NetJets: Old Meets New in The Loire

The new golf course at Les Bordes is one of France’s most anticipated openings—and it’s just the beginning of development on the storied estate.

WHEN IT COMES to naming Continental Europe’s golfing lotuslands—those instantly recognizable courses steeped in legend and lore—most 36-a-day types can only manage but a handful. They’ll name resort courses (they’ve either played or have seen played) in Spain and Portugal, while giving France a pass altogether. What they won’t know, however, is that four of the top ten courses in the continent’s top 100 are of a Gallic variety. Among these standouts is the Old Course at Les Bordes: A gated 1,300-acre hunting estate in the Loire Valley where, under diktat from the erstwhile owner, Baron Marcel Bich (of Bic Biro fame), Texas-based architect Robert von Hagge created his chef-d’oeuvre in 1986, by turning a tract on this secluded and wooded domain just 90 minutes from Paris in what is colloquially known as the Garden of France, into a championship opus that is roundly considered in the highest echelons of the global golfing firmament—on par, in some eyes, with Augusta National. With its watery panorama of lakes, ponds, and streams, which come into play on no fewer than a dozen holes, all framed by ancient oak forest, this 7,044-yard Bonsai-perfect track would be enough of a draw for most. However, the current owners of this vast estate decided that the original 18-hole course needed a sibling, and so they drafted in globally acclaimed American architect Gil Hanse, who has fashioned a stunner of a New Course, which has just debuted as his first on the continent and has already entered Golf.com’s Top 100. Whereas von Hagge’s work is a memorable manicured mélange of photographable peninsula and island greens delimited with railroad ties and framed by shallow basin bunkers that put the emphasis on target golf, the New Course is a fast and firm transplanted tableau that recalls the heathland tracks of southern England or, in Hanse’s own words, the likes of Pine Valley, very near to his East Coast home.

Built on a sandy foundation with large waste areas, the 7,285-yard walking-only inland links layout has subtle elevational changes with raised undulating greens with false backs which are large and sometimes unreceptive to approach shots, and menacing clusters and rows of cross-bunkering that are disconcertingly deceptive and visually arresting – all of it framed by vegetation such as broom, heather, and gorse that was grown and harvested in the U.K. There are plenty of risk-reward options and, with the exception of one hole, the 18th, not a drop of water to challenge. Yet because the course has been designed to be played predominantly on the ground in true links fashion, there are endless swales, humps, and bumps and rollercoaster green complexes framed by fescue and deep cavernous bunkers that provide ample defense on approaches. For something more sedate, Hanse has also designed a 10-hole short course called the Wild Piglet. Ranging in distance from 57 to 148 yards, this collection of par-3 holes is just as well-presented as the other 36 on site that it is no wonder Golf.com immediately placed it in its top-25 par-3 courses in the world. And while golf is clearly the hero element here (did we mention there are two absolutely enormous putting greens and a world-class driving range?), it is complemented by a myriad of other sporting opportunities amid the natural splendor of the ancient Sologne forest, a Unesco World Heritage site. There are lakes for fishing; an equestrian center for riding; a petite white sand beach ringing a lake for swimming; as well as archery and tennis.

The entire Estate is anchored by a handsome clubhouse, renovated and redesigned by London-based architect Michaelis Boyd. It features a bar and lounge, a restaurant serving up regional specialties and superb wines (as one would expect), and a private lounge and games room, including a golf simulator, not to mention two atmospheric wood-burning hearths. The same designers also imbued the collection of rustic cottages, with their antiqued tiled bathrooms and double-height exposed timber A-frames overlooking the 18th green of the Old Course, with enough élan to make them time-appropriate. These additions and tweaks, however, are just the starting point for the ambitious next phase the owners have in store for the property. This includes plans to sensitively add a variety of residential homes to parcels set away from the courses in order to maintain their original grandeur and to transform an on-site 19th-century château into a hostelry operated by Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, part of a new village square with restaurants, shops, a farmer’s market, and outdoor amphitheater centered on the estate’s 13th-century priory. When they are unveiled in 2024, you can be sure Les Bordes will become instantly synonymous with greatness. After all, it already is.