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Sainte-Marguerite/Pornichet Golf Club, Loire Atlantique (44). (1895 – WW2)
Pornichet might be considered as the first club of La Baule.
The following is from the Golfing Annual 1896/97.
Sainte-Marguerite Golf Club Founded 1895.
“The links are the freehold property of three of the Life Members, who lease them to the club at a nominal rental. The course, of nine holes, with ample space for extension to eighteen if desired later on, is just a five minute walk from the Hotel de la Plage, which commands an admirable view, one of the finest in France.
The putting greens have been entirely remade at considerable effort for the coming season, and a clubhouse has been erected. Sainte-Marguerite is particularly suited for golfers in the early season by reason of the mildness of its climate and pine trees exhalations. An additional recommendation is the extraordinary moderateness of the charges before the French bathing season begins (August to September).
The Hotel de la Plage is managed on English lines by a Swiss couple; English and German spoken. Sanitation excellent, hot baths, and dark room for photography in the establishment. Fine sandy beach, perfect bathing at all hours of the tide. Pension rates, July till October, from eight francs per day; October till July, special terms on application to Managers.
Pension terms include bedroom, lighting, attendance, breakfast, luncheon, dinner with good wine, cider or milk. First-class attendance, remarkably good cooking. Gymnasium, croquet, and cement tennis court on the hotel premises. Excursions to all parts of Brittany, and to the historical “Chateaux de la Loire.” Good bicycle roads. A delegate of the Touring Club de France resides at Sainte-Marguerite six months of the year, and is a Life Member of the Golf Club.”
The Sainte-Marguerite Golf Club appears in the 1910 Nisbet’s Golf Yearbook with a foundation date of 1895.
It appeared in about 1910 with the course facing the ocean. The nine-holes measured about 1,610 yards. Nevertheless it was considered a tricky course with hazards of ponds, barriers, hedges, pine woods and bunkers. The longest hole of 284 yards was the eighth, it was also considered to be the most difficult.
Entry from the 1910 Nisbet’s Golf Guide.
Layout of the nine-hole Sainte-Marguerite golf course.
The club had less than 50 members prior to WW1. The club was still active between the two wars.
The current Golf Club de La Baule was created in 1926 at Le Pouliguen.
The Google Map below shows the location of the former Sainte-Marguerite golf course.