Our selective quest involved a north-south trek through the country. To spice up the road trip, we recruited as our traveling companion Rick Baril, lead architect for the Texas-based design firm of (Robert ) von Hagge, Baril and Smelek. Four of the top five courses in France are the work of the firm, including Les Bordes and Royal Mougins. Rick is the man responsible for the hands-on work on the firm's European designs, speaks passable French, and knows his wines.
Les Bordes
We reconnoitered with Rick in Paris and made our way onto one of the country's fine motorways (what we would call an interstate). Les Bordes lies 90 minutes southwest of Paris, in the Loire Valley near the town of Orleans. The striking Gothic Cathédrale Sainte-Croix overlooks Orleans, a community rich in galleries and historic sites. It was here that Joan of Arc broke a siege by the English in 1429.
A winding country road led through the ancient forest of Sologne to the gated estate of Les Bordes. Deemed unsuitable for agriculture in medieval times, the Sologne was a hunting preserve for royalty, who traveled from the palace at Versailles to their grand "chateaus" along the Loire River.
As the estate's automatic gates glided shut behind us, a twilight magic set in. Ancient oaks and pines shadowed the narrow drive, which ended in a grove of trees next to what appeared to be a hunting lodge, its buildings of wood, stone and stucco mellow in the waning light. Inside the lodge (the heart of the golf club), we warmed ourselves before a great stone fireplace spanning one end of the room. A bar runs the length of the room, facing windows overlooking (we would discover in daylight) a patio, practice green and lake. Deep leather chairs and couches make up a sitting area beneath arching beams recovered from ancient chateaus and secured with hand-driven pegs. Hunting scenes and stags' heads decorate the walls. Heavy doors handmade in the 1800s open into a cozy dining room serving fresh local meats, fish and produce. Our wine of choice from the extensive cellar was a lusty St. Emilon red wine bottled for the club and labeled Chateau Ferand-Baron Bich.
Over dinner Rick recounted the story of how Robert von Hagge got the contract for the Les Bordes course. It started with a call from Baron Marcel Bich informing von Hagge that he and his Japanese business partner, Yoshiaki Sakurai, had chosen him to be their course architect. A first class ticket in von Hagge's name was waiting at the Houston airport. Could he come to Paris at once? Intrigued, von Hagge flew to Paris. The Baron explained that he felt there were few top golfers in France because there were no courses of international caliber. He and Sakurai wished to build such a course. Bich began to sketch a rough layout, using a disposable ballpoint pen. When von Hagge pulled out his Parker pen, the Baron asked that he use one of his instead. It was only then that it dawned on von Hagge that the Baron was the French entrepreneur who parlayed inexpensive pens and razors into the BIC empire. Thus began a long and cordial relationship.
When we stepped from the club's warm interior into the dark chill of an autumn evening, we heard the strident bugling of stags so close that we peered into the darkness, trying to see the big beasts. The mating serenade continued into the night outside our cottage, a cozy room with stone floors, canopied wooden beds and oval-topped wood doors with big cast iron locks. The rusticity was, of course, softened by amenities such as cable TV, electric heat and modern bathrooms with Hermes toiletries.
The next morning we walked to the clubhouse through a shroud of fog, but we could see the aftermath of the stags' evening activities—cloven hoofprints on the practice green. It was here, on this magnificent, rolling green, that I got my first insight into the nature of the man behind the club. Beneath flags of France, Les Bordes, and the countries of guests in residence, stood a statue of a life-sized nude male grasping his forehead (Rodin's 17th-century "Age of Bronze").
When I asked Jim Shirley, the club's resident American advisor, about the sculpture, he said that the Baron felt it captured the agony of the missed three-foot putt. Ah, yes. I understood only too well. An interesting footnote: In 1877, when the original plaster statue was cast in bronze, a fig leaf was added. Baron Bich ordered his copy of the sculpture sans fig leaf.
"With the Baron, it was all about realism and naturalness," Shirley explained.
Very shortly we understood the depth of the Baron's commitment to the natural. The Les Bordes course is devoid of the trappings American golfers expect, such as restrooms, drinking water, ball washers, trash bins, yardage markers and refreshment carts. There are carts, or "buggies," as Europeans call them. About 40 percent of the players ride, for the course is quite spread out, with holes screened by deep forest.
"The 150-yard markers and yardage books are conveniences added after the Baron's death," Rick told us. "He felt you should figure out distances on your own. To preserve quiet on the course, he and Mr. Sakurai bought extra equipment so that all the mowing would be finished before play began. They shared a vision for this place; they were kindred spirits."
From the first tee to the last green we found ourselves in a world of pure and extraordinary golf. Measuring 7,062 yards, the par-72 course carries a slope of 148 (average is 113, maximum is 155). The setting is visually stunning—beautifully groomed fairways bordered by mature oaks and birches, and accented with wild, yellow-flowered genet bushes. The layout is riddled with lakes, so that a dozen holes have carries over water or are bordered by watery hazards. In many instances the fairways are elevated to avoid marshy areas, dropping off into trouble on each side.
The course begins with a lake carry off the back tees and ends with an approach shot over water to a green supported by a four- to six-foot wall of oak timbers. The 18th green is severely tiered, so that a ball putted from the upper level will roll well past a pin in the lower tier and perhaps fall into the water. It is a fitting end to a round demanding sound strategy and a bit of luck.
On the patio after our round, director of golf Mark Vickery told us the story behind the stone cross rising from a waste bunker on the sixth hole. "The cross marks the place where the 17-year-old son of the Duke of Org fell from his horse and died while stag hunting," he said. "There's a date on the back—1864. Descendants of the family still live in the area."
There's no escaping the hunting legacy of this land. The Les Bordes crest is a stag with a cross framed by his antlers. This, explained Jim Shirley, is based on the legend of St. Hubert, whose passion was stag hunting. One Sunday morning the hunter was on the point of killing a magnificent stag when a cross suddenly appeared over its head. He never hunted again, and devoted his life to the church.
Le Bordes is not a resort. The focus here is golf—pure, simple and sublime. But there are plenty of diversions nearby. Le Bordes is just a few miles from the Loire River, an area rich with chateaux, vineyards, cathedrals and small towns such as Beaugency, a charming village with shops, restaurants and historic structures.
My favorite excursion was to Chambord, a royal hunting chateau that is one of the best examples of Renaissance architecture in the Loire Valley. Completed in 1660 by Louis XIV, the castle contains 440 rooms and 13 grand staircases. It's an easy place to get lost, but the view of the gardens and countryside from up in the turrets is lovely. The estate (now government owned) covers more than 13,000 acres, surrounded by a high wall about 20 miles long. Da Vinci visited the chateau during its construction, and the influence he wielded is obvious, especially in the central double spiral staircase, a unique feature.
There are a half dozen golf courses within a few miles of Les Bordes, including the 36-hole Ganay Golf Club, on the estate just outside the gates. Jim Shirley designed the two courses for the Baron as less punishing (and less expensive) alternatives to Les Bordes. Routed through the rolling meadows and wooded copses of the Sologne countryside, both courses are scenic, easy to walk and a delight to play, with enough trouble to keep you on your toes.
Les Bordes
We reconnoitered with Rick in Paris and made our way onto one of the country's fine motorways (what we would call an interstate). Les Bordes lies 90 minutes southwest of Paris, in the Loire Valley near the town of Orleans. The striking Gothic Cathédrale Sainte-Croix overlooks Orleans, a community rich in galleries and historic sites. It was here that Joan of Arc broke a siege by the English in 1429.
A winding country road led through the ancient forest of Sologne to the gated estate of Les Bordes. Deemed unsuitable for agriculture in medieval times, the Sologne was a hunting preserve for royalty, who traveled from the palace at Versailles to their grand "chateaus" along the Loire River.
As the estate's automatic gates glided shut behind us, a twilight magic set in. Ancient oaks and pines shadowed the narrow drive, which ended in a grove of trees next to what appeared to be a hunting lodge, its buildings of wood, stone and stucco mellow in the waning light. Inside the lodge (the heart of the golf club), we warmed ourselves before a great stone fireplace spanning one end of the room. A bar runs the length of the room, facing windows overlooking (we would discover in daylight) a patio, practice green and lake. Deep leather chairs and couches make up a sitting area beneath arching beams recovered from ancient chateaus and secured with hand-driven pegs. Hunting scenes and stags' heads decorate the walls. Heavy doors handmade in the 1800s open into a cozy dining room serving fresh local meats, fish and produce. Our wine of choice from the extensive cellar was a lusty St. Emilon red wine bottled for the club and labeled Chateau Ferand-Baron Bich.
Over dinner Rick recounted the story of how Robert von Hagge got the contract for the Les Bordes course. It started with a call from Baron Marcel Bich informing von Hagge that he and his Japanese business partner, Yoshiaki Sakurai, had chosen him to be their course architect. A first class ticket in von Hagge's name was waiting at the Houston airport. Could he come to Paris at once? Intrigued, von Hagge flew to Paris. The Baron explained that he felt there were few top golfers in France because there were no courses of international caliber. He and Sakurai wished to build such a course. Bich began to sketch a rough layout, using a disposable ballpoint pen. When von Hagge pulled out his Parker pen, the Baron asked that he use one of his instead. It was only then that it dawned on von Hagge that the Baron was the French entrepreneur who parlayed inexpensive pens and razors into the BIC empire. Thus began a long and cordial relationship.
When we stepped from the club's warm interior into the dark chill of an autumn evening, we heard the strident bugling of stags so close that we peered into the darkness, trying to see the big beasts. The mating serenade continued into the night outside our cottage, a cozy room with stone floors, canopied wooden beds and oval-topped wood doors with big cast iron locks. The rusticity was, of course, softened by amenities such as cable TV, electric heat and modern bathrooms with Hermes toiletries.
The next morning we walked to the clubhouse through a shroud of fog, but we could see the aftermath of the stags' evening activities—cloven hoofprints on the practice green. It was here, on this magnificent, rolling green, that I got my first insight into the nature of the man behind the club. Beneath flags of France, Les Bordes, and the countries of guests in residence, stood a statue of a life-sized nude male grasping his forehead (Rodin's 17th-century "Age of Bronze").
When I asked Jim Shirley, the club's resident American advisor, about the sculpture, he said that the Baron felt it captured the agony of the missed three-foot putt. Ah, yes. I understood only too well. An interesting footnote: In 1877, when the original plaster statue was cast in bronze, a fig leaf was added. Baron Bich ordered his copy of the sculpture sans fig leaf.
"With the Baron, it was all about realism and naturalness," Shirley explained.
Very shortly we understood the depth of the Baron's commitment to the natural. The Les Bordes course is devoid of the trappings American golfers expect, such as restrooms, drinking water, ball washers, trash bins, yardage markers and refreshment carts. There are carts, or "buggies," as Europeans call them. About 40 percent of the players ride, for the course is quite spread out, with holes screened by deep forest.
"The 150-yard markers and yardage books are conveniences added after the Baron's death," Rick told us. "He felt you should figure out distances on your own. To preserve quiet on the course, he and Mr. Sakurai bought extra equipment so that all the mowing would be finished before play began. They shared a vision for this place; they were kindred spirits."
From the first tee to the last green we found ourselves in a world of pure and extraordinary golf. Measuring 7,062 yards, the par-72 course carries a slope of 148 (average is 113, maximum is 155). The setting is visually stunning—beautifully groomed fairways bordered by mature oaks and birches, and accented with wild, yellow-flowered genet bushes. The layout is riddled with lakes, so that a dozen holes have carries over water or are bordered by watery hazards. In many instances the fairways are elevated to avoid marshy areas, dropping off into trouble on each side.
The course begins with a lake carry off the back tees and ends with an approach shot over water to a green supported by a four- to six-foot wall of oak timbers. The 18th green is severely tiered, so that a ball putted from the upper level will roll well past a pin in the lower tier and perhaps fall into the water. It is a fitting end to a round demanding sound strategy and a bit of luck.
On the patio after our round, director of golf Mark Vickery told us the story behind the stone cross rising from a waste bunker on the sixth hole. "The cross marks the place where the 17-year-old son of the Duke of Org fell from his horse and died while stag hunting," he said. "There's a date on the back—1864. Descendants of the family still live in the area."
There's no escaping the hunting legacy of this land. The Les Bordes crest is a stag with a cross framed by his antlers. This, explained Jim Shirley, is based on the legend of St. Hubert, whose passion was stag hunting. One Sunday morning the hunter was on the point of killing a magnificent stag when a cross suddenly appeared over its head. He never hunted again, and devoted his life to the church.
Le Bordes is not a resort. The focus here is golf—pure, simple and sublime. But there are plenty of diversions nearby. Le Bordes is just a few miles from the Loire River, an area rich with chateaux, vineyards, cathedrals and small towns such as Beaugency, a charming village with shops, restaurants and historic structures.
My favorite excursion was to Chambord, a royal hunting chateau that is one of the best examples of Renaissance architecture in the Loire Valley. Completed in 1660 by Louis XIV, the castle contains 440 rooms and 13 grand staircases. It's an easy place to get lost, but the view of the gardens and countryside from up in the turrets is lovely. The estate (now government owned) covers more than 13,000 acres, surrounded by a high wall about 20 miles long. Da Vinci visited the chateau during its construction, and the influence he wielded is obvious, especially in the central double spiral staircase, a unique feature.
There are a half dozen golf courses within a few miles of Les Bordes, including the 36-hole Ganay Golf Club, on the estate just outside the gates. Jim Shirley designed the two courses for the Baron as less punishing (and less expensive) alternatives to Les Bordes. Routed through the rolling meadows and wooded copses of the Sologne countryside, both courses are scenic, easy to walk and a delight to play, with enough trouble to keep you on your toes.
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