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Mont Revard Golf Club, Savoie (73.)(1895 - 1899/1935 - WW2)
The club first appeared in 1895 and continued until 1899 when it went into abeyance. It was revived in 1935 but did not survive WW2.
Hans Medvejsek, an avid golf collector and historian from Bavaria, has informed us of a defunct golf course in France that was only in existence for a few seasons. It is through the information contained in the centenary book of Golf Club Aix-les-Bains Histoire du Golf à Aix-Le-Bains which mentions a golf course “en Altitude” at Mont Revard.
Aix-le-Bains locally called Aix, is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is located 100 km east of Lyon and 80 km south of Genève (Switzerland). Mont Revard (1,562 m (5,125 ft.)) is a mountain in the Bauges Massif just few kilometres east of Aix-les-Bains in Savoie, France. In winter, Le Revard is known more as a ski-resort.
It was in the 1890s that the idea was put forward to lay out a golf course for the clients of the Grand Hôtel at Mont Revard.
On August 27th 1899, Mildred Aldrich reports in The New York Times reports, that “On a rolling plateau, which seems as if made for golf, there is no golf link. There was one laid out with infinite care five years ago and for two seasons the proprietor of the hotel employed a man to keep it in order and act as a “caddy”, but in that time only three persons ever played, and they played with no enthusiasm. I saw Miss Frances Griscom of Philadelphia, Miss Edith Hyde of New York, and Julia Marlowe knocking golf balls up the hill with considerable enthusiasm yesterday, but that is all the golf I have seen in the vicinity of Aix, which also has its disused golf field.
Dr. R.H. Wylie of New York, who came here ten days ago with Amos Eno of Fifth Avenue, is one of the few who seems to hanker after golf. Indeed, he came because he had heard this was a golf field, only to find that no one played. Just now Mont Revard seems almost given over to Americans and English.”
It was in 1935, two years after the implementation of two new tennis courts in front of the Grand Hôtel du Revard, that construction started for a golf course in order to provide more solid arguments for tourism. Louis Ghintran, golf director at Lyon, who also laid out that course, constructed a 9-hole course.
On July 13th 1935, just one week before another mountain golf course was opened at Chamonix, the golf course at Revard was opened playing over 1.800 metres. The course was situated in the slope between the cable car station (cable car line opened the same year) and the lower part of the resort. Louis Ferry (president), Christian Lefebvre (golf professional) and the owner of the Hotel du Mont-Revard pooled their recourses and were able to attract some well-known golfers to play on the opening day. Audrey Boomer travelled to Mont Revard from Paris, and Auguste Boyer, Francis Cavalo, Marcel Dallemagne and Emile Severan also made the trip.
With the cable car opening in 1935 it was easy to reach Mont-Revard and even play in golf competitions at the Golf d’Aix on weekends.
From the 1936 Continental Golf Guide Guide Plumon.
Club and Course Information 1930s.
Views of the Mont Revard golf course from the 1930s.
There are entries for the Mont Revard golf course in the Golfer’s Handbooks 1937 to 1939 giving no other information than “9 holes, Pro Christian Lefebvre.”
There was no entry in the 1947 Handbook or the ensuing years so it may be assumed that the course closed at the time of WW2.
Christoph Meister, April 2018.
Advertising for the Mont Revard Club from the 1930s