Chateau de la Chouette is situated about 50 minutes drive from central Paris on the northwest side.
Your first impression when you see the course from the approach road is that it is very hilly. And let me confirm that the last (and maybe only) impression you'll have of the place is that it is damned hilly!
We arrived early (10:00am) hoping to get some breakfast. The kitchen wasn't open but the girl at the "reception desk" offered us a sandwich or a croque monsieur. I opted for the croque - big mistake. It was a frozen croque that they managed to burn. And it was as dry as sand. Not a good start.
The "reception desk" is literally that. A desk in one of the chateau's rooms. There's no golf shop as such.
The course started well with a lovely downhill hole. After your drive you are left with a difficult second shot over a stream just in front of the green. Nice start.
After that the memory starts to get fuzzy as a procession of holes come and go, quite a few of them involving water. For the front nine at least the holes are mainly played at the bottom end of the slope.
The 3rd hole was an exception. A climb up the slope from the 2nd green led to a great Par 3. The tee box is high above the shallow green with water in front and a bunker at the back. Nice hole.
Things start to unravel though at the 9th. This is a 370yd par 4 up quite a steep hill. In fact the last half of the hole up to the green really has you puffing.
From then on you really would need to be a mountain goat to enjoy this course. It is just a succession of steep climbs up and down with the lowlight coming between the 10th green and the 11th tee.
I don't think I have ever climbed such a steep hill on a golf course before. I measured the distance on Google Earth and it is about 150 yards from the green to the tee up a ridiculous slope.
This is not my idea of fun. All four of us had to stop more than once on the way up and we were all panting like mad. It was so bad that I could feel the lactic acid in my legs taking over! And none of us was fit to tee off for a good few minutes. Mad.
The back nine works its way up to the highest point of the course and then all the way back down to the lowest point of the course.
In fact the 18th is just as bad as the 9th as you have to work you way up from the bottom part of the course up another steep climb to the green. And then, just to rub it in a bit more, you have another climb to the club house.
Needless to say we were all knackered at the end of the round. I just could not imagine being a member at this club. It would either kill me first or I would go mad from climbing those damned hills.
So in summary - I will not be playing here again. There are far better courses around Paris more deserving of your time and money. If you decide to ignore this advice then bring plenty of crampons with you.
Your first impression when you see the course from the approach road is that it is very hilly. And let me confirm that the last (and maybe only) impression you'll have of the place is that it is damned hilly!
We arrived early (10:00am) hoping to get some breakfast. The kitchen wasn't open but the girl at the "reception desk" offered us a sandwich or a croque monsieur. I opted for the croque - big mistake. It was a frozen croque that they managed to burn. And it was as dry as sand. Not a good start.
The "reception desk" is literally that. A desk in one of the chateau's rooms. There's no golf shop as such.
The course started well with a lovely downhill hole. After your drive you are left with a difficult second shot over a stream just in front of the green. Nice start.
After that the memory starts to get fuzzy as a procession of holes come and go, quite a few of them involving water. For the front nine at least the holes are mainly played at the bottom end of the slope.
The 3rd hole was an exception. A climb up the slope from the 2nd green led to a great Par 3. The tee box is high above the shallow green with water in front and a bunker at the back. Nice hole.
Things start to unravel though at the 9th. This is a 370yd par 4 up quite a steep hill. In fact the last half of the hole up to the green really has you puffing.
From then on you really would need to be a mountain goat to enjoy this course. It is just a succession of steep climbs up and down with the lowlight coming between the 10th green and the 11th tee.
I don't think I have ever climbed such a steep hill on a golf course before. I measured the distance on Google Earth and it is about 150 yards from the green to the tee up a ridiculous slope.
This is not my idea of fun. All four of us had to stop more than once on the way up and we were all panting like mad. It was so bad that I could feel the lactic acid in my legs taking over! And none of us was fit to tee off for a good few minutes. Mad.
The back nine works its way up to the highest point of the course and then all the way back down to the lowest point of the course.
In fact the 18th is just as bad as the 9th as you have to work you way up from the bottom part of the course up another steep climb to the green. And then, just to rub it in a bit more, you have another climb to the club house.
Needless to say we were all knackered at the end of the round. I just could not imagine being a member at this club. It would either kill me first or I would go mad from climbing those damned hills.
So in summary - I will not be playing here again. There are far better courses around Paris more deserving of your time and money. If you decide to ignore this advice then bring plenty of crampons with you.
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