Pau Golf Club | Pau Pyrénées Tourisme

English heritage

The oldest golf club on the continent, the Pau Golf Club remains the emblematic club for our local golfers, with 650 members. It continues to organize major competitions on its carefully maintained green! And it’s always a pleasure to have a drink or dine at the Victoria 1856, in its Victorian-style clubhouse. Every July, golfers compete in the 1856 Cup, in memory of its creation by members of Her Majesty.

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So british

Founded in 1856, it is the oldest club in continental Europe and the first course to open outside Scotland. It is also the fourth club in the world outside Great Britain.

For almost 30 years, it was the only golf course in France before the Dinard golf course was created.

History has it that Mary Todd-Lincoln, widow of President Abraham Lincoln, wielded the iron at Pau Golf Club. She was lucky, as the British initially banned Frenchmen and women from the course! Fortunately, times are changing!

The people of Palois had nothing to do with the creation of golf! The founding members were quintessentially British: Lord Hamilton (Duke of Hamilton and Brandon), Colonels Hutchinson and Anstruther, Major Pontifex and Archdeacon Sapte in 1856.

The clubhouse Victoria 1856

While the Victorian clubhouse takes us back to the days when the Anglo-Saxon colony of sportsmen and sportswomen ruled the roost, the practice and attendance of the sport have been democratized! But the tradition of an art of living is still perpetuated today at the table of the Victoria 1856 restaurant.

Open to the public, in its verdant setting, you can enjoy lunch under the watchful eye of the first players, posing wisely in their antique frames!

Close to the Gave, its terrace and view of the Pyrenees make it a place apart!