Ruimsig Country Club Review
The course graphics below are kindly provided by Pocket Caddi – the best distance Guide in South Africa
Par: 72
Lengths:
Club: 6359m (6954 yards)
Ladies: 5267m (5760 yards)
Championship: 6682m (7307 yards)
Venturing west of Johannesburg for the first time on the Sultans of Swing Golf Tour, the second round of 2013 took us to the beautiful Ruimsig Country Club (formerly the Roodepoort Country Club). This course is neither parklands nor links in its design, but offers up challenges similar to both, making it a test of one’s all round golf game. It is respectably long, without being out of reach and has enough elements on most holes to toss up a challenge requiring every golf shot.
A good balance of space and strategic hazard placements make shot choices imperative as you line up on the tee box, as well as on your approach to every green. Fairway bunkers line the sides of the easier holes, and the longer holes have different challenges all together. The trees, which are present on the course, are not always in play because of the wide fairways and the water is in your face when it is there, although a narrow sloot dissects a number of fairways which can prove troublesome if you don’t use the Pocket Caddi available at the pro-shop. The greens are as true as you will ever experience and every single green ran the same from front to back, which gives you much needed confidence when standing over the ball with the flat stick.
All in all the Ruimsig Country Club is a beautiful golf course that was designed by one of the world’s best golfing architects, Gary Player. It is set up to challenge the novice, yet is easy enough to break your handicap on. It through up the highest Stableford scores the tour has seen in a very long time, proving that on its day, it can be beaten.
Featured Holes:
Front 9:
4th Hole
This swooping par 5 offers you gorgeous views of the western parts of Johannesburg, and allows you to see most of the Ruimsig Country Club laid out in front of you. It is an intimidating golf hole, and although not incredibly long for a par 5, it certainly doesn’t play as one of the easier holes on the course, considering the high stroke (18). At 465m seriously downhill, the driving area is well protected by water on the left and is incredibly narrow at the landing points. An inaccurate drive could either find water or really thick rough. If you are lucky enough to find the fairway, a 200m plus approach over water awaits you if you are brave enough. If you are not and choose to layup, you still need to contend with the water in front of the green which also stretches the length of the right hand side of the fairway layup area. Par is easy enough to achieve on this hole, but walking away with more than a 4 on the easiest hole on the course always feels like defeat.
Back 9:
18th Hole
You can’t help but love the game of golf when you are standing on the tee box of the 18th hole at the Ruimsig Country Club. It is a beautifully designed finishing hole with everything you would ever expect to face on a golf course, all crammed into one hole. The elevated tee box offers you a splendid view of the hole in front of you. There is water in the prime driver landing zone of most amateurs to the right of the fairway, and water straight and left for the longer hitters. The hole is long at over 520m off the club tees and even finding the fairway with your drive leaves you an intimidating layup. A sloot dissects the fairway at around 150m out, three deep fairway bunkers guard the layup zone from 130m out all the way up to 80m out and if you have the muscle to attack the green in two, it is elevated with two seriously tough bunkers guarding the front. Pat yourself on the back if you get 5 on this hole.
