History of Chantilly Golf Club

By the early 20th century, the town of Chantilly was already a major center for horse breeding. Attracted by the emergence of a sport from across the Channel, several stable owners began searching for a place to take up this new, fashionable activity: golf.

At the initiative of Baron Edouard de Rothschild, a group of prominent figures gathered on February 3, 1909, to form the Société anonyme du Golf de Chantilly, which was to operate the facility. As the legatee of the Duke of Aumale, owner of the vast Chantilly Estate, the Institut de France leased a plot of land in the commune of Vineuil-Saint-Firmin, well-suited for the game of golf.

Chaired by Prince Joachim Napoleon Murat, great-grandson of the famous Marshal of the Empire, the newly formed company enlisted the services of one of the greatest champions of his era, ...

the Englishman John Henry Taylor, to design in record time a course immediately recognized as one of the best in France.

After only four years in existence, the Chantilly Golf Club hosted the French Open in 1913. This marked the beginning of a fruitful relationship with the major tournament, a connection that has never wavered since. Attendance was also strong, but just as the club was beginning to reap the benefits, World War I broke out…

This was the first major blow for the club, which saw 34 of its members and employees fall in battle. After the war, English architect Tom Simpson was chosen to renovate the course. Thus, in 1920, certain holes emerged that would make “Vineuil” famous.

In the interwar years, membership surged once again. Consequently, a second course—Le Canal—was created in 1929, though it did not survive World War II…

In reality, after becoming an association, the entire club nearly disappeared: the Vichy regime’s anti-Semitic laws, the Germans stripping the turf, the Allied bombing… the Cantilian golfers were spared nothing. It took the perseverance of certain men, including Henri Balézeaux—the club’s true driving force since its founding—for the organization to rise from the ashes.

By 1947, the French Open returned to the course: not everything had been fully rebuilt yet—far from it—but golfing life had resumed. It even flourished anew during the “Trente Glorieuses,” a period that proved no less glorious for the club. The association continued its revival by adding an additional 9-hole course in 1951, “Les Longères.”

In competition, members continued to fly the club’s colors high. André Marino Vagliano, along with his successors Jacques Léglise and Michel Carlhian, witnessed the emergence of the young Jean-Louis Dupont.

His exploits on the greens seemed secondary compared to his exceptional career as a leader. The sporting laurels fell instead to his spiritual son, Alexis Godillot, the last great French amateur champion.

Behind the scenes, first on the Sports Committee and then as president, a position he assumed in 1980, Jean-Louis Dupont propelled Golf de Chantilly into a new era while preserving certain traditions. The most iconic of his decisions—and by no means the least significant given the intensity of the debates—was the 1991 expansion of the course to 36 holes.

Today, the Golf de Chantilly is perfectly prepared to meet the expectations of golfers, but also and above all to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Just as it has always done throughout its long and fabulous history.