Between Biarritz and Bidart, the international training center of Ilbarritz has the most beautiful panorama of the Basque Country. An exceptional site between sky, sea, mountain… and golf. Schools and pros welcome golfers of all levels, from initiation to high-level development, either by using the various equipment and spaces made available to them, or by going to play a nice 9-hole course partly suspended on the ‘Atlantic Ocean.
Thus tens of thousands of sportsmen but also lovers of the Basque Country who come to enjoy the view and the food frequent this magical place which is now threatened by erosion. Last week another part of hole n°3 collapsed.
Golf Planète met with the main actors of the Société des Golfs de Biarritz, a mixed company which manages the interests of the Biarritz golf course (1888) and the training center to take stock of the state of the site and its possible development.
They are Édouard Chazouillères, president and deputy mayor of Biarritz (Finance and Major Projects), Marc Campandegui, vice-president and deputy mayor of Bidart (Coastline and Security) and Stéphane Turin, the new director of the Biarritz golf course, whose deputy and director of the Ilbarritz center is Vincent Wlodarczyk.
Biarritz, situation
“Erosion is a natural, slow, predictable and irreversible phenomenon. Moreover, the oldest maps date from the Napoleonic era and perfectly image this constant retreat of the coastline. As far as climate change is concerned, it only accelerates this evolution from time to time through extreme and very geolocalized phenomena (torrential rains, winter storms) and constant (rise in the level of the oceans), which is moreover in a place like that of the Bidart cliffs, made up of hard rocks and clay parts.
Projections on the retreat of the coastline by 2043 require us to reflect on the evolution of the configuration of the 9-hole course of the International Training Center at Golf d’Ilbarritz. The need to completely renovate the site’s irrigation system, in the short term, is accelerating this long-term reflection on the future of the course.
Given these elements, and wishing to restore the site of Ilbarritz to its original vocation, an ambitious plan will be undertaken on the Training Center, in order to combine reception of the High Level and development of golf practice for the greatest number.
, including schoolchildren. The recourse to the use of new technologies is in particular an axis of improvement of the structures currently under study”
