Morfontaine (Vallière)

Overview: Vallière is the nine-hole course at Golf de Morfontaine in Mortefontaine, separate from the club's eighteen-hole Grand Parcours. It is a short heathland routing of par 33 and about 2,600 yards, set on sandy ground with heather, pines and natural changes in level. Because this is the Vallière course, not the Grand Parcours, its appeal comes from the concentration of the holes and the way Tom Simpson used a compact site to create varied angles and green approaches. The course is intimate without being simple. Natural hazards and the contours around the greens do much of the strategic work, while the woodland and heather give the nine holes a strong sense of place. Vallière is best understood as a historic architectural course in its own right rather than as a shortened version of Morfontaine's championship layout.

History: Armand de Gramont first created a small six-hole course near the Vallière château in 1896. After meeting Tom Simpson in England, he received permission to transform an old polo field into a nine-hole golf course. The Vallière course was inaugurated on 15 October 1913, with Simpson responsible for its design. In 1926 the founders began planning the separate eighteen-hole course on the wider Vallière domain; that Grand Parcours was inaugurated on 9 October 1927. The two routings share the Morfontaine setting and club history but are different courses with different hole counts. Vallière's early date, compact scale and relationship with the old polo ground explain why it remains an important part of the estate's architectural story.

Did You Know? Vallière's inauguration in 1913 included a match between James Braid, Jean Gassiat and Arnaud Massy. The event brought two major figures of golf history to the opening of a nine-hole course that is still distinct from Morfontaine's later eighteen-hole layout.