Non-SOS Tour Golf Course Reviews
As with most things in life, you can’t get enough of a good thing and unfortunately, the SOS Golf Tour is a once-a-month scheduled competition. With the exception of Majors and the odd occasion when timing requires it, only one course will be played each month by Tour members on Tour. But because South Africa offers up nearly 400 extremely wonderful golf courses, and Tour members do play outside the times of the Tour, we have decided to include a golf course review section for Non-SOS Golf Courses. Most of the courses written about in this review section will be in Gauteng, South Africa’s richest province, but some may be outside the province, where arguably some of the best golf courses in the world are.
- Houghton, one of Gauteng’s oldest, but at the same time newest courses
South Africa has produced some wonderful golf courses that rival the very best in the world, and on these magnificent golf courses, some of the world’s best golfers have been raised. Gary Player, Bobby Locke, Trevor Immelman, Charl Schwartzel, Retief Goosen, Louis Oosthuizen, Ernie Els and many more have used this country as a stepping stone to take on the best the world of golf has to offer.
South Africa is a fantastic golf holiday destination. The climate is temperate and mild most of the year along our beautiful north east coast, which is home to golf courses like Durban Country Club, Zimbali and Princes Grant. Further south in the Knysna/George area is South Africa’s golf course capital. With beautiful lush forest-like environments, mild temperatures from the warm Indian Ocean and gorgeous mountains that form a backdrop to one of the prettiest places on earth, the Southern Cape region of South Africa is home to the famous Fancourt Golf Links, Simola and Pezula Golf Courses.
- The picturesque Simola Golf Club
The Western Cape is South Africa’s most popular destination for tourists, with Cape Town and Table Mountain being voted one of the best travel destinations in the world, and Table Mountain is one of the world’s new wonders. Some of the golf courses in this part of the world include Pearl Valley, Erinvale and Steenberg. The Northern Cape, North West Province and Limpopo Province wouldn’t be considered golfing Mecca’s, but each province does throw up one or two absolutely must play courses that are considered some of the finest the country has to offer. The Northern Cape’s gem is the Sishen, ranked in the top 30 courses according to Golf Digest Magazine. The North West Province gives the golfer two of the country’s best golf outings with the Gary Player Country Club and the Lost City Golf Course both situated at the Sun City holiday resort. The Lost City course is an African adventure styled course with all that is uniquely wild about this continent. The Gary Player Country Club is home to Africa’s Major, the Nedbank Golf Challenge and is a perfect example of golf course design mastery. Limpopo, South Africa’s northern most province is home to great wildlife and some fantastic golf too. Legends Golf and Safari Course has the world’s longest and most extreme par 3, and Elements and Zebula are two magnificent examples of course creativity.
- Home of the Nedbank Challenge, Africa’s Major, The Gary Player Country Club
Mpumalanga, the eastern province of South Africa has the country’s highest ranked course, Leopard Creek. Home of the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, this private course would probably rank amongst the most perfect courses in the entire world. The province has rich wildlife, diverse cultures and a great climate during the summer months. Other courses in the area include The Sabie Country Club and The White River Golf Club. Last but not least, we move to the home of the SOS Golf Tour. Gauteng is not regarded as a destination of choice for Tourists, other than as a pass through on their way to Cape Town or the bush. What many people don’t realise is that Gauteng has some of the best golf courses the country has to offer, to go along with a history and cultural scene not rivaled by another area in the country.
- South Africa’s Top Ranked Course, Leopard Creek
The European Tour sanctioned Joburg Open is played at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, the Tshwane Open is played at the Els Club Copperleaf, Blair Atholl is one of Africa’s longest and most beautiful golf courses and is also home to an exclusive estate and some of the best parkland’s courses in the world are based in Johannesburg. Parkview, Glendower, Wanderers, the River Club, Country Club of Johannesburg and the Pretoria Country Club are just some of the many top 100 ranked courses in the province.
We hope to bring you as many unique golf course reviews as possible from as many of the provinces as possible. We will showcase a front and back nine featured hole and give an overall opinion of the game on that particular course. If you are reading this section from outside South Africa, golf in South Africa is world class and would be a holiday to remember.