The Magic of a Golf Holiday in Tunisia

Golfshake Ambassador Andy Picken recently had the opportunity to experience a golf break in Tunisia, which is an emerging destination for many golfers, and as you will discover in this review of the experience, it's one that you seriously must consider.

A recent trip to stay at the Sindbad Hotel in Hammamet, has led me to rethink my original preconceptions about Tunisia as a holiday and golfing destination.

I was surprised to see a verdant green landscape from the view from my window seat in the aircraft as we prepared to land. 

A patchwork quilt of abundant agricultural lands dispelled any thoughts I might've had anticipating a desert type landscape. 

I later discovered that this does exist, and it is accessible for tourists within other areas of the country. Safari trips by 4x4 vehicles to visit the desert areas and enjoy an overnight tent-based experience are available. The lack of light pollution in the desert offers wonderful views of the skies and stars.

Our group used a direct flight from Gatwick operated by Tunisair that arrived at our destination within two and a half hours.

• Accommodation
• The Experience
• Hospitality
• Attractions
• The Golf Courses
• Learning More About Golf in Tunisia
• Conclusion

Tunisair have a current scheme allowing free carriage of golf bags as a way of encouraging and enhancing the golfing tourism market. An excellent benefit for the travelling golfer. It was also clear that the airport staff were experienced in handling golf travel bags as check in and receipt on arrival were an easy task with no delays.

As additional proof of the burgeoning popularity of Tunisia as a tourist destination I then discovered that easyJet are now operating 41 flights a week from nine different UK based airports. 

The climate is perfect for golf with an average annual temperature of 19 degrees. It is most popular for visitors during the months of May to October when the temperature ranges between 27 degrees to 35 degrees.

Most venues are hotel based with golf transfers included in the package.

The Accommodation

Our hotel for the period of our stay was the resplendent Sindbad Hotel in Hammamet. It was beautifully appointed with excellent cuisine and facilities. The in-house, award-winning spa was also exceptional. A great way to recover after a round of golf.

The hotel has its own pub and private beach and pool that are situated in an idyllic spot looking towards Hammamet over the harbour.  

I luxuriated in a ground floor garden suite with a sea view. The hotel has developed the gardens to encourage as much bird life as possible. The soundtrack of the birds adding to the amazing soundtrack of the country as whole.

My highlight of the hotel itself was the pool club that contained an excellent outdoor pool and caféerestaurant that led directly down a handful of steps onto the privately owned hotel beach.

The rooms were superbly appointed with exceptional bathrooms that included a deep soak bath and separate shower facility. 

The hotel overlooked the town of Hammamet and its harbour and fishing boats. I enjoyed a glorious sunset view from the restaurant looking back over the harbour from an elevated position within the Ottoman castle and fort.

Sensory Experience 

The entire trip was a sensory experience. The gentle heat allowing comfortable walking throughout the day and night. The sounds of the medina and especially the call to prayers that waft gently from the mosques nearby. I have never played golf before with a background of a call to prayer incantation as I stood facing a particularly challenging tee shot. It was warmly reassuring and not in any way distracting. There was always abundant wildlife on each of the golf courses and bird song accessible.

I saw male greenkeeping staff using mechanised equipment with teams of female workers attending to bunkers and tee boxes with hand tools and rakes. Many of them featuring magnificent Aloe Vera plants. They all wore traditional clothing and had clothing covering all parts of the body compared to our group who were mainly dressed in shorts and skirts. The conditioning of the courses was excellent and I made it a point to speak to all the staff nearby to thank them for their obvious efforts and hard work.

Hospitality & Gastronomy

My main memory of the visit was the quality of the food and the warm hospitality of all we met. Situated on the coast we were spoiled to be offered some wonderful seafood.

Most meals started with a shared ‘mezze’ that included a variety of olive oils, locally produced harissa with its smoky dried chilli flavour. Breads and pastries were exceptional. This gave time to graze and eat and chat to your fellow travellers.  

Hospitality is a big thing within the Tunisian culture and the fact that you are a made to feel like an honoured guest of the country is something that was remarked upon by many of our group.

There is a wonderful local deli delicacy known as a Brik. This is tuna with a poached egg that's then wrapped in a delicately flavoured filo pastry. It is flavoured gently with harissa pasta and is a delightful dish.

Local Attractions

Our itinerary included visits to local medina and markets, and these were excellent additions to the golfing theme.

Sidi Bou Said was our first port of call where we became traditional tourists for the afternoon forgetting about our golfing pedigree. Our coach dropped us on the outskirts of the town as it was unable to get into the medina area itself due to its size.

The streets are navigable by bikes and scooters with limited access to cars and the like. The best way to explore is on foot and it was a delight to spend an afternoon doing exactly that. We visited local cafes and bars and many of the local market stalls. A wonderful way to spend an afternoon in glorious weather and company.

As we wandered and watched, one of my favourite pastimes, I saw a local man exercising his falcon on the path outside his house. This beautiful creature was happy to be petted by a stranger.

This was a gloriously traditional Tunisian town situated overlooking the clear blue seas of the Mediterranean. I marvelled at the wonderful white and blue, ancient and historic streets, just wide enough for the small carriages and current motorcycles and scooters.

Centuries old cobble stones formed the street causing feet to clatter. I heard a range of Arabic cries from the myriad shop and market keepers keen to attract the visitor’s attention and dinar.

I was surprised that the multilingual haggling capacity of many of the shopkeepers. They were able to identify origins of potential customers from dress and accent and were able to immediately converse in whatever language was present.

Tunisia has a closed currency so you are not able to take any of it out of the country on departure. I carried euros and many of the traders were very happy to accept this in place of the local currency. Exchanging into the local currency at the airport is simplicity itself, on arrival and departure.

I loved the smells of the medina. Particularly striking was the enticing aroma from the open fronted coffee shops and cafes. I developed a liking for the hot sweet mint tea served at the conclusion of most meals. Shisha pipes are widely available and add to the general smells of the town.

I saw a host of ceramic or handmade rug shops and a variety of stalls offering herbs and spices that provided an incredible mixed aroma to the delight of myself and others within our party. 

As this area sits within a World Heritage Site much has been done to preserve its historic integrity. 

The colour palette throughout all the area was white and sky blue. A reference to the wonderfully blue sea contrasted against the pristine white of the houses.

I am now a keen fan of Tunisia as a holiday destination and found it a fascinating contrast to the easily accessible destinations I have enjoyed in the past.

The Golf Courses

Citrus Golf is a 45-hole facility with a delightful clubhouse packed with luxury facilities. The facility takes up an area of around 173 hectares with the golf courses created around seven lakes supported by olive trees and local forests by the designer Ronald Fream.

Fream is a globe-trotting designer with links to Robert Trent Jones. He created at least six different courses in Tunisia. The courses he created are excellent, challenging, but playable for all levels.

It has two excellent golf courses in La Foret and Les Oliviers. Both are very well conditioned and offer a pleasurable challenge to all levels of golfing ability. The executive 9-hole course is also a good one and it enjoys excellent practice greens, short game areas and driving range.

Staff were attentive and knowledgeable with an obvious pride in the product they are providing. The food offered here is fresh, locally produced, perfect for a post round debrief over a cold drink. 

Language was not a bar as most of the staff spoke excellent English in addition to the French that is the second language to Tunisian for most locals.

We shared the clubhouse both days with several visiting societies. It is clearly attracting many supporters. It sits in a commanding position on top of a beautiful hill overlooking the surrounding landscape and the Cape Bon peninsula.

La Foret Golf Course

Our first round was played at the La Foret golf course. It has a stunning setting.

This is a well-conditioned parkland layout that offered a technical challenge to all levels of golfers within our group. This contained several golf professionals and many low single figure handicap golfers together with those like me who are much more average in our handicap.

The layout opens with an interesting par 4 that provides a left to right dogleg. Accuracy from the tee is a necessity on this course as there are many opportunities for a lost ball if it is badly positioned. Out of bounds is in play for the left side of the fairway on this hole with a well-protected green. Each of the par 5 holes offer a genuine challenge as the tee shot is impacted by the well-situated bunkers on every hole. 

The second and third holes offer a taste of things to come as they arc around the perimeter of the site in a circular direction. Avoid the bunkers and lakes to have any chance of sustaining par golf.

The shorter holes all offer an interesting challenge. The greens were fast and true and very well managed. Given how busy the course was there was little evidence of unrepaired pitch marks. A testimony perhaps to the quality of the course management. 

We used buggies during the trip, I would've been happy to walk on either course if I had access to a trolley - not because of the terrain but simply the glorious weather that fatigues me when carrying a bag.

La Foret as a layout was a challenge because it had little room for error. However, it was still an enjoyable golfing experience. 

On the back nine the final holes were particularly memorable. Hole 17 is a lengthy and intimidating par 5 with a very well bunkered green complex. 

The final hole is played from an elevated tee box over and towards two separate lakes and water hazards. This is visually intimidating but was easy to play given an accurate tee shot. Anything less was punished and made the hole very difficult. A good finishing hole. 

Les Oliviers Golf Course

This second 18-hole layout at Citrus Grove feels much more friendly as there are many more bail out areas for the inaccurate drive off the tee. The course meanders around olive trees and has been well managed to ensure a decent pace of play and to avoid the lost balls of the previous day’s play.

Bunkers are well placed but visible throughout the layout. I like that the bunkers are obvious and provide a clear route for play. The green complexes were very well kept and ran very true. Most greens had built in swales and gradients adding to the level of difficulty.

Again, the short holes are all great fun. The openers here are relatively straightforward in comparison to the obvious difficulty of the previous day. But accuracy is still required to score.

I really enjoyed the run of holes from number 9 to 12. Holes 9 and 10 are the hardest two holes on the course and demand respect off the tee. 

Hole 10 looks fabulous from the tee box as it plays out in front of you down a gradient then up a severe slope. The position of the sun as we played highlighting the rippled fairways. This is a lovely looking golf hole. 

Hole 11 is another delight. A short hole played uphill to an elevated green that contains several subtle runs and gradients.

The final hole is another decent par 5 that requires pinpoint accuracy from the tee box due to the out of bounds patrolling both flanks of the fairway. I can imagine many competitive rounds being brought to a shuddering halt on this hole. A great way to finish a highly enjoyable round of golf.

Learning More About Golf in Tunisia

Wanting to learn more about the future of Tunisian golf, I asked to interview Omar Cherif who in addition to being the general manager at Citrus Grove is also the President of the Golf Tourism Group Federation within the Tunisian Tourism Federation named F12T.

Omar explained that there was a golden age in the 1990s when golf courses were constructed and developed but that the model was a difficult one to sustain as each political district had a single golf club. Experience has shown that golf tourists like to sample a variety of golf courses within easy travel distance to accommodation and this has caused some issues for the industry. Having a focal point for golfing excellence adjacent to accommodation is the ideal. Nine of these courses remain some of which have been used for European Tour and Senior Tour events such are the quality.

Question: Does the Moroccan golf market compare to Tunisia?

Moroccan golf has an infrastructure that is fast becoming a well-supported location for golf tourism. Tunisia has many of the elements required for a successful golf tourism business already in place with superb accommodation plentiful in the areas close to the courses at price points to suit all pockets. 

The Tunisian climate for golf is wonderful and government support for the projects he is considering is being attracted.

Question: Describe Citrus Grove to a potential visitor?

Citrus Grove is a perfect example of a destination product with 45 golf holes of excellent quality and design offering challenges to all levels of player.

It is becoming the flagship for Tunisian golf setting high standards for other venues to match and compete with. Plans are under consideration for accommodation to be built within the Citrus Grove complex making it an even more attractive proposition for the travelling golfer.

Conclusion

As a first-time visitor I was a little surprised at the quality and extent of the excellent tourist infrastructure. The golfing products I experienced were excellent and the "all inclusive" hotel experience was sublime. 

I am confident that Tunisia has the capacity and desire to become the next "Go To" golfing destination. The climate is excellent. Accessibility from all parts of the UK is now simple and comfortable.

One of the main positive factors is the recent addition by easyJet of flights from nine different UK airports with direct flights (41 a week) to the country.

This is likely to make a major difference to the golfing product in this beautiful country. 

I can see few obstacles to this venue becoming even more popular as the packages offer such great value for money.

This is the current offering from Golfbreaks.

A five-night full board package for less than £440 with free golf transfers is remarkable value for money. Add in free golf bag carriage and this is a must for the golfing group wishing guaranteed weather and great golf within three hours of the UK.

I can envision Tunisia as a significant destination venue for the golfing tourist.

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