Rustenburg

You’ll find the city of Rustenburg at the foot of the Magaliesberg Range in South Africa’s North West province and it’s one of the world’s great mining centres, producing platinum from the Marensky Reef. Laid out on gently undulating terrain, the course at Rustenburg is a genuine bushveld layout that sits next to the Olympia Park stadium and its tree-lined fairways wind their way around a creek and a number of small man-made ponds.

Of the three par fives on the front nine, only the shortest of these, the 497-yard 8th offers a realistic birdie opportunity – assuming, of course, that golfers can avoid the water that cuts across the fairway 100 yards from the green.

On the back nine, the two short par fours at holes 12 and 15 are real feature holes.The former plays downhill to a long narrow green protected by sand to the left and water to the right whilst the latter has bunkers in the fairway and by the green defending the hole from big hitters who want to fly their tee shot all the way to the putting surface.

Rustenburg organises two big annual Open competitions for amateur golfers. The first of these is the “White Classic,” held in July and the second is the “Orange Blossom,” which takes place in October. The course was upgraded in recent years with new greens.