Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, back to the future…

Long-time host of the famous Lancôme Trophy, the St-Nom-la-Bretèche Golf course is already preparing to host the 2025 French Open, relocated due to the work on the Grand-Paris at the Golf National. A godsend for the new management of the club in place since April 27, 2024, who intend to take advantage of it to further boost an exceptional site.

Lionel VELLA

In almost a year to the day (the 2025 calendar of DP World Tour has not yet been fully finalized), the golf world will have its eyes fixed on Saint-Nom-la-BretècheThe prestigious club located in the Yvelines department, not far from Versailles, will indeed host the FedEx French Open. The Grand-Paris works undertaken around the National Golf has Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines have in fact forced the oldest tournament in continental Europe, born in 1906, to move to this site, one of the most famous and renowned in France, inaugurated in 1959.

Who says Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche necessarily says Lancome Trophy. A tournament created in 1970 by Gaëtan Mourgue d’Alguea member of the St-Nom golf course, which quickly became an essential stop on the European Tour from 1982. Until its last edition in 2003. All the biggest stars of the game have thus at least once set foot on the famous composite course (blue and red lines, works of Fred Hawtree), offering an exceptional spectacle each time. Let us mention here Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jean Garaialde, Severiano Ballesteros, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen or even Sergio Garcia.

A 25-page specification…

In 1963, the World Cup won by the Americans Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. And more recently, in 2022, St-Nom received, jointly with the Golf National, the World Amateur Team Championships (on the red course) won respectively by Italy (in the boys’ category) and Sweden (in the girls’ category). In short, we know how to organize major events with an international dimension here.

” Hosting the French Open is quite a challengehumbly acknowledges Hubert Straussthe president. Discussions with the English DP World Tour are ongoing. The specifications are 25 pages long. You have to tick all the boxes. The places for the media, the locations to ensure the 350 places to be able to have lunch, the hospitality tents, etc. If you want to sell food on the course, it’s possible but they take a percentage. If you want to sell at the pro shop, it costs so much… In fact, it’s very commercial. We don’t receive any rental for the course, unlike the Lancôme where we received an allowance. And then we have to prepare the layout. We’re going to call on our teams with the help of the greenkeepers of the Golf National and the surrounding golf courses. The greenkeeper school will also come and give us a hand. »

An operation that should cost approximately 100,000 euros in St Nom-la-Bretèche. We provide a club, there is no reason why it should cost us more, Hubert Strauss further specifies… Our golf course, which has the silver label for its biodiversity, meets the standards. And it is magnificent! »

At the time of the Lancôme, the composite course brought together the first seven holes of the blue, holes 17 and 18 of the red and the entire outward journey of the red. However, changes could be made for the 2025 French Open, particularly on the 9th and 6th tees. If this is the case, the work here will be covered by the European Tour. But it is clear that some adjustments will be necessary to properly host the event. The club management is preparing for this…

Become a reference in high-level training

” It is true that we also want to improve the practice area, which is a little obsolete.breath Nicolas Bauerthe Treasurer and Captain of the Games. So we’re going to put a net 15 meters further. We’re also reviewing the hitting area, removing the mats and installing a tee line. Also installing some technology with ball radars. Very good players are fond of that but it’s especially interesting for the golf school. »

Building on its recent double at Jean Lignel Trophy at the beginning of September with several great hopes of French golf in his team (Oscar Couilleau, Aaron Van Hauwe…), Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche intends to become a reference in high-level training and enable the emergence of the best, following the example of neighboring clubs such as St Cloud, The Boulie or the PCC…

Victor Dubuisson’s room above the Master cart

History and sporting dynamics have always been part of St-Nom’s DNA. At the age of 15-16, Victor Dubuisson had for example a room above the Master cart, in this 18th century farmhouse, a royal outbuilding of the Château de Versailles. He thus won three Gounouilhou with the Yvelines club. Many pros today on the European Circuits also display their membership in St Nom such as Robin Sciot-Siegrist, Victor Riu, Jean-Philippe Lima, Romain Wattelwhich has the particularity of being a paying member, or even Andoni Etchenique…

” Raising awareness of St Nom, and in particular the sporting performances of our players, is one of our objectives.admits Nicolas Bauer, also captain of the Gounouilhou team for 5 years, a former high-level amateur player who participated in the last Lancôme Trophy in 2003. Creating a player, the son of a member through a golf school, making him grow and making him play at the very highest amateur level, is extremely difficult. On the other hand, recruiting here and there, is not very difficult but it is not our policy. We do not have a budget for… We do not pay the players, they have very little expenses to play. But since St Nom wins, they all want to come to St Nom. The team is super nice. There is an atmosphere that you do not find elsewhere… »

Despite this enthusiasm, St-Nom-la-Bretèche still suffers from an image deficit, or even a slow communication policy in the age of social networks where information flies like lightning.

A major tournament alongside the French Open?

” To do this, we need to relay much more, which has never or practically never been done.notes Nicolas Bauer lucidly. We have a Facebook site, a website but it is very closed for members. We had only one Instagram account, quite institutional, in which there was very little information relayed. We set up a 2nd account called sport.golf.stnom which aims to relay all the sports information of the club and also thank our most loyal partners, those who are closest to our teams, namely Volvo Actena (Car dealership), Social Care Consulting (Provision and Retirement) And Mantra Investment Partners (Investment fund). »

” We have this label of a slightly pretentious clubconcludes Hubert Strauss. But that’s not what we are… Far from it! There’s also perhaps a bit of jealousy. That’s very French. The goal is to maintain our standing, that is to say a private club. (1,000 active members, 1,500 in total with weeklies and children). I think we are already a showcase. What I miss, however, is a Lancôme. I would like to take advantage of this French Open to perpetuate a big tournament at St Nom, the establishment in parallel of a big tournament at the French Open. It has been our dream since the Lancôme stopped. »

Photos: Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche