Zebula

The number of top class golf course designs by Peter Matkovich that are featured in the Top 100 South African rankings is now into double digits and the bushveld course at Zebula is yet another – like De Zalze, Elements and Pinnacle Point – that he has created in the new millennium.

Conceived as a grand scale bush project by former owner and former American golf retailer Steve Dunn, Zebula is, in essence, a 3,500-acre game reserve that also offers a number of sporting activities ranging from tennis and squash to fishing and golf, with fairways on the 18-hole course laid out around a residential complex.

Located not far from the small spa town of Bela Bela, the course at Zebula Golf Estate lies on rather flat terrain where wide, open fairways are framed by bushveld trees. A feature hole on the back nine is the par five 15th with its split fairway but the signature hole on the layout is regarded as the 8th, a 150-yard par three with a raised green that’s protected by both sand and water.

In this short edited extract from the book South Africa’s Greatest Golf Destinations, co-author Stuart McLean writes:

“Zebula is wonderfully remote. You leave the spa town of Bela-Bela and venture on to dirt roads, where you capture the real aroma of the Waterberg. There is little sign of habitation along the way. Once you are inside the estate, a single-track road leads through quiet leafy bush for several kilometres before reaching the lodge and golf course. The course is flat and easy to walk. Wide fairways framed by bushveld trees add to the character of the design, challenging yet player-friendly.”