Top 100 Golf Courses of South Africa 2024
The first chart that we produced for South Africa was a Top 50 back in 2008. We then doubled the number of courses to a hundred in the following iteration of the listings and this now is the sixth edition of our Top 100 rankings for the Rainbow Nation.
In this revision, forty-seven courses move up, forty-three drop down, six remain in the same place and four drop out, replaced by four newcomers.
Don’t forget, our coverage also extends down to provincial level so we have a total of 140 courses featured across nine geographical regions within the country.
Let’s crack on right away and look at some of the highlights from the top down.
Fancourt
The Links course at Fancourt was our South Africa #1 from 2016 to 2021 before it was usurped by the Country Club course at Durban Country Club but it regains the top spot once again, moving up one place from the runner-up position. Host venue for the Presidents Cup in 2003, this wonderful Gary Player layout is regarded as one of the Black Knight’s finest designs.
Just a couple of months ago a reviewer wrote: “the course is visually outstanding, the only hole you see is the one you are playing…some of the championship tees are not for the faint hearted and not even offered for play to mere mortals, although maintained meticulously… a good experience and solid golf course.”
The Montagu course at Fancourt rises an impressive eight places to #4, its highest ever position in the national standings. This track was part of the original 27-hole layout at Fancourt which David McLay Kidd then upgraded in 2005. Further modifications were made six years ago, when all the greens were resurfaced with bent grass as part of the improvement programme.
The reviewer above also made the following comments: “the course is a strong parkland layout, certainly not a resort style of carefree golf, it demands the highest amount of concentration in order navigate, and continue momentum in the round… some really astounding par 3 holes throughout the layout, surrounded by water.”
Pearl Valley
Soaring nine places to #5, the 18-hole layout at Pearl Valley in the Cape Winelands region is a Jack Nicklaus production which was unveiled to the golfing world twenty years ago. Host venue for three editions of the South Africa Open between 2007 and 2009, the course was the second of six Nicklaus Signature designs that have opened in South Africa.
Blair Atholl
The Blair Atholl Golf & Equestrian Estate outside Johannesburg was Gary Player’s home for many years before the property was transformed into a residential development. The course that Gary designed returns to our elite Top 10 for the first time since 2014 (rising five to #10) with a reviewer last year describing it as “a long, stern test of golf” – and as it measures 7,500 metres from the back tees, we rather concur with that assessment!
Champagne Sports
The course at the Champagne Sports Resort in Central Drakensberg climbs twenty-one places to #28 in the new national chart. Hugh Baiocchi, the 1978 South African Open champion, designed the layout which debuted in the late 1990s, with the late architect Alasdair McLeod and club stalwart Trevor Livesey (who still serves the club) overseeing construction of the holes.
Bryanston
The elegant, well-tended 18-hole parkland layout at Bryanston Country Club in Sandton advances twenty-four places to #30. It’s a C.H. Alison design from the late 1940s – after the architect and his wife relocated from England to South Africa – with greens revamped by Rob O’Friel at the start of the new millennium to heighten the level of challenge.
Steenberg
Progressing twenty-two spots to #40, the course at Steenberg Golf Club outside Cape Town is a mid-1990s Peter Matkovich composition that recently hosted its first major tournaments when it staged the 2022 and 2023 editions of the South Africa Women’s Open. The golfing amenities on the property are complemented by a luxury boutique hotel, restaurants and a wine estate.
Dainfern
The largest upward move in our new SA standings is made by the Gary Player-designed course on the Dainfern Golf Estate in Sandton (up an incredible thirty-seven spots to #53) which is actually a revamped version of the original Fourways layout. The Jukskei River comes into play on several holes, with the par five 8th crossing this water hazard twice from tee to green.
Paarl
Moving up twenty-one rungs on the ladder to #71, the River and Paarl nines at Paarl Golf Club form the premier 18-hole course at a 27-hole facility which lies less than an hour’s drive east of Cape Town. Set within the Boschenmeer residential estate, the course is a 1990s David Frost redesign (along with architect Danie Obermeyer) and many of local hero Frost’s trophies are on display in the clubhouse.
Parys
Up twenty-three to #74, the course at Parys Golf & Country Estate in Free State province is a design from South African golfing great Cobie Le Grange and the late Douw van der Merwe. Routed in an old-fashioned out-and-back style, the layout lies on an island in the Vaal River, where players reach the tree-lined fairways via an old suspension bridge built in 1918.
Mount Edgecombe
The highest of four new entries arrives at #85 and it’s The Lakes course at Mount Edgecombe Country Club outside Durban. The Woods 18-hole layout – predating The Lakes by some 60 years – is the higher ranked course at this 36-hole facility but the younger course has more interesting topography with elevation changes and the large Pani Dam in the middle of the layout.
The Lakes staged both the SA Men’s Amateur Strokeplay and SA Women’s Amateur events at the club last year.
The other three chart newcomers are Kambaku [#90], Katberg [#94] and Waterkloof [#96].
The four layouts dropping out of the SA listings [with previous national ranking in brackets] are as follows: Durban (Country Club) – currently closed for renovation [#1], Durban (Beachwood) [#47], Worcester [#95] and Huddle Park [#100].
Click the following link to see the newly updated national rankings for South Africa.
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Jim McCann
Editor
Top 100 Golf Courses
