High-Altitude Play: The Best of Late-Summer Golf

Like many visitors, professional golfer Raphaël Jacquelin began coming to the charming French mountain village of Megève for its skiing. A European Tour veteran with four championship titles, Jacquelin would find time between competitions to enjoy the slopes around towering Mont Blanc.

On a summer trip, Jacquelin discovered a gem that’s hidden in winter: the Mont d’Arbois Golf Course. Redesigned in 1964 by Sir Henry Cotton—a three-time British Open champion—it is one of the oldest courses in the Alps. At over 4,300 feet in elevation, the 18-hole layout offers spectacular views of Mont Blanc and the surrounding peaks, as well as lakes that make up what’s known as the Alpine Riviera. But what distinguishes it from other mountain courses is that it’s eminently playable.

“When you have golf in the mountains, it’s sometimes too hilly,” says Jacquelin. “The fairways are really flat here, which means the course is really pleasant to play for golfers at any level.” A PGA-certified coach, Jacquelin now shares his expertise with guests through his Raphaël Jacquelin Academy—Golfzon Leadbetter, based at Mont d’Arbois. His favourite hole: the demanding first, a narrow, tree-lined par 4 that rewards bold drives and punishes wayward ones.

Professionals and amateurs alike descended on Mont d’Arbois from September 3 to 5 for the ProAm at Four Seasons Resort Megève tournament. Beyond the high-quality golf, visitors discover a town that doesn’t shut down in summer—filled with hiking, biking, water sports, and a lively restaurant scene, including at the resort’s La Brasserie Benjamin, named a “remarkable table” by Gault&Millau in 2025. “You can do more things in summertime than in wintertime,” says Jacquelin. “People aren’t here just to ski.”

Peak Fairways

Swinging for the summit isn’t limited to Four Seasons Resort Megève. The Arnold Palmer–designed Whistler Golf Club at Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler in Canada winds through old-growth forests below glacier-capped mountains. At Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North, in Arizona, desert fairways carved through massive granite boulders rise into the Sonoran foothills, making the Tom Weiskopf–​designed course the ultimate desert-mountain golf experience.