The tony suburb of St Germain en Laye is tucked within a large loop of the Seine twelve or so miles from the centre of Paris and adjacent to the national forest which shares its name. Having been the residence of many French monarchs prior to the French Revolution, St Germain is a city of historical repute. In 1688 James II of England sought refuge in the city when he was deposed from the throne during the Glorious Revolution. Signed in 1919, the Treaty St Germain officially broke up the Hapsburg Empire, thus creating the independent states of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and what became Yugoslavia. Not long after this treaty was signed, the forward-thinking members of Golf de l’Ermitage obtained the rights to 128 acres from the Forest of St Germain and called in HS Colt to design a completely new course for the club. However, the members wished to retain the old clubhouse and had it transported to the new location!
The original course didn’t last long. The club acquired more land and instructed Colt to make changes to the design. After the redesign there were pockets of land which Colt developed into a 9-hole course featuring several short par 4s. The two courses remain largely as Colt envisioned with the likely exception of substantial tree growth. It is on the Grand Parcours that 9 French Opens were contested. The winners of this tournament at St Germain include George Duncan, Bobby Locke and Sandy Lyle. It is fitting that the last time (1985) the French Open was hosted by St Germain the incomparable Seve Ballesteros took home first prize and did so in style with a course record 62.
The centre piece of wall covered memorabilia is a series of Ben Hogan photos during a 1956 visit. Despite the course suffering terrible damage by occupying German forces, after the D-Day landings General Eisenhower played St Germain on a regular basis with other high ranking military officers. American forces didn't leave until 1967 after President De Gaulle gave the order for all foreign military to withdraw from France. The photos may be from a European trip Hogan made to play in the Canada Cup at Wentworth. Hogan teamed up with Sam Snead and the pair destroyed the field by 14 shots enroute to victory with Hogan taking home the individual honours.
The course from the daily tees is about 6400 yards and features a very good mix of hole lengths. Dead straight, the opener is in no way special, but with OOB down the right, many will feel trepidation on the tee. The short 3 shotter second highlights two factors. First, St Germain is not short of bunkers...there are about 116! Second, trees visually block many bunkers or otherwise diminish their impact. Below is the approach after a layup second and a closer look at the angled green.
There is an often repeated theme of property boundaries or heavily tree-lined fairways playing an important role at St Germain. On the 3rd a disused railway line runs the length of the right side to a false front green. We now cross the tracks for the very difficult 4th, a par four of about 445 yards.
The huge right greenside bunker is engeniously built into the next tee.
I have never seen a Colt course with quite so much mounding. The shaping isn't the high quality usually associated with Colt and Frank Bros, however, there is definitely a playfulness about the work which is great fun. The 5th is perhaps one of the extreme examples of St Germain shaping. This short hole presents like an all carry hole, but this isn't the case. Indeed, it may be wise to lay-up!
In similar fashion to the 5th at Mildenhall, the green is sneaky narrow.
More to follow.
Ciao