Gentlemen,
Thanks for making this an interesting thread in my absence. I was doing some field research and now I'm sitting in the Thalys on my way back to paradise in NL.
As of right now I'd mostly agree with Frank's opinion on the ratings of the French courses I've seen. However, I will say that the top 3 are simply head and shoulders above the others.
The two courses at Morfontaine, by far the best in Europe, no doubt. The 9 hole Vallière may be one of the best 9 hole stretches of golf I've ever played. It's the original course there and simply spectacular. Not just better than any other 9 hole course but perhaps up there among the best 9 holes in all of golf. I'd certainly argue it's the best 9 holes of heathland golf in existence and to top it off it's truly on sand based turf something the London courses can't say. It's everything I expected of heathland golf, fast and firm conditions, amazing green surrounds and shapes and blooming heather everywhere. The main course, le Grand Parcour as far as I'm concerned deserves to be rates much higher in the world top 100. A great mix of holes. Add to all this a club house, atmosphere and great appreciation for fantastic food and wine and it may just be one of the best experiences in golf. Certainly one of my best.
Second place for me would actually be a two way tie between Fontainebleau and St. Germain. However, I will say that given the fantastic site that Fontainebleau sits on it has potential to pull away. In fact, remove about 2000 trees which will help restore the original routing and create more air and light which will greatly improve the turf and green conditions and let a huge heard of sheep loose to graze for a couple years then Fontainebleau would be simply magnificent. As it is now it's certainly a tough test of golf with some incredibly narrow playing corridors lined with huge trees. The finishing stretch from about #12 on is impressive even if 18 is a little anticlimactic though certainly not a bad hole. The short par 5 12th might be one of my favorite hole in golf with a very interesting risk reward shot at the green over some of the most interesting natural stone formations to a severely back to front sloping green in front of a spectacular stone hilled backdrop. I'd venture to say that this course in the right hands with aggressive tree clearing would be Top 50 world material.
St. Germain on the other hand could easily be one of my favorite Colt courses which in and of itself says a lot. It does have the space and width in the playing corridors with a few exceptions. Yes, there are some rather mundane straightish holes and the property is for the most part rather flat but the routing is very solid, the bunkering is very strategic and presents you with plenty of visual challenge. One of the things I really liked about this course was that I can imagine it being a joy for it's members to play everyday yet certainly challenging enough. The turf played very similar for me to Walton Heath and the greens as well. They are extremely large and the maintenance standards, at least today were every bit as good as the top private clubs in the US. Greens were rolling really fast, are huge, much like Walton Heath as well but with far more undulations. I enjoyed that you could effectively utilize the ground game. The set of par 3's are one of the strongest as a whole I've seen. I think St. Germain's staff really get it and are switched on when it comes to maintenance and what they are aiming to achieve there. Perhaps we had it on an exception day, even so it impressed.
4th place for me would probably be Les Bordes at this point. Yes it's a modern course and a bit of a modern course on steroids even. I think there is far too much use of water there and way too many island type greens. The course is not really a members course as it's just way too hard. However, in typical US fashion there is not a single blade of grass out of shape. It's a true championship test from the back tees (which I avoided). I'd say it's target golf of the highest quality (in Europe for sure) and an exclusive members course and experience that is both unique and worth the trip. Everything from the cottages to the bar and restaurant are typical relaxed French countryside atmosphere and sitting by the huge open fire at night with your group is a unique experience. Fastest greens I've ever seen in Europe by a long shot.
5th so far I would give to Chantilly. Unfortunately I was a bit underwhelmed with this course. A large part of that has to do with maintenance practices. The course was bordering on unplayable in terms of how narrow it was. The first cut of rough was waste deep and thick as can be causing our group of decent single hcp'er to wish we would of brought a few more dozen balls with us. Everything and I mean everything that even missed the fairway by inches was gone. It's a course where you are either straight or out of the hole. We all imaged that all but the best members would struggle there. The save grace on this flat site was the interest finishing section that contained some interesting surprises. We also didn't get a chance to play the other course which from the few holes we could see seemed to have some really interesting contours and shaping on the greens. We all left this feeling a bit surprised after all the positive things we had heard about it.
Everything else about the club was great, It also received our award for best wine during lunch. For what that's worth!
Out of time so had to close out quickly.
If you get the chance to do this trip or a similar one to France, you'd be crazy not to.