M other Nature can be hugely damaging to golf courses, as we’ve seen the past month, with high winds toppling hundreds of mature trees at George GC and Fancourt, and flooding wiping out holes at Silwerstrand estate in Robertson. This year it has been the turn of the Western Cape and Mpuma- langa to suffer; previously it had been KwaZulu-Natal. George members are still coming to terms with the devastation inflicted on their parkland course (see page 15). They have been playing golf elsewhere since it happened, thanks to the gener- ous reciprocity offered by other Garden Route clubs, but now they are return- ing home and facing up to a course that looks different from the one they knew. Our golfers are generally “tree-hug- gers.” We love parkland courses and the many tree species lining the fairways. George is a fine example. However, we forget that nearly all our courses were originally built on barren ground, with little vegetation. Our ancestors embarked on massive tree-planting projects, mainly fast-growing blue gums and pines. These comprised most of the trees that crashed down on fairways and greens at George. They shouldn’t be mourned for long. In the United States, many famous private clubs have been cutting back the forests on their courses, opening the landscapes. It has become a trend in the north-east. An extreme example EDITOR’S LETTER E Destruction can lead to renewal
is Oakmont Country Club. When Ernie Els won the US Open there in 1994 the trees were so dense that you couldn’t see between holes. When the US Open was played there last year, only a handful re- mained. The course is no less appealing. Not for one moment would it be sensible for George GC to cut down more trees, but a reduced number might enhance the layout and create more views across the course from the clubhouse, as it has done at Oakmont. The renewal of courses can be re- warding. Four years ago, Durban Country Club was severely damaged by flooding. Today, we see a transformed layout that draws admiring comments from members and visitors. Its resusci- tation not only involved the construc- tion of new greens, but the removal of much of the invasive coastal bush that had proliferated in tropical conditions. Members were initially distraught at the amount of clearing taking place, but now see the new vistas as beneficial. When it comes to forces of nature devastating a course, nothing can match what happened in the Cana- dian Rockies on July 22, 2024. A wild- fire roared through the revered Jasper Park Lodge that night. The 100-year- old Stanley Thompson design had been lined with somewhere between 8 000 and 9 000 trees. The next morn- ing it resembled “scorched earth.” Few trees remained alive. Either they were charred black flagpoles, or had been uprooted and felled onto fairways, greens and into bunkers. It wasn’t the fire that had uprooted 60-metre Doug- las firs with 10-metrewide root systems but cyclonic winds. Black ash covered the course, the greens were charred. The site lost 90 percent of its tree cover, and most of the remaining 10 percent was centred
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around the Lodge itself (which, mirac- ulously, survived, likely only because the course, drenched from the irriga- tion before it succumbed to the fire, acted as a natural break in the fire’s path). Course architect Ian Andrew was shocked at the sight but began seeing vistas he’d never had before. He could make out the topography better. Hid- den peaks were now visible. It occurred to him that most of the trees hadn’t been there when Thompson built the course in the 1920s. Andrew turned to the course superintendent, and said, “I can’t believe what I’m looking at. This might actually be better than before.” More than 7 000 trees were removed, and the course reopened for play 344 days later, on July 1, 2025. This year Golf Digest has Jasper Park Lodge at No 35 in their biennial ranking of the World’s 100 Greatest Courses (see Page 108). Two years ago, in the 2024 rank- ings, it was 45. Stuart McLean stuartm@morecorp.co.za
GOLF DIGEST USA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JERRY TARDE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR MAX ADLER EXECUTIVE EDITOR PETER MORRICE INTERNATIONAL EDITOR JU KUANG TAN
TEACHING PROFESSIONALS: TODD ANDERSON, MARK BLACKBURN, CHUCK COOK, HANK HANEY, BUTCH HARMON, ERIKA LARKIN, DAVID LEADBETTER, CAMERON MCCORMICK, JIM MCLEAN, MICHAEL NEFF, RENEE POWELL, RANDY SMITH, RICK SMITH, DAVE STOCKTON, JOSH ZANDER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS: AMY ALCOTT, RANDY MYERS, NICK PRICE, JUDY RANKIN, LUCIUS RICCIO, BOB ROTELLA, BEN SHEAR, RALPH SIMPSON, DR ARA SUPPIAH PLAYING EDITORS: COLLIN MORIKAWA, JORDAN SPIETH
EDITOR STUART MCLEAN DESIGN ELINORE DE LISLE MEDIA SALES DANIEL EGDES (daniele@morecorp.co.za)
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6 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JUNE 2026
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