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    The best golf courses in France

    By Derek Duncan and Stephen Hennessey
    July 31, 2024
    Morfontaine-Golf-Club.jpg

    French golf has gotten hot in the last several years. Thoughts of golf in Europe don’t typically concentrate on France, but quite a lot has happened in the last decade. In that time, the country has hosted two major international competitions, the 2018 Ryder Cup and the 2024 Olympics, both held at Le Golf National near Paris.

    Two of the world’s premier golf architects, Tom Doak and the team of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, opened new courses, including Doak’s Grand Saint Emillionaise in Bordeaux in 2015 and Hanse and Wagner’s New Course at Les Bordes in 2021, which debuts at No. 6 in this year’s ranking.

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    And the Canadian Cabot group recently announced the acquisition of the former Golf du Medoc in Bordeaux, rebranded Cabot Bordeaux, along with its two courses designed by American architect Bill Coore and Canadian architect Rod Whitman. All of these courses continue to look up to two built by the great Tom Simpson in the 1920s, Morfontaine (No. 1) and Fontainebleu (No. 3).

    Editor's Note: Our Best Courses in France ranking is the first in our rollout of the Best Courses in Every Country. Check back over the next few weeks for more of our rankings of the best golf around the world.

    We urge you to click through to each individual course page for bonus photography, drone footage and expanded reviews. Plus, you can now leave your own ratings on the courses you’ve played … to make your case why your favorite should be ranked higher.

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    10. Les Bordes (Old)
    Courtesy of Les Bordes Estate
    Private
    10. Les Bordes (Old)
    Saint-Laurent-Nouan, France
    Robert von Hagge’s Old Course at Les Bordes, situated in the Loire Valley about 90 minutes south of Paris, could just have easily been built by Pete Dye and situated in South Florida. Dye-esque mounding, island (or peninsula) greens and intimidating sightlines are present throughout. The tranquil setting amid the forest and lakes serve to lower your blood pressure as you play a course where the ball-striking demands would typically have the numbers spiking. The soil is denser and more saturated than that of the Gil Hanse-designed New Course, largely preventing the ground game and demanding precision through the air.
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    9. Le Golf National (Albatros)
    Thomas Samson
    Private
    9. Le Golf National (Albatros)
    Guyancourt, France
    The championship 18 at the multi-course Le Golf National may well be an albatross around the necks of 2018 American Ryder Cup teammates, given their lopsided loss to the Europeans. But they couldn’t blame the Albatros Course, a Florida-style design of the late Robert von Hagge, who delighted in sculpting courses with massive humps and bumps that cast shadows at high noon and carving out water hazards at every turn. What the European team had going for it was familiarity with the design, as it has hosted the European Tour’s French Open for decades. In advance of the Ryder Cup, French officials insisted that sole design credit should be given to French landscape architect Hubert Chesneau (who was a consultant on the project), but that was soon debunked, as von Hagge’s style is clearly evident. Le Golf National will host the 2024 Olympics for both the men's and women's competitions.
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    8. Chantilly Golf Club (Vineuil)
    PHILIPPE MILLEREAU / KMSP
    Private
    8. Chantilly Golf Club (Vineuil)
    Vineuil-Saint-Firmin, France
    Chantilly Golf Club (Vineuil), situated within the historic grounds of the Château de Chantilly, was originally designed by the English golf champion J.H. Taylor in 1909. The course gained immediate praise, hosting the French Open just four years after establishment. Following World War I, the course underwent a renovation by Tom Simpson, aimed at attracting pre-war members. However, the club faced significant challenges again during World War II, suffering extensive damage in 1944. Repair work was carried out, and by 1947, the club was ready to host its fifth French Open. Chantilly Golf Club has demonstrated admirable resilience, hosting a total of 11 French Opens before Le Golf National became the official venue for the event. In addition to its rich tournament history, the club is renowned for its commitment to biodiversity. Partnering with the French Golf Federation and the National Museum of Natural History, Chantilly is dedicated to preserving it’s nearly 40 rare or threatened species within its lush, forested course.
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    7. Saint-Germain
    Marc Chesneau
    7. Saint-Germain
    Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
    Located west of Paris and near Versailles amongst the Saint-Germain-en-Laye forest, Saint-Germain was designed by Harry Colt and boasts some of France’s strongest golf history. Colt’s design meanders through the trees on a mostly flat design with intriguing putting surfaces and 116 well-placed bunkers. Saint-Germain was ranked within Golf World (U.K.)’s top 20 courses in Continental Europe just a few years ago, so being in the top 10 is no surprise here, though we might’ve expected it to be within the top three of our list. Aside from the main course, Colt also designed a more elementary nine holes here as well.
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    6. Les Bordes (New)
    Courtesy of Les Bordes Estate
    Private
    6. Les Bordes (New)
    Saint-Laurent-Nouan, France

    At Les Bordes, Hanse and design partner Jim Wagner were given a sand-based site—a golf architect’s dream—allowing for firmer, faster playing conditions. As you play the course, still in its infancy after opening in 2021, it feels as though the 18 holes were always there, and that there must’ve been little movement of the existing terrain. “We worked really hard to make sure our course sat softly in the landscape,” Hanse told Les Bordes. Whether by sprawling heathland or fescue-lined bunkering that’s rugged yet refined, the New Course not only sits softly in the landscape, it feels as though it is the landscape. Despite its moniker, the New Course is a return to an older, more classic style of golf course architecture. One that demands a more nuanced strategy than simply trying to avoid an imposing water hazard—and where angles, created by clever contouring and well-placed bunkering must be properly navigated in order to create the easiest shot into the green. And one that allows the golfer to run the ball up onto nearly every putting surface, incentivizing creativity while giving options to the higher handicapper. Even with all of the strategic elements, the New Course is incredibly walkable—in fact, it’s a walking-only course. The terrain has plenty of subtle undulations to create some blind shots, but there is hardly an elevation change that will leave you catching your breath.

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    5. Evian Resort G.C.
    Philippe Millereau
    5. Evian Resort G.C.
    Évian-les-Bains, France
    Nestled between the French Alps and the shores of Lake Geneva, Evian Resort Golf Club offers breathtaking views in every direction. Established in 1904 as a nine-hole course, it was expanded and redesigned in the late 1980s by Cabell B. Robinson to create a challenging yet seamless layout that has become a favorite among professional golfers. Each year, Evian Resort hosts The Amundi Evian Championship, one of the five major tournaments in women's golf and the only major played annually on the same course, showcasing renowned champions such as Lydia Ko and Annika Sörenstam.
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    4. Saint Emilionnais G.C. (Saint Emilion)
    4. Saint Emilionnais G.C. (Saint Emilion)
    Gardegan-et-Tourtirac, France
    Most of the top courses in Continental Europe are classic courses, but Tom Doak’s 2015 design at St. Emilionnais continues to move up various rankings. Part of it is about the location—located just over 15 miles from Bordeaux in the medieval village of St. Emilion on the site of an old hunting estate. Doak’s design team created intriguing architecture that will endure thanks to an emphasis on precision into Doak’s always-interesting putting surfaces. The new Cabot Bordeaux (about 50 minutes away) will be the buzzy facility in the next year or so with the Cabot group acquiring the Golf du Médoc Resort property, but its Bill Coore and Rod Whitman courses will be looking up to St. Emilionnais and where they currently sit in our rankings.
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    3. Fontainebleau G.C.
    Courtesy of the club
    3. Fontainebleau G.C.
    Fontainebleau, France
    Tom Simpson might not be a name familiar to casual American golfers, but the Englishman’s delivered some of the best work in Europe in the classic era. His early work in France included adding nine holes to Golf de Fontainebleau, just like he did at the No. 1-ranked Morfontaine. Fontainebleau sits on rolling topography just south of Paris, and Simpson utilized rock formations and the rolling terrain to gift the club of the best courses in France.
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    2. Paris International G.C.
    Courtesy of the club
    2. Paris International G.C.
    Baillet-en-France, France
    Only about 30 minutes from Paris sits Jack Nicklaus’ only course in France, which jumped from fourth to second in this year’s rankings. Nicklaus’ team carved the design out of the adjacent Montmorency Forest with the layout utilizing large pines, doglegs, rolling topography and water hazards to present your standard Nicklaus risk-reward tests.
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    1. Morfontaine G.C.
    Gary Lisbon
    Private
    1. Morfontaine G.C.
    Morfontaine, France
    A timeless 1927 design north of Paris by British architect Tom Simpson, perhaps the greatest bunker artist of his generation, Morfontaine looks suspiciously like a heathland course around London with windswept Scotch pines and clumps of heather atop a base of sand. But it's tighter than Sunningdale or St. George's Hill, and the forest surrounding holes is far denser. American architect Kyle Phillips updated the layout in 2004, adding a new 12th green to extend the par 5 by 60 yards. It fits in perfectly.
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