Wild About Golf - South Africa Golf Vacations
 South
Africa’s phenomenal golf is reason enough to visit. The
game’s rich history and impressive new construction provides
an abundant selection of outstanding layouts. But when you add
a luxury safari, plus Cape Town and the Cape Winelands, plus the
Garden Route, plus the incredible Sun City Resort, the experience
proves to be truly one of a kind. Allow 12-14 days to travel an
area roughly three times the size of Texas and you will encounter
dramatic coastlines, resort beaches, arid deserts, lush coastal
forests, majestic mountains and of course the bush. Among the
twenty national parks and private game reserves, luxurious lodging
offers every chance to sight the Big Five.
Hoteliers
here routinely earn the industry’s highest global accolades.
Cape Town offers three of the finest; the Cape Grace Hotel, Ellerman
House, and The Steenberg Hotel located in the historic wine producing
Constantia Valley 20 minutes from city center.
Area golf includes Royal Cape, eleven time host to the South African
Open and eight time host for the national amateur. Arabella is
a Golf Digest favorite, ranked the country’s #5. Pearl Valley
is a recent Jack Nicklaus Signature set in the famous Franschhoek
Wine region where you may enjoy a day of play complimented nicely
by equally impressive food and wine.
Stretching for 500 miles along the Indian Ocean east of Cape
Town is the famous Garden Route, a flora wonderland boasting over
8,500 plant species and five of the country’s twelve best
courses. First up near Mossel Bay is Pinnacle Point, a Peter Matkovich
/ Darren Clark collaboration recognized as one world’s top
ten new courses in 2006. Another recent addition is Ernie Els’
Oubaai, striking for its high ground panoramic views in every
direction. The area’s long time center piece is the Fancourt
Hotel and Country Club Estate, home to The Links and The Montagu
which recently completed a major renovation by the hand of David
McLay Kidd.
Two hours northwest of Johannesburg is Sun City, home to the
Palace of the Lost City hotel, one of the world’s singularly
most lavish playgrounds. Gary Player Country Club with pristine
kikuyu fairways and bent greens is flawless year round. The Lost
City course is simply breathtaking, a desert style design with
numerous elevated tees offering vista after vista.
South
Africa Issue – Tee Times eNewsetter
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Detailed Sample Itineraries
Golf & Travel Editorial
Durban
Country Club, Links and Parkland in One
by: Chris
Santella
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| The anxieties that have struck
countless golfers approaching the first tee at Durban Country
Club were struck home for Gordon Turner at the tender age of
nine, before he’d even lifted a club. “Growing
up in a farming community outside of the city, it was always
the greatest treat to be invited for Sunday lunch at Durban
Country Club,” Gordon began. “As guests of my great ... Read
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The
Soul of South Africa
by: Brad King
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| IF, AS THEY SAY, MEMORIES OF SOUTH
AFRICA STAY WITH YOU ALWAYS, THE MEMORY THAT STAYS WITH ME
MOST from my voyage around this glorious country is of hitting
range balls on a Sunday morning in Swaziland. My caddie, Shakespeare,
is standing in the middle of the Ezulwini Valley surrounded
by a horseshoe in the form of the Lubombo Mountains, retrieving
the balls I hit from ... Read
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