Top 100 Golf Courses of South Africa 2014

Last month we visited the Western Cape and experienced a number of courses along the Garden Route. Our feeling is that South Africa is hard done by in terms of the number of courses listed in World Top 100 ranking lists. We are likely to include more of the Rainbow Nation’s golf courses in our future World Top 100 charts.

As we said back in 2012, the Gary Player-designed course at Millvale Golf Estate keeps itself to itself, but things changed when the club hosted the 2013 and 2014 Investec Cup (won by Justin Walters and Trevor Fisher Jnr respectively). Millvale is our highest new entry, straight in at position 14 and while not many people will be lucky enough to walk these exclusive fairways, we can say that this unique golf facility is an entirely worthy highest new entry.

Gowrie Farm, Milnerton, Westlake and Magalies Park also debut for the first time in our South African hundred. Leopard Park, Crown Mines, ERPM, Goldfields West and Langebaan made way for the new entries and slip off the national list and onto our Best In Province rankings.

With 170 South African courses on our ever-increasing shortlist, there is certainly room for plenty of future change. Producing a universally approved golf course ranking list is an impossible task, as the best golf course rankings are embedded in the head of each and every golfer. No doubt this latest list will raise a few eyebrows, but we make no apology for showcasing South Africa’s best golf courses because many are underrated and truly deserve wider recognition.

The Links course at Fancourt, which remains in 2nd place, is one example and a recent reviewer commented as follows: “The first thing to mention is that of the hundreds of courses that I have played around the world, The Links is an instant favourite and straight into my personal Top 5. Manufactured links courses normally at best can be called ‘links like’ – the Links at Fancourt breaks the mould and is good as many of the world greats in GB&I that set the standard.”

Arabella Golf Club moves up two positions to 3rd… one reviewer posted as follows: “Gosh, this golf course is good. I've played at most of the Open courses, Pebble Beach and Valderrama, but Arabella is definitely in my top 5 courses for sheer fun.” Another reviewer concurred: “One of the most visually appealing courses I have ever played. Every hole has its own individual character and both nines conclude with truly spectacular stretches alongside the lagoon.”

This unique South African ranking list involved gathering, analysing and processing data from a multitude of sources. If you have an opinion and would like to help shape our future rankings please get in touch. If you’ve played any of our featured South African courses, we’ll be delighted to know what you think, so why not contribute now and post a course review or two?

Keith Baxter
Editor-in-Chief
www.top100golfcourses.com

Click the link to see the latest South African Top 100 in detail.