Lemuria I’m told stands for Lost Land, better it should be renamed Lost Balls in my view such is the shock and awe you experience playing the Constance Lemuria golf course on Praslin Island in The Seychelles. This is the only 18 hole course on the islands and if looks are anything to go by, there can be nothing better in my opinion. She is quite simply a stunner.
Constance Lemuria Golf Course itself is a 5 star luxury resort enviably perched on a stunning arrowhead of two gloriously white beaches of Anse Georgette so beautiful it becomes almost impossible to describe. This is heaven itself, let alone having a golf course in your back yard too. And it get’s even better, because hotel guests get to play on the Constance Lemuria golf course for free although carts are mandatory and carry a fee.
Opened in 2000 and designed by American golf architect Rodney Wright, this is a par 70 6,102 yard championship course that weaves its magic through a stunning tropical landscape lined with fabled Coco-de-Mer palms. The first 9 holes are set in the valley of Grand Anse Kerlan, so the terrain is reasonably level with gentle rolling fairways and natural ponds and streams.
This is where design magic takes over as with the start of the back 9, things begin to change; elevation creeps in, fairways narrow and you start to realise you are being drawn into the architect’s unfolding story. He guides you onward and ever upward until you ascend out onto the short par 3 15th where the full majesty shows itself. There, on a tee some 150 feet above the green you are surrounded by Indian Ocean, white sand and swaying palms and it’s breathtaking moment.
It is only a 9 iron to the green but you feel isolated and alone up there and the ball seemingly hangs in the sky forever. You have to get your wits back to tackle the par 5 16th, a hole fringed with boulders and dense trees and a wicked stream running like a spine up the centre of the hole. The 17th is another wicked par 3 that plays much longer than it looks and then it’s on to the 18th and yet another glorious spectacle of a view prefacing a par 5 that has it all; huge fairway bunkers, a lake, a stream and a semi-island green.
Constance Lemuria golf course is a track you will talk about long after you hang up your bag. Why? Simply because like most things Seychellois you’re enjoying the laid back feel, all sun-kissed and leafy and then it is so unexpectedly dramatic it takes your breath away.
images (c) Andy Mossack
I want to play at Constance Lemuria Golf Course
Golf on Constance Lemuria Golf course is free to guests staying at the Constance Lemuria Resort. Mandatory cart fees are £38 for 18 holes or £230 for 7 days use. There may also be opportunities for non guests to buy a green fee but you would need to check with the hotel.
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