every sense of the term.

Frank Crudo

To know more : http://www.nampontgolfclub.com