Horizon Golf Resort, modern and eco-responsible, the new face of Massane

Text by Alexandre Mazas

When the Domaine de Massane was acquired by the Eoden group in early 2020, the new owners undertook to upgrade the site and turn it into an eco-responsible destination, in order to boost its appeal to a more international clientele.

‘Previously, there was a main building housing the clubhouse, restaurant and spa, but the rooms were separate, a little out of the way. We wanted to put all the accommodation in the same place, in the new building, to create a real resort,’ continues Mylène Recouly. The interior, designed by Alexandre Boulin and Damien Carreres, is resolutely modern, sober and elegant, while the outside area, embellished by the planting of more than 1,500 local trees, already forms a green setting all around.

But you only have to walk a few metres away from these 4-star facilities to marvel, once again, at the results of the work carried out on the golf course. The course, designed in 1988 by the American architect Ronald Fream, has not undergone any major changes to its layout, but has been almost completely overhauled in every respect. ‘We started in May 2023 with a complete overhaul of the watering system on the first nine holes, then did the same on the last nine this year,’ explains Bruno Castel, the golf course's director. ‘The previous system was obsolete and generated a lot of losses, so the new owners decided to redo the entire network in hardline, as well as the pumping station.' By only watering the playing areas and not the entire 70 hectares of the course, the aim is obviously to reduce water consumption, which is essential in a region that is now frequently subject to prefectoral restrictions during periods of drought. ‘Even though we don't yet have the necessary hindsight to give precise figures, we estimate that we can make savings of around 40%,’ says Bruno Castel.

The other major project carried out on the golf course is directly linked to the need to limit extraction from the water table and the purchase of stored water, which are the two sources of supply used at Massane. It involves converting the flora on the course, in other words replacing the old grass with a new grass, Bermuda Latitude 36. ‘On holes 10 to 18, all the vegetation was replaced, with the exception of the greens, which are still in bentgrass: the tees, fairways, semi-rough and rough 5 to 6 metres wide on each side, and the green rackets. This variety of Bermuda grass, already widely used in regions such as Florida, South Africa and Morocco, is more resistant to heat and disease, and needs much less water. Previously, in the summer, we watered each tee with 6 mm of water per day, but since we've changed it's been 3 mm every other day’, says the manager. On the first nine holes, where only the tee boxes have been planted with this grass, the aim is obviously to do the same in the near or medium term. ‘We're going to wait a little while, because we also want the players, our 380 members and visitors, to be able to play and enjoy the course to the full after having to make do with nine holes for nearly two years. But eventually, we'll have the whole course in Bermuda grass, because that's the future of golf in hot regions, even in France,’ adds Bruno Castel.

Horizon Resort - Golf de Massane
Domaine de Massane - 34670 Baillargues
www.horizon-resort.com
golf@horizon-resort.com
tel:+33 4 67 87 87 89