Africa

South Africa

Free State

Situated a forty-five minute drive south of Johannesburg, Maccauvlei Golf Club is one of the “lost” golf courses in the country. It has a great golfing pedigree as a former South African Open venue (the top national competition was held here four times between 1927 and 1949) yet it’s largely ignored nowadays by golfers from the metropolis.

Maccauvlei was designed by Englishmen George Peck and S.V Hotchkin in the 1920s and it lies on a sand belt, south of the Vaal River, making it feel more like a seaside links than a parkland course with the reputation of offering a stern test of golf.

Despite the fact it can now be stretched to over 7,500 yards to accommodate modern golfers, it remains largely in an 80-year old time warp, complete with a beautiful old-fashioned clubhouse that was constructed in 1925. The signature hole at Maccauvlei is the 465-yard, par four, 17th where the approach shot to an elevated green has to carry one of the biggest bunkers in South Africa – a 130-yard wall of sand.

In this short extract from the book he co-authored with Jamie Thom entitled 

South Africa’s Greatest Golf Destinations, 

“There remains a historic look and timeless feel to Maccauvlei outside the town of Vereeniging, which more than any other contemporary club captures the zeitgeist of golf in South Africa between the two world wars. It was a period in which the club flourished, and its list of members included many leading business and political figures of the day, who travelled by train from Johannesburg to spend weekends at the club’s dormy house.”

Maccauvlei

Situated a forty-five minute drive south of Johannesburg, Maccauvlei Golf Club is one of the “lost” golf courses in the country.

Bloemfontein Golf Club is one of the oldest clubs in South Africa, having been founded in 1894, and it moved to its current location next to Schoeman Park Golf Club in 1953, with Bob Grimsdell designing the 18-hole layout. Forty years later, Peter Matkovich was brought in to upgrade the layout with new greens and bunkers.

The putting surfaces on the club’s original course were constructed – like Kimberley’s – from blue-coloured diamondiferous mine tailings, a by-product of the local mining operations, but the new course was built with grass greens, which helped to attract both the SA Open and the SA Amateur championships to the club in 1958.

The club hosted the SA Open again in 1963 and it also staged another three editions of the SA Amateur in 1964, 1968 and 1975. In the last of these prestigious national tournaments, club member Peter Voster won the event 3&2 in the final, having won the title at Humewood ten years earlier by a more convincing 7&6 margin against his opponent in the match play final tie.


Feature holes include par threes at the 8th and 11th, which play in opposite directions across the intimidating spruit that runs through the property. The long, left doglegging par fours at the 9th and 17th (rated stoke index 2 and 1) are the toughest holes on the card but the par three 16th, with a sloping green protected by water on three sides, is another one to watch.

Bloemfontein

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.

Parys Golf Club was founded in 1976 and it sits on the banks of the Vaal River in Free State province. Interestingly, the town lies within the Vredefort Dome – a large crater that was formed by an asteroid strike millions of years ago – which is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Cobie Le Grange with DDV Design redesigned the old course at Parys in 2007. For those who don’t know either the golfer or the architects, Cobie was a fine player in the 1960s (winning the British Masters twice during that era) and DDV have designed top end estate courses such as 

 (as well as drawing up the original plans for Greg Norman’s 

The 6th hole is an excellent par four that’s well worth its status as the toughest hole on the course. From the back tees it measures 467 yards and the drive has to find a narrow strip of fairway before an approach can be played to an island green. Unless a perfect tee shot has left the green within reasonable range, players are advised to lay up with their second shot and play the hole as a par five.

The green for the 9th hole lies on the other side of the Vaal River and golfers play the next few holes on the opposite bank until returning after the par four 13th. The home stretch from hole 14 starts with a tough par four (rated stroke index two) and ends with a tight par five that rarely yields a satisfying end of round birdie.

Course architect’s comments as follows:

This project was the redevelopment of the existing Parys Golf Club on an island in the middle of the Vaal River while adding a residential component to the estate. DDV produced a master plan of the urban design as well as the golf course where four of the holes were taken off the island making room for housing on the island and maximizing the golf course or river frontage.

The course hugs the river in the most part leaving the higher ground for housing as well as making use of the features that the river has created. The DDV characteristic of major earthworks creates naturally flowing undulations. The indigenous veld grass rolls over these undulations accentuating the topography and adding to the experience.

Parys

The new layout at Parys Golf and Country Estate was redesigned by Cobie Le Grange and DDV Design, opening in 2007. Laid out on the banks of the Vaal River, eleven of the holes bring water into play.

The course at Vaal de Gráce is situated ten kilometres miles along the Vaal River from Parys Golf & Country Estate in the Free State and it’s the first South African design project for Nick Price.

In recent times, Nick has collaborated with the likes of Tom Fazio, Craig Schreiner and Steve Smyers as they constructed a number of courses in the United States. Now that he has formed his own design firm, the three-time Major winner is involved in golf projects in Florida, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and here on the African continent.

The course – configured as two returning nines that extend to a total of 7,382 yards from the back markers – hosted the South African Amateur Championship in 2011 and it held the national mid-Amateur event in 2012, won by Neil Homman.

Former Golf Director Herman Beukman described some key holes:

"Best hole on the front nine is the par four 3rd. It plays to 327m with the Vaal River on the left. You can hit the green from the tee in one shot and make two or play your tee shot into the water and make five so it’s a fine risk-reward hole.

The most difficult hole on the outward half is the par four 9th, rated stroke index 1. It plays all of 443m from the back tees to a well-bunkered fairway and green site.

Best hole on the back nine is the short par three 16th which lies next to the river. With a green that slopes markedly from back to front, birdie twos are a rarity at this hole.

The toughest hole on the inward half is the par 5 14th, measuring 519m. It’s not the longest par five on the card but the river runs all the way down the right from tee to green and there’s bunkers and bush on the left to catch those who over compensate for the water."

In March 2020, the day before lockdown began in South Africa, the owners decided they wouldn’t be reopening due to a dispute over homeowner course maintenance contributions. Twelve months later the course re-opened for public play for an interim period while new facilities are being developed by the Homeowner Association.

Vaal de Gráce

Nick Price’s course on the Vaal de Gráce Golf Estate is located on an island in the middle of the Vaal River. Most fairways are situated in the Free State but some lie across the boundary with North West province.

Designed in the late 1950s by Bob Grimsdell, the course at Schoeman Park Golf Club lies immediately to the west of Bloemfontein Golf Club, with both golfing layouts situated adjacent to the city’s enormous railway depot. The Sunshine Tour pitched up here on five occasions during the early 1970s then again between 1988 and 1992.

The club was founded by immigrant railway workers in 1904, and there’s an old railway carriage positioned close to the first tee. After moving to its present location, the club was renamed after Ben Shoeman, the Transport Minister from 1954 to 1974, who previously worked on the railways.

Alison Shoeman won her third successive South African Women’s Amateur match play title here in 1978 (she won the stroke play event too) and Waren Abery claimed the equivalent men’s championship (beating Jean Hugo 1-up in the final) when the club hosted the South African Amateur in 1995. No doubt Retief Goosen has fond memories of the course after recording his first professional win here.

Today, the course extends to 6,394 metres from the championship tees, configured as two returning nines. Highlight holes include the short par four 2nd, the pond-protected par three 8th, the right doglegging par four 16th, and the longest par three at the 201-metre 17th.

Schoeman Park

Schoeman Park Golf Club is a Bob Grimsdell creation from 1957 and the tree-lined parkland course proved to be a fair test for the Sunshine Tour professionals when the now defunct Spoornet Classic was staged here. No doubt Retief Goosen has fond memories after recording his first professional win here in Bloemfontein.

Situated just outside the mining town of Welkom, which lies around 140 kilometres northeast of provincial capital Bloemfontein, the course at Oppenheimer Park Golf Club is set on the edge of a large dam where thousands of pink flamingos congregate. It’s a veritable green oasis in a landscape marred by thousands of acres of spoil from the large-scale mining operations.

Established in 1948, the course is a Bob Grimsdell design that has changed little in over seventy years of operation. The South African Amateur championship has been held here three times, with David Frost losing in the 1981 final and Ernie Els also finishing as runner-up in 1988. Englishman David Dixon won the 2001 event with a narrow 1-up victory.

South African Golf Courses: A Portrait of the Best

 author Stuart McLean writes: “Few South African golf courses are named after famous people, but it is appropriate in this instance as Oppenheimer Park Golf Club is owned and subsidized by the Anglo-American corporation, which was founded by Sir Ernest Oppenheimer.

, which is more locally known as the Ou Volk lizard. During construction they were found in abundance around the course. The ‘Thursday Club’ members are known as 

The tree-lined holes are laid out as two returning nines, each of which measure in excess of 3,000 metres, and both circuits open with challenging par fours, rated stroke index 3 and 2 respectively. Feature holes include the par three 3rd, which plays across an inlet in the dam, and the par four 15th, located in the northernmost portion of the property.

Oppenheimer Park

Established in 1948, the course at Oppenheimer Park Golf Club is a Bob Grimsdell design that features water hazards on six of the holes.

The Clarens Golf Estate sits in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains, on the fringe of the Golden Gate nature reserve, and its course is one of the golfing jewels of the Eastern Free State. Clarens is renowned as an artists’ haven and a popular getaway for Johannesburg and Bloemfontein city dwellers.

The Kikuyu fairways and Bent grass greens on this parkland course are framed by wonderful Willow and lovely Lombardi poplar trees, which are characteristic of the area, and water comes into play at several holes during a round here.

The layout extends to just over 6,254 yards from the rear markers, playing to a par of 71, with holes arranged as two returning nines. Despite having only one par five on the back nine (at the right doglegged 15th) the inward half plays quite a bit longer than the front nine.

Highlight holes include strong par fours at the 9th (rated stroke index 2) and the 18th (rated stroke index 3) where approach shots to both greens must avoid substantial water features located close to the putting surface.

Clarens

The Clarens Golf Estate sits in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains, on the fringe of the Golden Gate nature reserve, and its course is one of the golfing jewels of the Eastern Free State.

Formerly known as Orange Free State, the Free State province – with tens of thousands of farms laid out on the relatively flat plains in the heart of the country – is known as the granary of South Africa. British Army Major Henry Douglas Warden founded Bloemfontein, the largest provincial city, in 1846 and it’s now home to a population of around a third of a million people.

 is the governing body for amateur golfers who are in membership of the 37 clubs in the Free State province. Twenty-four of the courses are 9-hole layouts whilst the fairways at Kroonstad number ten in total. The course at Harrismith was laid out in 1887 therefore it claims to be the third oldest in the nation.

The best two courses in the province are new millennium offerings that lie within six miles of each other on either side of Parys, a small town located on the Vaal River, which forms the boundary with North West province. The 18-hole layout at 

 debuted in 2007, shortly before the Nick Price-designed course at 