“It could save the greens.” A sentence that sums up a major project involving 5,000 cubic meters of water and a storage pond at the traditional French club Golf de Chantilly. The amount of water is manageable, but behind the figure of 5,000 cubic meters are fundamental questions: How valuable is water for a golf course if it could possibly secure its existence? How much water does a high-quality course really need to guarantee this quality? How many members does a golf club lose if the quality drops? In the end, the question is: How much water is needed to ensure the economic survival of a golf club in the future?
Long-term water strategy
The Club Golf de Chantilly started asking itself these questions almost ten years ago. Perhaps because the then managing director Rémy Dorbeau, as president of the French Golf Federation, had an expert insider’s view of the increasing tightening of water abstraction regulations in France and was also well placed to assess the effects of climate change on greenkeeping.
In the meantime, his successor Inigo Ceballos is standing in front of the construction site on the 17th hole together with the golf course’s head greenkeeper Thomas Meunier and looking at the reservoir, which will hold 5,000 cubic meters. It will be finished at the end of this year. It is the culmination of a large number of projects that will ultimately come together to form a comprehensive water strategy.
The local water authorities have allowed Golf de Chantilly to draw 40,000 cubic meters of water from the groundwater. It used to be 56,000 cubic meters, but because state subsidies were granted for the storage pond, the amount was reduced. The reasoning is simple: if you improve your water infrastructure, you need less water. The greenkeeping team used 42,000 cubic meters in 2024. 2025 was a reasonable year in terms of rainfall with a value of 550 mm. It remains to be seen what the future holds in terms of weather in the north of Paris. However, temperatures have already risen so much that Bermuda grass will be sown on the Longères course – because it is heat-tolerant and requires little water.
Integration of roof drainage
The storage pond on the 17th hole is at the lowest point of the course, and some of the water in it will come from the clubhouse roof. Golf de Chantilly has accumulated a lot of expertise in summer when it comes to roof drainage. The clubhouse is historic, dating back to 1909. “There were a lot of surprises when we started working on the piping,” explains Meunier. According to Ceballos, a yield of around 5000 m³ of water is expected over the course of the year. It is fed from the clubhouse via piping into a natural filter pond, which, with several layers of sand and reeds, will in future ensure that purified water runs from there into the storage pond. Plants used for filtering will be planted above the sand area.
The roof, the storage pond and the Bermuda grass on Longères are just three pieces of the puzzle of an overall strategy that also included a complete renovation of the irrigation system on the Vineuil golf course. The high quality of the 18-hole course is of crucial importance to the golf club. In 2025, the European Ladies Championship was held here. Vineuil is one of the five best golf courses in France and hosts top-class tournaments every year. It is the heart of a golf club for which competitive golf is an essential part of its identity.
Twenty-five of the golf course’s 42 holes now have double-row fairway irrigation, 1,300 sprinklers were replaced, the number of sprinklers on the greens was doubled and the pumps were renewed. “The old irrigation system was 45 years old and inefficient, the programming system was not working well. The water flow was no longer efficient, especially due to the old sprinklers and the lack of pressure in the system. After such a long time, the plastic pipes had become brittle,” Meunier recalls. Three years ago, another storage pond was renovated right next to the driving range, which now collects all the waste water from this area. The greening was planned in collaboration with nature conservation experts, so that the pond is now also a hotspot for dragonflies.
All these measures have cost the golf club, a traditional members’ club, around three million euros in recent years. State subsidies, donations and a special levy were necessary. Much of the work was carried out by the greenkeeping team itself.
It took the management and the board two years to provide the members with the necessary information. “We held several information evenings, presented the project and offered the members several options,” explains the Head Greenkeeper. The process was not easy, but it worked.
Should the water situation deteriorate, the club is considering plans to drain the entire access road and parking lots. The issue of water conservation and water extraction has not yet been fully resolved. But it is clear that those responsible have accepted the challenge of the water shortage and are responding to it with great attention to detail.
On the day of our meeting, Meunier looks at the edges of the bunkers, which are bright green. After a lot of sand has accumulated on the bunker fronts during the season, he and his team brush off these edges and then reseed them with fescue grasses and Koeleria macrantha. An additive ensures that the seeds stick to the edges and store water. “In March, everything will be full of grass again.” During his time as a greenkeeper at The National Golf Club in Australia, a top-class private 72-hole course, Meunier “learned what drought and lack of water really mean”
As in Australia, he also has to offer golfers the best possible playing surfaces at Golf de Chantilly. As he explains all this, he looks at the front green of the 16th hole and laughs with satisfaction. “With the new irrigation system, I now have much better grass coverage here.” Do the golfers notice? “No, most of them probably don’t, but it’s the overall impression that counts.”
The more than ten-year project phase on the subject of water will be completed for the time being with the filling of the reservoir at the turn of the year. However, the issue of water management will remain with the golf club. In the meantime, however, there is a sense of confidence and a certain self-assurance among the club management: the issue is under control – and that is also a decisive factor for the economic future of the club.
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