Durbanville

Situated to the northeast of Cape Town, the course at Durbanville Golf Club is a late-1960s Ken Elkins design and the club’s bent grass greens are widely regarded as some of the best putting surfaces in the Cape region. Ken Elkins was the pro at Mowbray and founding members spent weekends clearing the property, shaping fairways and greens, and it took nearly four years of manual labour before the course opened in July 1971.

It occupies a rather undulating landscape, with a number of thrilling downhill tee shots to be played, but there are also a few uphill holes to be negotiated, including the tough par four 16th (“Diamond”) and the finishing hole on each nine (Rainbow Moonstone” and “Snowflake Obsidian”) which return the course routing back to the clubhouse.

Durbanville features a solid set of par three holes which all play in different directions. The first of these short holes, the 154-metre 4th (“Star Ruby”) is rated the easiest with a stroke index of 18, while the most aesthetically pleasing is the 172-metre 12th (”Aquamarine”) in the southwest corner of the property, where the club’s irrigation lake lies to the right of the hole.