Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche (Bleu)

Overview: The Blue Course at Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche is an 18-hole parkland course west of Paris, set between the Forest of Marly and the plain of Versailles. Fred Hawtree designed the course with landscape architect Russell Page, whose planting helped turn the former agricultural setting into an elegant, tree-framed golf environment. The Blue is a technical and precise routing, with narrower corridors, carefully placed bunkers and greens that reward controlled iron play. Its 6,720-yard, par-72 profile gives the course enough length for championship golf while preserving the intimate, cultivated character that distinguishes it from a wide-open links.

History: The project began when Daniel Féau acquired an eighteenth-century farm and its surrounding land in 1954. The golf idea was presented to the town council in 1957, and the course opened in 1959 as part of a 36-hole complex. Hawtree created the Blue and Red courses, with the Blue opening first and the Red following as the second routing. The club house occupies restored farm buildings linked to the former royal estate of Versailles, giving the golf facility a strong architectural and historical setting beyond the fairways.

Did You Know? Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche hosted the 1963 Canada Cup, the event now known as the World Cup, with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus among the stars in the field. The Blue Course also staged the 1965 and 1969 Open de France, and the club's Trophée Lancôme ran here from 1970 to 2003. A private parkland course near Paris became one of France's most important international golf stages.