French courses aerials - #1 - PAU GOLF CLUB

[Sébastien Dhaussy]

First, sorry for my bad english but I'm french  

In addition to the excellent serie of aerials from Scott Burroughs which has permitted me to have a glimpse on american courses, I spent some times to catch aerials from french courses for sharing them with us.

First of a long serie :



Hope you can identify the course and discuss some of his architectural merits  

[Stuart Hallett]

Sébastien,

The oldest on the European continent, Pau Golf Club.

I found it through a process of elimination and checked my result before posting.
A) obviously old judging by the lack of water features and security margins
B) probably in the south due to a couple of swimming pools and burnt rough
C) compact and next to a river and town

Had to be Pau !

Unfortunately I've yet to play there so I have no architectural views. However people tell me the place has changed somewhat but still maintains the charm of an old classic.

Other GCA's must have played there.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Sebastien thats a great picture, have you played it?  I was in Pau July 2005, I didn't gedt to see it as I thought the course was well outside the town?  I would have thought a course that close to a river would be realtively flat even in the Pyrenees.

Any change of an Aerial of the next oldest course in France and a view of 'that' green?

[Sébastien Dhaussy]

Congratulations Stuart. It is indeed the PAU GOLF CLUB. Founded in 1856, it’s the oldest French course but also the oldest course in continental Europe.
It’s a private club with 650 members but you can easily play it, after calling the club. I’ve not played it yet.

Like most of the old golf clubs in France, it was british residents who wanted to practice their favourite sport during their holidays, who decide to create the golf course.

I find no mention of the "architect" of this original course.
The course has been renovated in the 1960's after suffering severe damages during the two World Wars. I've no details on the modifications made but on their site, they speak of "minor alterations and improvement".   The term "improvement" is always subjective  

The club has 150 years this year and for the occasion has arranged a french / spanish match between Jose Maria Olazabal and Severiano Ballesteros for the spanish side and Stephanie Arricau & Jean Van de Velde (I know you love him, GCA’ers   ) for the french side. The score : 62 for spanish team, 67 for french team.

Tony,
I will send to you the aerial of the next French oldest course. I've find no evidence of the old green on this aerial but I give you all the details to check this zone. Check your mail at the end of the day.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Sebastien,  Thank you for posting this, and thank you in anticipation of more to come.  This series will help to inform us all of the many varied charms of rench golf that even we in England know all too little about.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Sebastien,  On holiday in Alsace last week we drove past Ammerschwihr golf course.  It looked incredibly narrow and tight.  Do you know anything about it?

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Se˙bastien,
Thanks for posting this great aerial. I've always wanted to know what Pau looked like. Looks like the course is situated on some sandy ground--a very good thing for golf.

One of the more important things to remember when looking at an aerial photo, is the angle which it is taken at.

Here the angle is some what unique for a vertical aerial photograph. While I'm much more partial to oblique photos, simply because vertical aerials don't always tell the complete story, they do however give a better idea of exactly where things are positioned in terms to the landscape.

In you photo, look at the angle the trees are at. It tells a lot, as far as what the hman eye is seeing, and how you have to actually study it to get what's really there. You eyes can play tricks!

[Sébastien Dhaussy]

Mark,

I've never heard of the Ammerschwihr golf course before but I will look for an aerial of the course.

Tommy,

The course has been created in the old bed of the river (le Gave) you see right of the course in the aerial. Underground is highly permeable, so with the good temperatures in the south of the France, I think there is all the conditions for a course playing mostly firm and fast.

The aerial is a satellite view, using the French Google Earth called Geoportail (developed by our National Geographical Institute : IGN). Open since june 2006, there is 2D views for the moment, with more zoom possible in 2D views & 3D views available in 2007.

Even if there is a 2006 mention on the aerials I will show on GCA, I think the views are from 2002 after taking a look at some courses which I've been modified since.

Thanks for your interest.

[Sébastien Dhaussy]

Some other additional details :
The logo :

A map of the course for the routing :

And the scorecard (remember, distances are in meters) :


Next week, an other french course aerial.

[olivier]

Sebastien,  On holiday in Alsace last week we drove past Ammerschwihr golf course.  It looked incredibly narrow and tight.  Do you know anything about it?

Mark, Ammerschwhihr is indeed quit narrow and very highly (back nine specially). I believe that many golfers will not be able to finish the 12th hole with all their senses intact such is the steepness of that hole. I played the course during the dry and hot summer of July - August 03 and saw many a drive finish well behind the tee. Balls just could not stop rolling down the hill. On the other hand, my wife putted for an albatross (double eagle) on the 14th :-).
It was also impossible to find the fairway of some holes of the front 9. (Particularly the 9th). Ammerschwihr has a web site http://www.golf-ammerschwihr.com/.
In this region the best course is supposed to be the Kempferhoff, not far away from Strasbourg http://www.golf-kempferhof.com/