20 miles to the west of Paris at Guyancourt, surrounding the Chateau of Versailles – once home to Louis X1V – lies Golf National's stadium styled Albatros course.
Le Golf National (Albatros)
20 miles to the west of Paris at Guyancourt, surrounding the Chateau of Versailles – once home to Louis X1V – lies Golf National's stadium styled Albatros course.
A mere 20 miles to the west of Paris lies the Golf National. Here, at Guyancourt, surrounding the Chateau of Versailles – once home to Louis X1V – there’s a hint of Florida, a sprinkling of Ireland, and a lot of France.
Golf National took three years to construct and in 1990 the Albatros stadium course opened for play. It was co-designed by Hubert Chesneau and von Hagge Design Associates (now known corporately as von Hagge, Smelek & Baril). The golf course was destined to become home to the French Open and also a centre for both national and international championships. It was also rumoured that a future Ryder Cup could be held here.
So, what have we got? Well, it’s the first course in France to be built to the T.P.C. model and naturally, they chose a site on clay, which required the maximum drainage! There’s water and mounding to spare and there’s no doubt that the earth certainly moved for Chesneau and von Hagge.
It’s a firm but fair course that's been built to host competitions and test the Pros. Measuring more than 7,000 yards, it’s the toughest test of golf in the Paris region and, given the unremarkable tract of land, we think they’ve created a quite remarkable course. At times you can imagine you’re playing golf on a links course and at other times (especially when the sun is shining) you can imagine being holed up in Florida.
The heroic nature of the architecture makes it great for matchplay, like the Ryder Cup. The upside when it comes to stroke play is the crucible the players are put under coming down the stretch with history on the line.
Of interest, the International Golf Federation is the governing body for the sport at the Olympics. The IGF use the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) to determine eligibility and with the ongoing LIV vs PGA Tour saga. Because of the current riff in professional golf, many will cry foul with the majority of LIV golfers not qualifying due to not being awarded OWGR points.
In the end, history will only remember the gold medalist. Who wasn't there won't be written about and there will be no asterisk besides anyone's name.
In May 2011 it was announced that France was chosen as the host country for the 2018 Ryder Cup ahead of other bids from Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands.
Ross McMurray from European Golf Design was brought in to supervise changes to the course ahead of the Ryder Cup event and his main objective was the reworking of the greens on the 1st and 16th holes, the re-bunkering of the 4th and 5th holes (including the removal of the waste area between those holes) and the installation of a pond at the 11th hole, in front of the green.
New drainage and irrigation systems were introduced ahead of the 2016 Open de France, spectator mounding has been modified and roads and car parks have been resurfaced as part of the infrastructure improvements.
The Albatros course served as a thrilling Ryder Cup stage where Francesco Molinari beat Phil Mickelson securing the winning point as Europe regained the Cup in convincing style (17½ 10½). Sergio Garcia's singles win over Rickie Fowler took the Spaniard to 25½ points, surpassing Nick Faldo to become Europe’s record Ryder Cup points scorer.
The 18-hole L'Aigle (Eagle) and 9-hole L'Oiselet (Birdie) complement the championship Albatros course at the 45-hole Golf National.
The Open de France, which dates back to 1906, is mainland Europe’s oldest top-flight professional tournament and in 1991 the first French Open was played on the Albatros course. Argentina’s Eduardo Romero won the 1991 title and the event has remained at the National Club ever since, except for 1999 and 2001, when it was played at Golf du Médoc and Lyon respectively.
The 2008 French Open was a remarkable event. Spanish rookie Pablo Larrazabal – who progressed through qualification to play in the event – won the tournament, his first PGA European Tour title. The 25-year-old closed with a final round of 67, which included seven birdies, to finish 15-under par, four shots clear of Colin Montgomerie who finished in second place.
2023 - Ryo Hisatsune
2022 - Guido Migliori
2019 - Nicolas Colsaerts
2018 - Alex Noren
2017 - Tommy Fleetwood
2016 - Thongchai Jaidee
2015 - Bernd Wiesberger
2014 - Graeme McDowell
2013 - Graeme McDowell
2012 - Marcel Siem
2011 - Thomas Levet
2010 - Miguel Ángel Jiménez
2009 - Martin Kaymer
2008 - Pablo Larrazábal
2007 - Graeme Storm
2006 - John Bickerton
2005 - Jean-François Remésy
2004 - Jean-François Remésy
2003 - Philip Golding
2002 - Malcolm MacKenzie
2000 - Colin Montgomerie
1998 - Sam Torrance
1997 - Retief Goosen
1996 - Robert Allenby
1995 - Paul Broadhurst
1994 - Mark Roe
1993 - Costantino Rocca
1992 - Miguel Ángel Martín
1991 - Eduardo Romero
Four holes to watch at Le Golf National - 42nd Ryder Cup
Behind the architectural curtain - 42nd Ryder Cup - Le Golf National
Overall rating
4.5
Overall rating
4.5
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