136: Trip to France...4 days outside of Paris...and ISAGS in Bordeaux

136: Trip to France...4 days outside of Paris...and ISAGS in Bordeaux

Early this summer we signed up for a ISAGS event in Bordeaux, France (see start of Post #69 for brief explanation of ISAGS).  Our original plan was to go to Paris for four days, then take the train to Bordeaux and the ISAGS event for seven days, then fly to Geneva for a day and drive to Como, Italy for about 4 days.  However, we later has to cut the trip down to 12 days...just the portions in France, departing Boston 8/26 and returning 9/7.  As I write this, we are on a train from Paris to Bordeaux on 8/31.

Our flight over to commence this trip was fairly uneventful.  We flew Boston--> Dublin-->Paris via Aer Lingus as these business class seats (full lie flat) were something like 35% the costs of flying nonstop to Paris (yes...65% less).  And on top of that our stewardess was very pretty (Pat said so...I of course hardly noticed).

We stayed for the first five days in the Paris suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which is about 17 miles west of the center of Paris.  We picked this location because we wanted to avoid the hassle of getting around Paris and the hotel was about a mile from one of the golf courses we were playing.  The hotel is a member of Relais & Chateaux...which made its price of about $150/night look extremely reasonable.  Having stayed there 4 nights I will just say I think Relais & Chateaux has taken an axe to its auditing budget...but net net, it was fine and a very good deal for anyplace near Paris.

Golf de Saint Germain, August 28, 2019: Tuesday was a day to get somewhat caught up on time zone change and travel.  Then Wednesday afternoon we played Golf de Saint Germain.  The club was founded in 1902 with a 9 hole course (surrounded by a paddock with gazing sheep) in Hermitage.  At the time membership count was 30 and annual dues 60 francs...both have risen mildly since then.  By 1920 the member count was up to 150 and an 18 hole course was built in the Forest at St Germain on a generous plot of 128 acres.  Mr Harry Colt (Sunningdale-New from scratch; Sunningdale-Old major redo; Muirfield-re do; St. George's Hill; both at Wentworth...before the West was just about ruined; Swinley Forest; Rye; Pine Valley with George Crump and re-do's at Royal Portrush and Royal Liverpool...to name just a few), who is considered by many to be the greatest golf architect in history was brought in to do the new course.

The Club has hosted the French Open nine times and amongst the champions here have been Sandy Lyle in 1981 and Seve Ballesteros in 1985.  Today it plays a relatively short but very very good 6705 yards (par 72).  Course has never been included on a World 100.

Pat hit is well and enjoyed the course.  I started off sinking a 12 footer for par on #1, and that was my last putt made longer than 4 feet!  I missed 8 putts of under 15' from holes 8 thru 18  and double bogeyed perhaps the easiest par 4 on the course after getting an awful lie on my tee shot (4 yards right of the fairway)...and ended the day with a 77...three strokes over my secret age.  Really really hit it well (except for the above bitched about drive on 16).  One of these days, maybe??

Best holes IMO are par 3 #5, par 4 #10, and par 4 #14, and par 4 #18.  No weak holes but would be nice if they could trim back the tree lines...but I should be careful about emailing this from France where the tree huggers might get out a posse for me.

Went back to our hotel and cried in my sparkling water...but made a point that I would stop talking about how close I came within the next 4 months.  Want to make sure I don't harp on it.

Golf de Fontainebleau, August 29, 2019:  We had a 55 mile drive south this morning so were on the road around 8:30 for a tee off time of 11:00...one never knows with Paris traffic (more later).  The drive south was pretty easy and we arrived at the club around 10:10am.

Founded in 1909, the club moved to its present location in 1920, and had their course designed by Tom Simpson (Morfontaine GC and Chantilly GC, just north of Paris; New Zealand GC, in Surrey SW of London; County Louth GC, north of Dublin, Ireland) and then renovated and lengthened in 1963 by Fred Hawtree.

This club is magnificent to behold.  No, it is not Cypress Point...but there is a simple beauty to the place...not influenced by a large body of water or mountains nearby...that is most captivating.  The clubhouse, with its Norman style architecture is absolutely charming and the view from the dining room down the first hole is stunning...even better than the French food!

From Dining Room down first fairway.  Name a better view!

The course in many ways seemed to have a "feel" very similar to Morfontaine Golf Club.  In particular I noticed the very fine sand particles along the walking paths as well as the majesty of the trees.  Behind the 1st and 12th greens stands a very large hill, and leading up to the top of that hill the ground was covered with large boulders and rock outcroppings...and this hill reminded me (and Pat as well) of the hill at the end of the driving range at California Golf Club of San Francisco.

Fontainebleau's 1st green and hill behind green (from front of green)

The club's logo, shown below, reminded both of us of Monterrey Peninsula CC's new (adopted in last 10 years or so) logo (also below).

Golf de Fontainebleau Logo

Monterrey Peninsula Country Club Logo

I would expect this issue to have potential for a lucrative intellectual property lawsuit 😆.

Finally, in the men's locker room were three large steam radiators sitting in the middle of the floor to warm the room on cold days...very reminiscent of the radiators in Brookline's locker room.  But Pat had no comment about things looking the same in these two men's locker rooms

OK...enough of this stuff, on to the golf course.  The course is superb.  While it has never been on a World Top 100, top100golfcourses.com rates it #6 in Continental Europe...and I heartily agree.  It was challenging and great fun.  Tipping out at 6784 yards (par 72), it is a bit short for the modern hitter with today's equipment, but who cares.  For almost all players today...this place is plenty long enough.  Best holes are #1 (see above and below), #2, #3 (see below), #12, and #15 (despite criticism

Fitst golf from the tee

Third hole...par 5 of 527 yards from atop of hill behind #1

from some about a blind second shot).  I had a solid 41 - 40 = 81 and wanted to play it again, but time would not allow.  The greens had been punched just 4 days earlier so they were inconsistent and slow (always happens after punching which its absolutely necessary punching0.   Would love to play it again with normal greens...but very special this day even with the recent punching.

One negative event occurred while playing Fontainbleau...for which I take 110% of the blame.  I place a golf ball in my back pocket which happened to also hold my iPhone...and then sat down.  The results were most predictable expect to moi.  Cracked iPhone face and a need to replace the phone.

After a very good lunch and a brief talk with the Secretary, it was time for what would be a long 55 mile drive back to St Germain.  What would normally be a drive of about 1:15 stretched out to about 2:45 as we got stuck in rush hour...Paris style.  A true nightmare.  Think we moved about 0.5 miles in about 40 minutes...but finally made it back to our hotel.  Not fun, but did not erase the wonderful memories of our day at Fontainebleau.

Friday was a day of rest during the day...and then it was back into Paris (braving the rush hour again but this time pretty easy drives both ways) for dinner with an old friend from high school and his bride of some 53 years...Barry and Bobbi C., who were coincidentally in Paris for a medical conference.  Wonderful to catch up and a special capstone to this portion of the trip.

Visit to Bordeaux Region:  We then headed to a six day event in Bordeaux.  I shall format this portion of this post differently from prior posts.  The sub-sections will be:

-Travel to and from Bordeaux, and social events at ISAGS gathering
-Golf tournament and golf courses (two courses, Chateaux and Vigueres at Golf du Medoc)
-Golf round at Tom Doak's Grand St Emillionais Golf Club

Travel to/from Bordeaux and Social Events at ISAGS: Saturday morning we caught a train ride to Bordeaux and the ISAGS event.  Fortunately we left early for the train station...trains stations are generally not designed for folks with a lot of luggage (including two golf bags)...no push carts, etc. etc., but we got on the train which went smoothly.  That evening we enjoyed a fabulous dinner with several ISAGS folks in the city of Bordeaux, which is totally charming ("Paris without the Parisians" 😀😀).  When we arrived at the main Square in Bordeaux, I found an Apple Store right there, just 300 yards from where we were having dinner.  Before dinner, I made one of history's fastest purchases of an iPhone, and was only 10 minutes late!  The old phone was getting on in years anyhow...wonder what it is saying about me??

On Sunday night, ISAGS always has its Opening Dinner.  For this event it was held at Chateau du Tertre.  As always the dinner is proceeded by a cocktail party and a flag ceremony with representatives of each of the countries present marching in with their country's flags...this year including Bermuda, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, UK, and USA.  After the wonderful dinner, we were entertained by a performance by a "Beatles" group playing songs mostly from the sixties.  I loved it and was of course at my best when I helped them perform the Beatle's rendition of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode".  Ahhh...like IFC Weekend in April 1965 and April 1966 with Chuck Berry at MIT's Armory!

Paul (aka Chuck Berry) helping out with Johnny B. Goode

Golf du Medoc, September 1/2/4/5, 2019:  Golf du Medoc has 36 holes.  The first course, Chateaux (Chateau), was designed by Bill Coore (who of course later partnered with Ben Crenshaw).  This was Coore's third solo design, and Rod Whitman of Canada guided the construction part of the effort.  Earlier in their careers Bill and Rod had met each other while working under the tutelage of Pete Dye.  The second course, Vignes (Vines), was designed by Ron Whitman and opened in 1991.

Both courses sit on very flat land but with enough movement to make them very interesting.  They have a very similar feel...not surprising given Whitman's efforts on both.  Located some 25 miles east of the Atlantic Ocean in the Bordeaux region of France, they capture some of the feeling of seaside, heathland, and parkland settings, with this area's very sandy soil and exposure to seaside winds from the Atlantic.  The architecture of both courses is similar...wide fairways, most greens open to running approach shots, strategically placed bunkering and sculpturing of fairways, relatively large greens with very difficult slopes and breaks to read, and options available on most shots.  The big wide fairways seem to make things look easy..but if you approach the greens from the wrong angle you shall pay the appropriate price...and if you want the easy angle for your second shot, your drive will most likely have to flirt with trouble.

Totaling 7189 yards (par 71) Chateau is a very good test and great fun to play...requiring real thought before attempts to execute shots.    Best holes IMO include the split fairway par 4 #1 , the short dogleg left par 4 #11, the short par 3 (with shallow green depth on the right side) #12, the par 5 14th, and the long par 4 16th (which ate my lunch).  The French Women's Open is being contested on Chateau starting 9/19.

Vines plays to 6821 yards (par 71 also).  I think its best holes are #4, #5, #15, and #16.  It has very similar characteristics as Chateau, but I think Chateau is more subtle, and interesting and better risk/reward features....but both are very good.

I was surprised at how soft and wet the course's fairways were being kept.  It has the potential to be very "linksy" in feel, but that is not possible with soft, forgiving fairways and greens.

Our schedule included a practice round on Sunday 9/1, followed by tournament rounds Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (Pat's event was three rounds ending Thursday).  Wednesdays are a day off from tournament play.  We are playing a Stableford competition (non-golfers...do not ask...just know that contrary to "normal" golf scoring a higher score is better than a lower).

Pat won the whole "kit and kaboodle" of the women's Net competition by a whopping 14 points.  She captured 43 points Thursday...basically playing some 7 strokes better than her handicap indicates.  Really great playing and wonderful to see.  Here she is accepting the winners trophy (along with Suzanne Bonafede, the winner of the women's gross competition Friday night).

Women's winners at ISAGS event...Suzanne Bonafede and Pat

I finished in the middle of the pack, clearly peaking in Paris a week too early.  As you can see below, my Tuesday round was simply awful.

Sunday 9/1      Chateau      80 (Practice Round)
Monday 9/2     Vines          81
Tuesday 9/3     Chateau      88
Thursday 9/5   Vines          82
Friday 9/6        Chateau      84

The good news is that the trophy gets shipped to us...so no need to get it through customs.  Now about the expanded trophy case required for Pat's haul...

Grand Saint Emilionnais Golf Club, September 4, 2019:  Wiser members of ISAGS take Wednesdays off from golf during these tournament events, but less wise moi generally travels to nearby courses on these days.  Wednesday this week I went (with one of the guys running the event) to play Tom Doak's new (opened 2015) course some 40 miles easy of Medoc, St. Emilionnais GC.  This course is owned by a very prominent golf family in France and the project is in early stages of development.  The land itself is very special...reasonably hilly, and from what I could tell very healthy soil conditions.  A narrow creek runs through the property and affects play on a good number of holes, and the slopes of the land create interesting choices off the tees...on many holes the safe drive puts you in a spot where the second shot is totally blind, while the risky drive (flirting with the creek, a bunker, our trees) if pulled off yields a clear view and much easier approach shot ...strategic design at its best.  From the tips it plays a relatively short 6765 yards (par 72)...but more than enough for us mortals

Readers will recall my description of the 4th green at Huntercombe (Post # 131)...the par 3 third hole and par 4 17th have greens that are excellent adaptations of this Huntercombe gem.  I had a decent 43 + 40 = 83.  The course is tough playing the first time (like all minimalist firm/fast courses) as one must learn the subtleties of the ground.  Also the green had recently been punched and sanded (regular and necessary routine maintenance practices) making putting surfaces inconsistent difficult (temporarily).  Overall I loved the course and would highly recommend it.

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Great trip...even with the mess dealing with 2 golf bags, two large suitcases and two roll ons through train stations Saturday morning 9/7.  Came close to falling down an escalator at Charles de Gaulle airport's train station (long line for elevator and we had a tight connection), but in the end it all worked out.  Now about flight from Dublin to Boston...so on our way back!