go through Bradley S. Crane, PGA Tour
It’s time again for one of the sport’s truly international events – Olympic golf. This time it’s back in Paris, where Olympic golf made its debut in 1900 with both men’s and women’s competitions. The men’s competition was held again in St. Louis in 1904, but without the women’s competition. Golf then went on to not be included in the Olympics for 112 years, until Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo 2021 (originally scheduled for 2020).
Here are nine things you need to know about the Olympic golf tournament, which takes place over the next two weeks at the Albatros course at the famed French National Golf Club.
1. Organization
Olympic golf is coordinated by the International Golf Federation in Lausanne, Switzerland. This year's competition required coordination with 38 National Olympic Committees, representing 32 different men's and 33 women's nations. Two teams will have 60 players each. The stroke play tournament is 72 holes per round and will be held from August 1 to 4 for the men and from August 7 to 10 for the women. Medals, honors and national pride are up for grabs, but no prize money – a rarity in today's professional golf.
2. Location
This year's venue is Le Golf National, a private club and luxury hotel located in the town of Guyancourt, 18 miles southwest of the Eiffel Tower and 26 miles southwest of the Olympic Village. The 345-acre property is home to the Albatros Championship Course, which will be the venue for the Olympic Games. The facility, owned by the French Golf Federation, also includes the 18-hole Aigle Course and the 9-hole, par-32 L'Oiselet Course.
The National Golf Course is regularly ranked in the top 10 of the country’s 810 golf courses. The Albatros course was the site of the 2018 Ryder Cup, where Europe defeated the United States 17.5-10.5. Designed in 1990 by Hubert Chesneau and Robert von Hagge and extensively renovated by European Golf Design in 2015, the National Golf Course is the perennial host of the DP World Tour French Open, which will be held here for the 30th time this year from October 10-13.
3. Field
The 60-player field is the result of a balanced qualifying tournament, which has two main objectives. The goal is to gather the world's best golfers from as many countries as possible. On the women's side, 13 of the top 15 players in the Rolex Women's World Golf Ranking are in the tournament, led by 2021 Olympic gold medalist and world number one Nelly Korda. Another former medalist in the field is New Zealand's Lydia Ko, ranked 20th in the world and winner of silver in 2016 and bronze in 2021.
The men’s field includes 10 players ranked in the top 15 of the Official World Golf Ranking, including four from the United States: Scottie Scheffler (No. 1), 2016 Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele (No. 2), Wyndham Clark (No. 5) and Collin Morikawa (No. 6). Another previous medalist in the men’s field is CT Pan of Chinese Taipei, who won bronze in 2021.
4. Course Features
Originally built on flat ground, the National Golf Club now features 45-foot elevation differences. It took several truckloads of materials to create the undulating topography. Construction in the late 1980s required 300 truckloads of materials per day over three years, bringing in materials from various construction projects in central Paris, totaling approximately 270,000 truckloads.
Today, the course is laid out like a stadium, accommodating 30,000 spectators per day, spread out on the mounds or in the stands. As of two weeks before the tournament, six of the eight matches were sold out, and organizers expect full houses every day. As seen during the 2018 Ryder Cup, the area south of the clubhouse is particularly suitable for football-field-style cheering, thanks to the amphitheater-like mounds that overlook the looming water hazards at the start and end of the tournament – Nos. 1, 2, 15, 16 and 18.
Any round here, whether at recreational or world championship level, has a unique rhythm and speed, transitioning from treacherous target golf to an easier grass-court stage (Nos. 3-14) and then back to the tightly guarded beachfront shots.
5. Course settings
As the permanent site of the DP World Tour French Open, the French National Golf Club frequently adjusts its championship-level settings. Course director Lucas Pierre has been in charge here for six years, has 38 full-time employees, and will recruit 56 experienced volunteers for the Olympics.
The putting surfaces are large, ranging from 6,500 to 8,600 sq. ft. The putting surfaces will be trimmed to 0.13 in. (3.3 mm). While the exact speed of the Stimpmeter is always subject to last-minute adjustments, Kerry Haigh, chief tournament officer of the PGA of America and one of the course setup consultants, simply reported that the opening day greens will roll “at Olympic speeds.”
The biggest issue for players is how to play and stay on the 24.7 acres of ryegrass/fescue fairways, which often meander along ponds or are mowed in undulating shapes that narrow at landing areas, making it easy to get into fairway bunkers, ponds or fescue fields in deep rough. One advantage of these fairway shapes is that they are relatively flat, which provides a comfortable feel for approach shots and more power, even if it means hitting the ball with fewer clubs than a driver.
With much higher than normal rainfall in northern France in the first half of the year, the ryegrass/fescue fields (2.5″, 3.3″ and 4.7″ in height) will be dense and rough, making them difficult to escape. In short, the emphasis here is on hitting the fairway.
6. Long story short
The National Golf Club men's competition is 7,174 yards and par 71, while the women's competition is 6,374 yards and par 72. The only difference is the 18th hole in the waterhole, which is changed from a long par 4 to a short par 5, which is strategic and will bring many exciting performances to the 1,700-seat grandstand.
The difference in total yardage between the genders can be understood in several ways. The 800-yard difference corresponds to an 11% decrease in total yardage; the average driving distance on the PGA Tour (299 yards) is 14% longer than the average driving distance on the LPGA (257 yards). This suggests that the total distance difference at Le Golf National still results in women hitting the ball farther than men.
But par difference is a balancing act. The par for men's Olympic golf is 101 yards per shot (7,174 divided by 71), while the par for women's is 88.5 yards per shot (6,374 divided by 72). That's a 12.4% decrease in effective strokes per shot, which slightly offsets the difference in driving distance.
At their peak, female pros drive the ball 40 yards shorter off the tee than male pros on average, and 25 yards shorter than male pros (using the same irons)—an average of 65 yards per hole. Over 18 holes, the difference is essentially 1,170 yards—more than the Olympic 800 yards. What this means for Olympic spectators is that the women are entering these holes with an average of about two clubs longer than the men, even from 800-yard shorter tees. In other words, on par 4s, the men are using a driver/9-iron while the women are using about a 7-iron.
The fear that women will hit balls into the minefields of divots left by the men the week before has proven that this is usually not a real problem—think of the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, the 2016 U.S. Open in Rio, or the 2021 U.S. Open in Tokyo. For one thing, limited play—60 rounds a day—is less than the average for these courses, and certainly less than a full field. With the intensive polishing, there is plenty of time to recover the divots. Also, properly laid out tee boxes will help women hit balls closer to the green on fresh fairways than men can. It’s all part of the modern course setup.
7. “Tough but fair”
Nick Faldo called the course “tough but fair” after shooting a 71 in the opening round of the 1991 French Open (the first time the tournament was held at the French National Golf Club). That perception has persisted for more than three decades, and sometimes single-digit scores are enough to win the French Open (Alex Noren, who will play for Sweden this week, won at 7 under in 2018), but there are also low scores; the last three winners have been between 12 and 16 under. That includes Guido Migliozzi, who will play for Italy this week (16 under in 2022).
Tom Kim, who will represent South Korea this week along with An Byung-hoon, is also one of the players looking forward to this challenge.
“I think it’s going to be a really good test of golf for everybody,” King said Monday. “You really can’t fake it here. You’ve got to play some really good golf here to win a medal, and I think it’s going to be a great test.”
8. Hole 3
There are plenty of interesting holes, especially given the course's openness to westerly winds. On the 556/499-yard par 5, the fairway is 17 feet from the tee and there's a favorable wind blowing from the right. The pond across the right is the main hazard here. The ideal tee shot is left, as there are two looming hazards in front of the green that work together to protect the approach to the right – a 40-foot oak tree in front of a large greenside bunker. There's little chance of ground play, so players who want to reach the green must be daring to hole out from the air.
9. Hole 18
The finishing holes at the National Golf Club will be 471 yards for the men’s tournament and 447 yards for the women’s tournament. This is a very precision-oriented finishing hole, perennially one of the highest pars at the French Open. There’s water all over the left side and a minefield of bunkers on the right, so there’s no choice but to hit the fairway. The wind blowing in from left center provides a little buffer for the ball heading toward the water. The green actually forms an island (it shares land with the 15th green) with water in front and behind the entrance, so distance judgment is critical. It helps that this is the second largest green on the course. Still, trying to hit the ball out of the rough or any of the seven bunkers on the tee is a delicate matter. The setting here heightens the drama – it’s the ultimate dramatic experience in stadium golf viewing.
Looks like it's going to be fun.
