Pau

Overview: Pau Golf Club 1856 occupies the plain of Billère beside the Gave de Pau, with the Pyrenees visible beyond the fairways. The compact parkland setting combines small greens, water on the return and out-of-bounds lines that make placement important from the first tee. It is a course where history and strategy are inseparable: the land has been played over for generations, yet the current par-69 routing still asks for careful club selection and controlled approaches.

History: The club was founded in 1856 by British residents and military families who leased land near the river. The present course page credits Willie Dunn Senior with the 1856 design, while the club history records the early evolution from nine holes to a 12-hole round in 1860 and a new 18-hole arrangement by 1875. Later changes in 1954, 1956 and 1986 adapted the routing to roads, water and the available land without severing its connection with the original site.

Did You Know? Pau is widely recognized as the first golf course on continental Europe and the fourth club in the world outside Great Britain. The Victorian-style club house also contains a heritage collection, while the river’s saligue wetlands provide habitat for migrating water birds beside the course.