1 · POSITION
La Mer opened at Le Touquet at Easter 1931, adding a dune course to a French seaside resort already closely connected with British visitors. Its original design is associated with Harry Colt and Hugh Alison. The course made golf part of the resort’s reason for being, extending a stay through an encounter with the coastal landscape. [1, 2]
2 · A BROKEN CONTINUITY
The Second World War damaged the course and destroyed its clubhouse. Later arrangements altered how golfers reached and played the surviving holes. The restoration architects describe a route that once used connecting holes from the other clubhouse and a subsequent attempt to replace lost coastal holes. The present La Mer emerged from interruption and revision, rather than surviving unchanged from its opening. [1, 2]
3 · RECOVERING A PLAN
Frank Pont and Patrice Boissonnas used a 1934 aerial photograph and a 1931 survey drawing to recover the lost layout. The club’s restoration leaflet records the reopening of hole 13 in 2014 and holes 14–16 in summer 2015. The evidence established relationships between tees, greens and fairways, allowing the sequence of play to be reconsidered on the ground. [3]
4 · RESTORING HOW IT PLAYS
The programme also addressed green sizes, surrounds, fairway mowing lines, bunkers and trees. These changes affected the options available to golfers and how the ball travelled after landing. [2] Restoration here concerned a playing experience as well as an appearance. The project is consequently an anchor for Pont’s work in collaboration with Boissonnas, while the earlier design remains part of Colt and Alison’s history.
5 · ⚑ CANDOUR
The club foregrounds Colt; the restoration practice credits Colt and Alison together. Restoration also involves interpretation, not just surviving original fabric. ⚑ The published chronologies differ: the practice dates work on the lost holes to 2016, whereas the club records their reopening in 2014–15. The reopening dates above follow the club’s specific hole-by-hole record; the discrepancy remains unresolved. [1–3]
People anchored here
LHL-P-692 · Patrice Boissonnas
Sources & Further Reading
Sources checked 24 September 2026.