Golfing in Tunisia
Our plan was to fly from London to Tunis, the Tunisian capital, and then catch a short flight to the island of Djerba. However, delays en-route saw us spend a night in the suburb town of Sidi Bou Said.
Sidi Bou Said is a sort of Moorish St. Ives, only the houses here are like sugar-coated shoe boxes, trimmed in maritime blue and overlooking a glittering Mediterranean rather than St Ives Bay. As with its Cornish counterpart, it was and still is popular with painters and the few tourists who have discovered it. We relaxed and tried smoking through a Hookah in Cafe des Nattes looking over the rooftops and the bronze-ware beaters stalls below. We took photographs of the heavy, studded doorways, wandered through the maze of alleys and lanes and generally eased ourselves into a lazy holiday mood. I reckon that relaxing morning made more of a difference to our golf game in the days to come.
The next day, after an hour's flight, we landed on the island of Djerba, the newest bolt-hole for golf-greedy and winter-weary Europeans. It offers a year-round comfortable climate, long, golden beaches and opulent 4 and 5 star hotels - at 3 star prices. Opposite the string of beachside hotels is the country's newest golf course, the Djerba Golf Club, a 27 hole oasis that flows over palm-fringed fairways before ducking under the road to take advantage of some more seaside links. Although still settling, its championship layout presents a fair test that will only get better as irrigation and other superficial problems are ironed out.
The island of Djerba itself, offers great diversion, especially in the main town. Despite the island's new-found popularity, local culture remains intact. The Medina or marketplace is friendly and caters for locals rather than tourists, unlike others, you find in the more established tourist haunts.
Four hour's drive north, Monastir is the country's main charter-flight destination from the UK with a chain of beachside hotels only minutes from the airport. There are two golf courses close by. The Palm Links is the nearest and newest, another palm frond-scattered layout rolling over a sandy expanse by the sea. This course is ideal for new or unseasoned golfers as it presents a relatively flat and easy test, although, in a wind, there is plenty to warrant care in clubbing.
An altogether more demanding venue, Club de Monastir sits high above the coastline. With 5 teeing positions, any level of player can enjoy this course but, from the back tees this one is for thrill-seekers who can control their drives. It presents a combination of target golf and power-play. The hilly terrain and narrow fairways force serious consideration for every shot but length is also a prerequisite. The trickiest hole on the front nine, indeed the whole course, is the Par 5, 6th, a long dog-leg right with water down the right side, an extra portion of olive trees throughout and a 16" pizza-sized green at the far end. Take every stroke seriously here and forget birdie-hunting as they are bound to lead you in to trouble.
A short drive north beyond the busy centre of Sousse is Port El Kantaoui. This is one of Tunisia's oldest golf complexes, its original 18 holes opening in 1979. Another beach-side, 9 holes were added to make 27 then, just last year, a further 9 - the White course -was opened to create, in conjunction with the Blue, a particularly demanding, 6,743 metre championship course.
Further round the Gulf of Hammamet is Yasmine Golf Club. Here we found a deceptive, big hearted character of a course that gives a golfer plenty to work with. The designer, Ronald Fream, builds greens to drool over and that makes the culmination of every hole as exciting and challenging as the start. Upgrading is well underway here but the basic character of the course is quite strong and just needs some tidying up.
Just across the hill is Tunisia's only 45-hole complex, Golf de Citrus. This facility, they say, offers something for everyone, although anyone with sense will stick to Les Oliviers course. It's friendly but long enough and amply interrupted with ancient olive trees to keep it fun. This is the course for groups out to enjoy themselves and not take the game too seriously. But then they will insist on trying out the "Course from Hell" next door, Le Foret.
This is a fearsome, fiery, frightening layout that verges on being impassable. With blind dog legs, dead man's gulches, wild-water traps and man-eating salad, you get no second chances here. Pervading scrubland is cut back to allow a hint of fairway or green but you get the feeling it'll soon take over again, in fact any day now. Wayward balls are generally left that way. There are some golfers that relish this kind of test. After a round on Le Foret, other courses are a breeze, so give it a go - just don’t say I didn't warn you!
I had heard rumours that one of Tunisia's newest courses could be the best on the Med. Now that is quite a claim considering the competition along the Costa del Sol, for instance. On another visit, we decided to take the plunge and head for the hills in northern Tunisia.
The road from Tunis to Tabarka is a three hour roller-coaster ride over a narrow, hilly and winding route. A better bet, if you are coming from the UK, is to take one of the direct flights that are now being offered into Tabarka International Airport.
Tabarka sits at the top of Tunisia, closer to Sardinia and Sicily than most of its own country. As a tourist destination, the town is not fully developed but we enjoyed the insight into Northern Tunisian life and culture. The hotels are big and early in the season, almost empty. But that won't remain for long once the place catches on.
The first couple of holes on the present 18-hole championship course, are rather pedestrian, like a James Braid design. Then the course opens out onto seaside links with the 3rd through 7th flirting with cliffs along the beach, offering fantastic views of Tabarka and the old Spanish fort that dominates the harbour entrance.
It was the inland holes that really got us going. There is something special about this woody layout. The 8th is a gateway of tall pines, intimidating and regal but those long fairways beckon to give it all you've got. The 9th is another smacker with two daunting bunker placements on the right and further out on at the left of this Par 5, right hand dog-leg. There's only one small patch between the bunkers and the trees that you could call safe and strategic at the same time.
And so it goes. With distant mountains to the south and the rich quality of turf and trees, you could happily get lost in these woods playing hole after hole. Ronald Fream designed the place in 1992 and the greens are everything you'd expect from him. The 17th is a flyer over duck's heads, a Par 3, 132 metres of the yellow tees and the 18th, a demon Par 5 and for my money the hardest hole of all. It ends with a huge lake, only passable with a mighty 3 wood off the fairway, otherwise its a narrow ledge up the left for safe landings. What a terrific challenge and a course worth encountering!
Golf de Carthage in the suburbs of Tunis is a small course about 15 minutes from the international airport. We had visited here two years ago and, on returning, found it totally transformed. Last visit, the grass was all but dead and my caddie kept lifting the ball to place it on a lonely little turf. Today, the improvement in agronomy is astronomical. The holes are still short but that's a bonus as it lets you get on the greens faster. The greens are the highlight here, sumptuous carpets like top-grade Wool-Wilton only smoother, rolling and tricky but impeccably true, a putter's paradise. There are lakes around the 2nd and 18th but the main perils out on the fairways are the aged Eucalyptus and Pine trees that line the edges and, in some cases, cut out in front of the greens. Although it's only 4,432 metres, it is ideal for every level including low handicaps who can't go lashing out for fear of tangling with trees.
Tunisia is definitely blossoming as a golfing destination. Forget any impressions you have of North Africa being rather too savoury, especially to Western women. With a strong Italian and French influence, Tunisians are sophisticated and extremely welcoming to their visitors. The best time to visit for golf is early spring when the flowers are in bloom or later in the year when it is not so hot although Djerba in the south is a good bet through the winter. Temperatures on the popular coastal region around Hammamet range from 72 degrees Fahrenheit in March to 87 degrees in August and around 60 degrees in December. January and February is the rainy season when 75% of the annual rainfall occurs.
If you bring a non-golfing partner or the entire family, they should all be content. With the close proximity of the golf courses to the popular holiday areas, there is that ideal, if all too rare situation, of keeping everyone happy at the same time.
For more information of Golfing in Tunisia contact:
Tunisian National Tourist Board
77A Wigmore Street
London W1H 9LJ
Tel: 0171 224 5561
Fax: 0171 224 4053
Platinum Golf Holidays
93 Wimpole Street
London, W1M 7DA
Tel: 0171 629 5858
Fax: 0171 493 4043
