A traditional, full 18 isn’t the only thing Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner have been cooking up in France. While the course-design duo plans to unveil the New Course this summer at the private Les Bordes Golf Club in France, the club’s Wild Piglet short course already is open.
The Wild Piglet is one of the newest offerings in a worldwide recent uptick of par-3 courses built alongside full 18s, and it features 10 holes ranging in length from 131 yards to 198 yards.
The golf club is near the upscale Les Bordes Estate – about 80 miles south of Paris – but operates independently with membership available by invitation. The golf club already is home to the Robert Von Hogge-designed Old Course, which opened in 1987.
In a question-and-answer session that was part of a media release announcing the plans for the New Course, Hanse said the Wild Piglet is all about having fun, no matter the players’ skill level.
“You can go out and laugh at yourself, have a good time and not worry about losing golf balls or have the pressures of playing a full-size golf course,” Hanse said. “Our attempt there was to create a very fun and playable experience, but also one where a good player could go out there and be tested with shots. In order to succeed on The Wild Piglet, you’ve got to hit some really good shots, but you’ve also got the opportunity to just go out there and bang it around and have fun.
“One of the things that Jim Wagner and I worked with the team on was, basically, giving everybody their own golf hole or holes, and just letting everybody have a crack at it. It was fun, and I think that if you go into your own little incubator, independent of everybody around you, it gives you the opportunity to be as creative as you want.”
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