Sablé-Solesmes (Forêt & Rivière)

Overview: The Forêt-Rivière combination at Sablé-Solesmes uses two contrasting landscapes in one 18-hole round. Woodland holes provide defined corridors and positional decisions, while the Rivière side brings water and the Sarthe landscape more directly into play. The property is inland and gently varied rather than mountainous, but the combination of trees, out-of-bounds lines, water and subtly shaped greens produces a course where the quality of the second shot matters throughout.

History: Michel Gayon is identified as the architect of the Sablé-Solesmes layouts. The facility is generally dated to the early 1990s, with current course references placing the 27-hole complex in play from 1992. This profile concerns the Forêt-Rivière 18-hole combination, not the separate nine-hole loops. Its identity has always depended on combining two different nines, allowing the club to offer a varied round within the Domaine de l’Outinière.

Did You Know? The current federation scorecard lists Forêt-Rivière as par 72 and 6,115 metres from the white tees, approximately 6,698 yards. The scorecard shows three par fives on each side and a par-three 12th, where the water-oriented character of the Rivière section becomes particularly clear.