holes under water. It was to be almost three months before all 18 were open again, yet in awful shape. NICK JONSSON STEPS UP A benefit of such destruction was the realisation that this was the perfect opportunity to rebuild and reshape the course for the 21st century. A costly R40-million project, yet the club had a benefactor in businessman Nick Jonsson who could make it happen financially. His ancestors had been club members – his paternal grandfather won the Prince of Wales Cup in 1929 – and Jonsson was proud of the club’s heritage and importance in the history of the city. He had been dismayed by its decline in this century, and set his mind on restoring DCC to the lofty pinnacle it had once enjoyed. The club placed their trust for the redesign in a company that has built an enviable reputation in South Africa
for sound and innovative golf course design and construction. Golf Data, under chairman Robbie Marshall, has been huge- ly successful at whatever projects they tackled. Their CV of course de- velopments over the past 35 years is a lengthy one, including all those de- signed by Jack Nicklaus. It was a daunting
COURSES OPENED IN SA SINCE 2010 Olivewood, 2016 The Belmont, 2015 The Club at Steyn City, 2014 Heron Banks, 2014 Highland Gate, 2011 Eye of Africa, 2010 Houghton, 2010 Jackal Creek, 2010
The centennial SA Open was con- tested at DCC in 2010, and yet since then many may have wondered if the championship would ever return. The course had become an outdated anach- ronism in the 21st century, clinging to past glories. Today’s golfing generation were more excited at teeing up on the likes of Leopard Creek, Gary Player CC or Fancourt. However, a seismic event occurred in Durban in April 2022 that undoubt- edly saved the Country Club. A 10-day deluge wreaked catastrophic damage to the course. The Umgeni River end resembled a muddy dam, with several
Smart new bridges have been built over the burn.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 85
MARCH/APRIL 2024
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