Was in Amsterdam & Paris for work the last few weeks and thankfully had lots of time to also play some golf. I was absolutely blown away; what an incredibly underrated golf destination. I have no idea why it’s not more popular with Americans, as it’s also great to pair with non-golf stuff (food, wine, museums, etc) in these two world-class cities.
Utrechtse De Pan (Colt)
Koninklijke Haagsche (Alison)
Les Bordes New (Hanse)
Les Bordes Old (von Hagge)
Fontainebleau (Simpson)
Chantilly (Simpson)
Morfontaine Vallière (Simpson)
Morfontaine Grand Parcours (Simpson)
I only had one free day in Amsterdam, but managed to play De Pan and Haagsche back-to-back in the same day. Both welcome visitors and were very easy to book (175 and 225 euros, respectively). Both are within an hour from Schiphol Airport and easy to get to via rental car. Shoutout to @MashNL for helping me work out logistics. The courses themselves are very much the opposite of each other with Haagsche being a very bold & brawny links course with huge scale, while De Pan is an elegant and more nuanced heathland course. The boldness of Haagsche reminded me of Pacific Dunes in some ways. Overall, I preferred De Pan slightly and would split my rounds 6 to 4.
Les Bordes (2 hours south of Paris by car), on the other hand, is unfortunately quite private, but being a newer club, its membership is on the younger side and overwhelmingly international. The Old course is quite “American” and very penal with lots of water hazards. Not my favorite style of golf, but still cool to see. The New course is a Hanse design that is much more playable and strategic. It’s a very easy walk and is extremely elegant & tasteful, both in terms of the routing and the greens. Would probably split my rounds 8 to 2, favoring the New. The club itself is very high-end in terms of hospitality and lodging. I can see why an international membership here would make sense for people in the right income bracket. If traveling a few times a year for golf, I certainly would much rather go to the Loire Valley in France over many of the other places where private destination clubs are located (rural Colorado, rural South Carolina, etc), especially with family.
Fontainebleau (1 hour south of Paris) and Chantilly (1 hour north of Paris) are both Tom Simpson designs that are open to visitors (165 and 140 euros, respectively). I had a rental car, but both are also accessible by train + taxi from Paris as well. Fontainebleau is on better land and lots of cool rock outcrops that reminded me of The Country Club at Brookline. Very tree lined, which actually makes it far less penal than Chantilly, which has lots and lots of waist-high native rough just a few feet off of the fairway. I preferred Fontainebleau because of the more intimate routing and more interesting greens. Chantilly was harder and longer and is more of a “championship test” type of course (it has hosted European Tour events in the past). Still a great course. Would split my rounds 7 to 3.
Lastly, Morfontaine (1 hour north of Paris) was unbelievable. Certainly in the conversation for the best course I’ve ever played and without a doubt in the top 3. The Vallière course is the original course and is what I think should be the model for 9 hole / short courses. It’s very “real” golf (2800 yards par 35 with good mixes of par 3s, 4s & 5s), but its shorter length allows for use of more severe land and funkier greens, without getting gimmicky and overly penal. Meanwhile, the main course has the best set of par 3’s (par 70, so there are 5 of them) that I’ve ever played, including one with a center line tree in between the tee and the green. Lot of the par 4s and 5s are gentle doglegs and you really need to shape it both ways off of the tee. I think it’s one of the most beautiful settings I’ve ever played golf in as well, with the heather and pines framing the holes very gracefully. Unfortunately, this one is private, but I’ve heard that they are (somewhat) more open to non-member play in August, when many Parisians are on vacation. Great logo, too, as @BamaBearcat featured in the logos video!
