RESISTANCE TO SCORING REMOVED
Playability and Conditioning, two of the six criteria, now receive 40% of the total mark of 100 points, whereas previously they received just 25%. Shot Values, the criteria which measures risk-and- reward aspects of every hole, used to be 25% and is now 15% along with Aesthet- ics, Design Variety and Memorability. The removal of Resistance to Scoring has most damagingly hurt the Gary Player CC, regarded by many as the toughest challenge in South Africa for both professional and club golfers. Resistance to Scoring asked the ques- tion: How difficult, while still being fair, is the course for the scratch player from the back tees? We have moved on from there because the back tees are now seldom used other than in elite tourna- ments by players whose drives land 100 metres further down the fairway than the rest of the golfing community. And so why should the ranking of courses be a preserve of 1% of golfers whose ex- treme length off the tee diminishes the essence of the game? The back tees at courses in South Af- rica’s Top 100 are also at vastly different ends of the scale. Having but a few hun- dred courses, of varying lengths, we are
ZIMBALI The top KZN course in the rankings. This is the par-4 second.
54 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
MAY 2024
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