Smiffy
Grand Slam Winner
Had arranged with a friend of mine to go over to France yesterday, with the main intention being to pop down into Belgium to get some cheap tobacco. Decided to take the clubs with us and try to get a game at Wimeraux Golf Club. Had heard it was quite a nice course, and their website was advertising a dicounted green fee for November of 25 euros. Seemed cheap enough, but sadly you couldn't pre-book a tee time.
Took an early train over and got to the club, only to be told that there were no teeing off slots available. The young guy in the pro shop was really helpful, he phoned a couple of other clubs nearby to see if they had any teeing off slots available, but the only other one was Hardelot and they wanted a green fee of 65 euros which we were'nt prepared to pay for a knock around. He then spotted that there was a two ball booked to play at 12.25 and suggested that if we hung around for a while he might be able to fix it for us to go out with them.
It was going to make us late for our train home as we had been hoping to tee off around 11.00 but what the heck. So we waited for these two guys to arrive, which they duly did at mid-day and they couldn't have been friendlier. They were two Belgian guys, one was a massive figure of a bloke and we all introduced ourselves. Got to the first tee and they asked us what handicaps we played off. 10 and 12 we replied. "And yours?" I asked. The big guy played off 1 and the other lad played off 3. Jeez!!
Anyway, we had a great game with them, the wind was blowing (as we had been warned it would be as Wimeraux is right up on top of the sand dunes looking out over Boulogne)and the 1 handicapper in particular gave us all a lesson in ball striking. Christ he could hit a ball. One par 3, into the wind (which was a good two clubber, even three) and measured out at well over 200 yards. He hit a two iron, drawing it into the wind to pitch and stop about four feet from the pin. I was willing him to make the birdie putt as the iron he hit deserved nothing less which he did.
The course itself was in fantastic condition, we played off the whites which measured out at nearly 6,800 yards when converted and in that wind was a real test. Beautful greens, and the fairways and tees were some of the nicest I've played on all season.
We couldn't stop for a drink to say thank you to our hosts, as I say...we were running late and still had to drive down to Adenkirk to get our fags and baccy etc.
But it was really nice to play with two guys we had never met before, the only downer on the day was the fourball in front of us which consisted of two people who looked like they had never picked a club up in their lives and refused to let us through. We came off the course just before it got too dark to play.
Would highly recommend Wimeraux for a game of golf though, if you fancy a cheapie during the winter.
Rob
Took an early train over and got to the club, only to be told that there were no teeing off slots available. The young guy in the pro shop was really helpful, he phoned a couple of other clubs nearby to see if they had any teeing off slots available, but the only other one was Hardelot and they wanted a green fee of 65 euros which we were'nt prepared to pay for a knock around. He then spotted that there was a two ball booked to play at 12.25 and suggested that if we hung around for a while he might be able to fix it for us to go out with them.
It was going to make us late for our train home as we had been hoping to tee off around 11.00 but what the heck. So we waited for these two guys to arrive, which they duly did at mid-day and they couldn't have been friendlier. They were two Belgian guys, one was a massive figure of a bloke and we all introduced ourselves. Got to the first tee and they asked us what handicaps we played off. 10 and 12 we replied. "And yours?" I asked. The big guy played off 1 and the other lad played off 3. Jeez!!
Anyway, we had a great game with them, the wind was blowing (as we had been warned it would be as Wimeraux is right up on top of the sand dunes looking out over Boulogne)and the 1 handicapper in particular gave us all a lesson in ball striking. Christ he could hit a ball. One par 3, into the wind (which was a good two clubber, even three) and measured out at well over 200 yards. He hit a two iron, drawing it into the wind to pitch and stop about four feet from the pin. I was willing him to make the birdie putt as the iron he hit deserved nothing less which he did.
The course itself was in fantastic condition, we played off the whites which measured out at nearly 6,800 yards when converted and in that wind was a real test. Beautful greens, and the fairways and tees were some of the nicest I've played on all season.
We couldn't stop for a drink to say thank you to our hosts, as I say...we were running late and still had to drive down to Adenkirk to get our fags and baccy etc.
But it was really nice to play with two guys we had never met before, the only downer on the day was the fourball in front of us which consisted of two people who looked like they had never picked a club up in their lives and refused to let us through. We came off the course just before it got too dark to play.
Would highly recommend Wimeraux for a game of golf though, if you fancy a cheapie during the winter.
Rob
