DESTINATIONS / BA-PHALABORWA
each play differently in terms of club selection. There’s a shorter 4 of 338 metres, No 14, yet this is slightly uphill and the fairway turns left between tall trees towards a beautiful green site. The opening holes on each nine, medium par 4s, go down a slope to similarly shaped greens, and No 9 and 18, longer par 4s, play uphill, which makes for a tough finish. No 18 has a man-made water feature right of the green which I couldn’t remember.
distinctive new look to the course and the bunker shaping enhances the greens complexes. Some bunkers are surprisingly substantial. The major- ity guard the greens, although here and there they strategically frame the fairways. The greens are slowly coming back to how they used to be in better times, and are quickening up, although still slow by the standard of Gauteng courses. The fairways at this time of year are dry and bare but very playable. My rounds were enjoyable despite that because the course is one of Bob Grimsdell’s best designs. There’s an excellent flow to the routing through softly undulating terrain. At 6 393 metres from the Rhino tees it’s not a long course, reflecting its age, and broad fairways means you can keep hitting driver all the way round other than on the 3s. It didn’t have a Course Rating or Slope, but a GolfRSA team were due to visit during July for that purpose. Curiously, three of the 3s (2-8-17) are virtually alongside each other, utilising the water holes in that area of the course, and each is an excellent challenge.
There are back-to-back par 5s at No 4 and 5, both playing longer than they look as they climb uphill to their respective greens. They are followed by two memorable 4s, with No 6 a natural stroke 1 that requires a perfectly placed long drive down the left side of the fair- way to create an opening to the green. A big tree on the right blocks anything average. The par 4s are mostly of a simi- lar length, between 354 and 411 metres, yet the changing terrain means they
The par-4 ninth green, with part of the old clubhouse behind.
No 8 is one of a challenging set of par 3s at Ba-Phalaborwa.
16 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JULY/AUGUST 2024
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