There are 60 Golf courses in the South West, the greens and fairways are permanently green.
Many of the courses are adjacent to the large rivers which flow through the departments and the soil base of varying mixtures of rock, blue clay and sand retains and traps the moisture throughout the year.
The rest is just good grounds management. Most courses have electric buggies and all are playable 52 weeks of the year because of the excellent temperatures and weather conditions.
South West France has a long tradition of playing golf, the course at PAU - BILLERE being the oldest club in continental Europe, created for and by the British Army in 1856.
