Golf in the Western Cape

Golf in the Western Cape has flourished in recent years thanks to the opening of several spectacular new courses, and the number of golf tourists visiting the region. The Western Cape stretches over a large area from Cape Town in the west to Plettenberg Bay in the east, and it’s brimful of destinations at which to have a golfing holiday.

Cape Town itself has many of the country’s traditional old golf clubs, like Royal Cape and Mowbray, but new ones include Atlantic Beach on the west coast, and Steenberg among the vineyards close to Constantia. However, it’s in the Cape Winelands where new golf developments have really taken off. Gary Player’s course at Erinvale has some of the most scenic views, overlooking the mountains and False Bay coastline, while Jack Nicklaus has designed a superb championship layout at Pearl Valley in the heart of the Winelands. De Zalze, at Stellenbosch, is a Peter Matkovich design which recently hosted the World Amateur Team Championships.

Growing as a promising new golf destination in the Cape is the Overberg region, about an hour’s drive from Cape Town over Sir Lowry’s Pass, or taking the magnificent coastal drive, and this area includes the beautiful Arabella resort on the Bot River Lagoon, with its 5-star hotel. The seaside resort of Hermanus has seen major work take place in 2006 on its old 18-hole course, and this has been modernised into an excellent updated layout by Matkovich. Hermanus Golf Club will have a 27-hole complex.

Young South African golf star Trevor Immelman is putting his name as a designer to a new course development at Caledon in the Overberg, and this should complement Arabella and Hermanus. The only other courses in the region are 9-holers, although these include some attractive ones at Kleinmond near Arabella, inland on a dam at Theewaterskloof, and further south at Bredasdorp and Gansbaai, which is the southernmost golf course in Africa. Both these are close to Cape Agulhas, the southern tip of the continent.

The Garden Route, the eastern edge of the Western Cape, has won an award for being the best golf destination in Africa and the Middle East, and this scenic coastal area has some mouth-watering courses on which to play, including the famous Fancourt resort, with its four courses, plus Goose Valley, Plettenberg Bay CC, Pezula, Simola, Oubaai, George Golf Club and Mossel Bay. And the newest member of the Garden Route golf experience is the incredible Pinnacle Point, a course laid out on a headland high above the Indian Ocean at Mossel Bay.

The Air Mauritius Golf Classic 2006

The newly opened Tamarina course played host to the inaugural Air Mauritius Classic in November. This outstanding design and user-friendly layout adds to the tropical island’s growing reputation as a golf destination. Tamarina Golf Estate & Beach Club becomes the seventh 18-hole course on Mauritius, and gives visitors a great deal more in the way of golfing options. It’s situated on the west coast of the island, south of the capital Port Louis, and perfectly positioned close to 10 resort hotels at Flic-en-Flac.

The Air Mauritius Classic, which is to be played annually, attracted a contingent of 100 golfers from throughout South Africa, and was contested over four rounds, two at Tamarina – the opening and closing rounds – and the others at the Peter Matkovich design Chateau du Golf (Bel Ombre), and Paradis. Free ice-cold Black Eagle beers, a local brew, went down well after golf. Golf carts were also available at all three courses, and these were snapped up in no time.

Players were transfered from their hotels to the golf courses, three of the rounds being played in the afternoon (shotgun starts) and one in the morning at Paradis. There were two days off to relax and enjoy the pleasures of the island. Participants, who had a wide choice of hotels at which to stay, flew in on a Saturday direct from Johannesburg and Cape Town and departed the following Saturday morning.

The format was individual Stableford, with competitors taking their two best scores from the first three rounds, and then adding the final round score. The last day at Tamarina was an exciting one, with the leaders paired together, and the Air Mauritius Classic title went to Louis van Wyk on a score of 107 points.

Tamarina Golf Estate is a unique development of 119 individual villas which has proved highly successful for the Pam Golding Property Group. It was marketed globally as an integrated resort scheme, and only a handful of villas are still available. Sales have totalled more than R600-million, and about 25 percent of the villas have been bought by South Africans. Ownership also brings with it Mauritian citizenship and tax benefits.

Tamarina is built on an old hunting estate, and the many mature trees – including the tamarin with its sour-tasting fruit – already give the course an established look. It was designed by the American course architect Rodney Wright, whose work is popular in the region. He also designed the second course at Belle Mare Plage on the east coast of the island, and Lemuria in the Seychelles. The golf director at Tamarina is former Western Province golfer O’Brian Barber.

What is pleasant about the Tamarina layout, apart from its superb design features, originality, attractive setting and top-class conditioning, is the generous width of the holes, which will appeal to holidaymakers. And it has five sets of tees. If you fancy yourself as a long-ball hitter, try the pro tees at 6 886 metres! It will also be freely open to visitors. The 2007 Air Mauritius Classic will return to Tamarina, Bel Ombre and Paradis at an earlier date on the calendar, from September 15-22. More information about inclusive packages can be obtained at www.greensidegolftravel.com.