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 

, 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 

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.

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

Bob Grimsdell was a skilful professional golfer and the pioneer of golf course architecture in South Africa whose legacy has been largely overlooked outside of his adopted homeland.

Jimmy Johnston

Golfscape

Eastern Cape

South African Open

South African Amateur

South African PGA

South Africa

Founded in 1890, Port Elizabeth Golf Club quickly established itself as one of the leading lights in South African golf. Following the inception of the South African Tournament at Kimberley in 1892, Port Elizabeth then hosted the next three editions of the event before the club relocated to its present location in 1902.

The following year, the SA Tournament returned to Port Elizabeth for the fifth time and it included not only the Amateur Championship but the Open Championship, with four professionals and six amateurs competing in the event. Johannesburg-based pro Laurie Waters won the inaugural Open, posting a 36-hole aggregate score that beat his nearest rival by three strokes.

By 1934, Port Elizabeth had hosted eight Amateurs, five Opens, three Women’s Amateurs and three PGA Championships. In later years, the Amateur returned in 1974 and 1990, with the Women’s Amateur also taking place in 1979, 1998 and 2010. Twenty-four national titles decided during a 130-year history is good going for a rather unassuming club that lies in the shadow of nearby Humewood.

Unlike its illustrious neighbour on the coast, “The Hill” as it’s known locally, is a parkland layout with a variety of trees dotted around the property. Bob Grimsdell upgraded the course in 1952 then Danie Obermeyer and Philip Basson from Golfscape carried out a major renovation at the start of the new millennium, rebuilding greens and bunkers as well as replacing two holes.

Feature holes include right doglegging par fives at the 8th and 13th (with greenside water hazards affecting the approach shot to both holes); the heavily-bunkered short par four 16th; and the left doglegged 18th (rated stoke index 18) which offers an ideal opportunity to walk away from the home green having secured a birdie (or better) on the final hole.

Port Elizabeth

Wild Coast

Africa

Founded in 1890, Port Elizabeth is the second oldest golf club in South Africa and it marked 125 years as a golfing institution by hosting the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship​ in 2015.