Le Golf National Golf Club

Le Golf National’s L’Albatros went down as one of the best-ever Ryder Cup courses after playing host to Europe’s 2018 victory. While it may never win any beauty contests, it is almost without peer as a pure test of golf.

When it comes to selecting a venue for a Ryder Cup, the quality of the golf course is actually one of the least important factors in the overall selection criteria. In the modern, big business era of the biennial contest, logistical and economic factors weigh far more heavily on the minds of the organisers than the question of whether the golf course itself is worthy of hosting such a prestigious event.

It is unlikely any golf course or host city could fulfil every single one of the Ryder Cup’s demanding selection criteria, but Le Golf National in Paris comes as close as any.

Located close enough to Versailles to warrant its iconic European city status, this resort certainly scores heavily on infrastructure but it excels in the one category that golfers care about most – the quality of its flagship L’Albatros course, which has hosted the French Open almost every year since its 1991 opening.

RELATED: The Best Golf Course in France

If your preconception of Le Golf National is that it is your typical elite, chic and stand-offish Parisian private members club, you couldn’t be further from the truth. It is actually a bustling pay-and-play course. Although it is described as an inland links-type layout, don’t let the mildly inaccurate description deter you. To the untrained eye, the 18 holes could just as easily have been carved out of a gently undulating hunting estate or the rolling grounds of a majestic chateau. It is as far removed from a bland, featureless meadow as is possible.

L’Albatros is a fantastic test of golf that challenges all of your technical and strategic abilities from the moment you step onto the first tee. Some golf courses like to ‘ease’ you into a round and give you the chance to loosen up and get your bearings before presenting you with its toughest questions, but L’Albatros is not one of them.

The course sets out its stall immediately with a semi-blind drive around or over a corner of dunes. With water lurking beyond the fairway, club selection is as critical as shot shape. Will a well-struck fairway wood reach the water at the apex of the slight left-to-right dog-leg? Possibly. Is a hybrid enough to comfortably fly the dunes? Possibly not. The hole design favours a controlled fade for a right-hander but will also punish a push or a slice with a likely lost ball in thick rough. Overcome that initial obstacle and you still face a mid to long-iron approach over a sizeable lake to a sharply undulating green. 

Next up is a long par 3 over the same stretch of water, followed by a reachable but danger-laden par 5. The opening three holes pretty much set the tone for the entire round. They are certainly not brutal in terms of length, but they are unrelenting in their pursuit of strategic and technical prowess, and their demand for solid ball-striking.

And then there’s the continual presence of water. Biting hungrily into the fairways and greens of no fewer than 10 holes, the lakes create a series of dramatic, climactic do-or-die approaches. Huge spectator mounds create an unprecedented sense of theatre for each hole. Set in their own amphitheatre, the blue/green blur of the final four holes fuses the two elements together. 

The beauty of L’Albatros is the almost infinite number of ways it tests your game while remaining inviting and easy on the eye. It’s risk/reward all the way. Sharp dog-legs, large elevation changes, undulating domed greens, sprawling bunker complexes, marshes and streams guide you through hole-framing, stadium-style dunes to a dramatic closing stretch of do-or-die water holes where the vistas are dominated by blue. They are arguably the most treacherous set of holes outside of Sawgrass. 

In short, Le Golf National’s L’Albatros course fully deserves its lofty 21st place within our list of Golf World Top 100 Golf Resorts: Continental Europe. It’s a bucket list layout every golfer should experience… just take your A-game and plenty of balls. 

Le Golf National’s signature holes: Running the gauntlet

Le Golf National is a challenging course throughout, but it really bares its teeth over the final four holes where it feels like there’s more water than grass and that every shot is filled with peril.

The 15th and 18th in particular, flanking either side of the same stretch of water and with connected island greens overlooked by thousands of fans, is as close to a gladiators’ arena as you get on a golf course. If one suits your natural shot shape, the other won’t.

If you struggle on 15, you’ll dread 18, which is a longer, even tougher version of its sibling. At the Ryder Cup in 2018, shots that were normally a walk in the park for the world’s best golfers – a wedge to the 15th green, perhaps – got the pulses racing as the wind whipped up and changed direction. 

If you can hit a high pressure long-iron shot stiff on 18 you’ll deserve whatever rewards it brings you. And there’s no shortage of water to jump into if you sink a winning putt, too.

READ NEXT: The Best Golf Courses in England

• Course has: Bar
• Course has: Buggy Hire
• Course has: Driving Range
• Course has: Practice Green
• Course has: Pro Shop
• Course has: Restaurant
• Course has: Trolley Hire
• Course has: Dress Code
• Course has: Club Hire
• Course does not have: Handicap