OMAHA BEACH GOLF RESORT (LEST WE FORGET)

OMAHA BEACH GOLF RESORT	https://www.omahabeachgolfclub.com/		Normandy France
Type of course	Woodland	18 holes
Course distance	White 5992 m	Yellow 5599 m	Red 4773 m
Holes	4 x par 5	10 x par 4	4 x par 3

Claim to fame: Has hosted a number of French Senior Tour matches throughout the last 20 years.
I find it somewhat bizarre that a golf course names itself after the code name for a D Day landing beach that saw the death of over 2000 American soldiers on the 6th June 1944. In some respect the course does attempt to pay homage to the people who ensured our freedom by naming each hole after a famous general or brigadier and having a large billboard outlining who they were and what they did during the war effort. It is difficult to conceive how horrendous the battle must have been for the land that is now covered by two golf courses enveloping a 4 star hotel however if you venture a few miles east you come across the American Memorial to those brave soldiers which poignantly has white crosses symmetrically laid out as far as the eye can see. With a six week sojourn in France and Northern Spain I intended to play as many courses as I could without interfering too much in our holiday schedule and with the full blessing of Mrs Wormburner I was looking forward to it. As stated, Omaha Beach Golf has 2 courses, each with 18 holes but with different landscapes. La Mer-Par 72 overlooking the sea and Port en Bessin fishing village and Le Manoir -Par 71 situated inland. On this day I chose to play La Mer and with the use of Google maps I intended to turn up on spec and hope that a tee time would be readily available. A word of warning however, Google Maps doesn’t always get it right and can cause issues. It is therefore important to keep an eye open for signposts indicating the entrance to the course or you may, as I did, find yourself at the crossroads between the 4^th and 5^th hole with no idea where to go next! A little bit of back tracking however enabled me to find my way to the car park and walk through to the Mercure 4 star complex. The first thing that greets your eyes is the club house/restaurant with its large terrace overlooking the La Mer 9^th green and the largest practice putting green I have ever seen. At 80 euros a round, this place isn’t cheap and with the £ being at an all-time low against the euro it’s an expensive do. Bloody Brexit! Undoubtedly Mercure provide inclusive offers for the serious golfer or society but as a loner living out of a caravan I didn’t think they would have an offer for the likes of me. Entering reception, a young lady greets you from behind a large counter and enquires as to which course you would like to play, where you currently play and what your handicap is? This is the first time I have ever been asked about my handicap and I had to provide evidence. Thankfully my local course keeps all this information on the “How Did I Do” app and it was fairly easy for me to access. Limited language and lots of money exchanged I walked up to the starter hut to the right of the putting area only to find it empty. I came to realise later that the starter hut is controlled remotely and when it is your time to tee off your name comes up on the electronic board. Not realising this however, I chose to continue on to what I hoped was the correct first tee and thankfully had it confirmed by a golfer walking off the 9^th green. The 1^sta dog leg left, par 5 SI 9, at 492 m is named after General Eisenhower who was the American Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe and later president of the good old US of A between 1953 and 1961. Having only ever played once outside the UK, approaching the tee presents you with your first problem. Instead of the regular yellow (Jaune), red (Rouge) and white (Blanc) tee markers there is also black (Noir) and blue (Bleu). Not quite sure which one to go for I opted for my usual yellow in the hope that it was the right thing to do. Hitting off the tee to the right-hand side clearly made the hole more difficult for me as I found myself much further from the pin than I should have been. Regardless I obviously soldiered on, lonely as a cloud! The 3^rd Par 4 SI 8 at 307 m is a cracking hole. Hitting off an elevated tee to a massively sloping right to left fairway and a second shot to the green that sees your feet well above the ball can test you, big style. Having navigated that successfully, the 4^th SI 7 at 248 m presents you with a pond in front of the tee and a sloping uphill green protected by bunkers. Again, I was happy with my score here and then following the 4 ball in front of me I crossed the road that I was lost on earlier. A long hill rise walk takes you up to a plateau which supports the next four holes. Having lost a ball at the 5^th the four ball kindly let me through and as often happens on occasions like this I blew my chance to regally pass through as I began to scuff my fairway shots. Regardless, at the 374 m par 4 6^th SI 3 I recovered my composure and although extremely flat it is peppered with sand bunkers that resemble bomb craters. As you walk this fairway the flags of the UK, France and USA are visible on the promontory and walking off the green there is a German pill box on the bluff with a memorial telling the story of how the British Commandos took the hill on D-Day after much personal sacrifice. Golf immediately takes second place as you take in the enormity of the sacrifices these people made to enable us to do what we do today. The view of the sea and Port en Bessin are exquisite and you have to force yourself to move on to the next hole. The par 3 8^th SI 15 at 155m is another taxing hole. Again, striking from a highly elevated tee box anything left of the green rolls down a significant hill and anything to the right meets deep grass and trees. Taking the path across the second road of seven on this course, the par 4 9^th at 272 m SI 13, is another uphill climb to a highly elevated green. Here I was joined by a young headphone clad Frenchman who was clearly taking a shortcut home. As he spoke to me, I had to interject and with my detailed knowledge of the French language I rapidly fired off, “Je ne comprends pas, parlez vous Anglais?” At which point he said, “a little” and I finished off this deep and meaningful conversation with “tres bien”. For whatever reason he must have assumed this meant I wanted him to stop and watch me play and for the second time today I shanked my second and third shots, at which point he moved on. As he walked away, I am sure I heard the word “merde” being muttered but surely he wasn’t talking about me! The first nine holes then are mainly positioned along cliff tops and therefore the fairways and greens suffer accordingly from the ravages of the Atlantic. On the day I played, it was a cloudless sky with a temperature of 30 degrees, the fairways underfoot were crisp and crunchy and the greens were well manicured. A wet and windy day would undoubtedly bring severe difficulties The back 9 takes you into a different environment altogether as parkland abounds and the fairways become much more lush. The par 5 11^th SI 2 at 434 m has an out of bounds running along the right hand side and a long line of one story hotel accommodation running down the left. From the tee I sadly found the out of bounds and when I went to retrieve my ball, I discovered that the adjacent field of bullocks was divided from the fairway by an electric fence. Not wanting to electrocute myself and/or disturb these huge beasts I took a 4 iron in hand and lay flat to the ground, I then leopard crawled under the fence until I could reach my ball and flick it back into the playing area. Well, we all know these things aren’t cheap! The par 4 12^th and 17^th run along two more sides of the building and provide sun bathers with a great view of the golfing combatants but they would have to be wary of any wayward shots. The back nine are quality holes but the most memorable is the combination of the par 4 14^th at 292 m SI 12, the par 3 15^th at 132 m SI 17 and the par 4 16^th SI 1 at 368 m. These 3 holes with out of bounds down their right-hand sides and undulating, hollowed out fairways on the last two are quite taxing for the average/below average player. Throughout a game of golf you may become frustrated and angered about how well you are playing but this pales into insignificance when at every tee box you are reminded of the people and the sacrifice they made to enable you to be able play this course. The information boards continually remind you and enhance your understanding of who was involved during those horrific days of World War 2.