Bob Grimsdell
- Full Name
- Robert G. Grimsdell
- Year of Birth
- 1897
- Year of Death
- 1986 (aged 89)
- Place Born
- Amersham, Bucks, England
- Place Died
- Vereeniging, South Africa
After World War II, Grimsdell became a full-time golf course architect based in Scottburgh, South Africa. Over the next 30 years he established himself as the leading designer in South Africa and surrounding nations. Geoff Cornish and Ron Whitten

Bob Grimsdell left his native England when he was a teenager and travelled to South Africa. He joined the South African armed forces and was subsequently deployed to France during the First World War, holding a commission in the Royal Air Force until 1920. After hostilities ended he moved back to England, married, and became the professional at Chorley Golf Club in Lancashire.
He soon became interested in golf course architecture and struck up a friendship with Harry Colt and C.H. Alison, soaking up as much knowledge as he could from the two masters of design..
“A fine competitive golfer in his youth and a devotee of H.S. Colt, Bob Grimsdell moved to South Africa in the twenties to establish himself in a year-round golf career,” wrote Cornish and Whitten in The Architects of Golf.
Grimsdell and his wife lived in Cape Town and he became attached to the Mowbray Golf Club. Ironically, in the early 1950s, Grimsdell designed the nearby course for the newly formed King David Golf Club. Unfortunately, Grimsdell’s King David course (considered one of his best designs) was recently lost to a non-golfing development, so the Mowbray and King David clubs merged, creating King David Mowbray Golf Club.
“He became pro-greenkeeper at several South African clubs,” continue Cornish and Whitten, “including Royal Johannesburg, whose East course he laid out in 1933. A talented player, Grimsdell won the Orange Free State Open and Match Play Championships as well as the Belgian and German Opens.” Unfortunately, Grimsdell was unable to win at South African national level, twice finishing as runner-up in the South African Open and four-time finalist in the South African Match Pl...
Bob Grimsdell left his native England when he was a teenager and travelled to South Africa. He joined the South African armed forces and was subsequently deployed to France during the First World War, holding a commission in the Royal Air Force until 1920. After hostilities ended he moved back to England, married, and became the professional at Chorley Golf Club in Lancashire.
He soon became interested in golf course architecture and struck up a friendship with Harry Colt and C.H. Alison, soaking up as much knowledge as he could from the two masters of design..
“A fine competitive golfer in his youth and a devotee of H.S. Colt, Bob Grimsdell moved to South Africa in the twenties to establish himself in a year-round golf career,” wrote Cornish and Whitten in The Architects of Golf.
Grimsdell and his wife lived in Cape Town and he became attached to the Mowbray Golf Club. Ironically, in the early 1950s, Grimsdell designed the nearby course for the newly formed King David Golf Club. Unfortunately, Grimsdell’s King David course (considered one of his best designs) was recently lost to a non-golfing development, so the Mowbray and King David clubs merged, creating King David Mowbray Golf Club.
“He became pro-greenkeeper at several South African clubs,” continue Cornish and Whitten, “including Royal Johannesburg, whose East course he laid out in 1933. A talented player, Grimsdell won the Orange Free State Open and Match Play Championships as well as the Belgian and German Opens.” Unfortunately, Grimsdell was unable to win at South African national level, twice finishing as runner-up in the South African Open and four-time finalist in the South African Match Play Championship between 1925 and 1932.
Grimsdell remained professionally attached to Royal Johannesburg (now Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club) for twenty years. After the Second World War he became a full-time golf course architect based in Scottburgh close to the Indian Ocean, south of Durban.
For the next thirty years Grimsdell was South Africa’s foremost golf course architect. He first introduced grass golf courses to the arid bushveld regions in the northeast of the country, Nelspruit Golf Club (now called Mbombela) being one of the earliest examples.
Robert Grimsdell died of natural causes in his adopted homeland in September 1986 at the ripe old age of 89. He was the pioneer of golf course architecture in South Africa and his legacy has been sadly overlooked, although he was recently inducted into the Southern African Golf Hall of Fame.Featured courses designed, remodelled and added to by Bob Grimsdell
Benoni Country Club
31st

The Benoni Country Club was originally established as the Van Ryn Golf Club back in 1906 when it was created by employees of the Van Ryn mine.
Bloemfontein
3rd

Golf in Bloemfontein dates back more than a century but the parkland course in play today at Bloemfontein Golf Club is a Bob Grimsdell layout that was later refashioned by the prolific Peter Matkovich and Dale Hayes.

Durban (Country Club)
1st

The Country Club course at Durban Country Club has played host to sixteen South African Opens, more than any other course in the land.
Goldfields West
6th
The course at the Goldfields West Golf Club is set within a nature reserve in the Wonderfontein Valley where a variety of wild animals can be found wandering the fairways.
Hans Merensky
Gem
Don’t be surprised to see elephants, antelopes, giraffes, monkeys and baboons in and around the perimeter of Hans Merensky's fairways, whilst hippos and crocs can be found at some water hazards!
Krugersdorp
30th

Formed in 1900, Krugersdorp Golf Club lies in the western suburbs of Rant-En-Dal, which translated from Afrikaans means “hills and valleys”.
Bob Grimsdell Leaderboard
Rank | Name | Courses Played |
---|---|---|
1 | Heinrich du Preez |
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2 | Les Coetzee |
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3 | Franscois Marx |
|
= | Hans Vierra |
|
5 | Neil van Niekerk |
|
6 | Lohan Neethling |
|
= | Stuart McLean |
|
8 | stuart mcclymont |
|
= | Nelson Marais |
|
= | Boela Pieterse |
|