The green of the opening hole at St Francis Links is protected by several bunkers.
est of bushveld trees about 150 metres short of the green where the fairway ends abruptly. From there you must play through or over a narrow gap in the trees to a raised green guarded by bun- kers. To make things even more awk- ward, the hole doglegs slightly left, so you can be caught out by the angle. The green itself slopes from back to front. 3 MBOMBELA GOLF CLUB MBOMBELA, MPUMALANGA Even elite golfers battle with the com- plexity of this 440-metre par 4 which plays downhill off the tee, the ball dis- appearing from view, and then turns right to a green which sits dramatically in a bushveld setting below a high kop- pie. A bunker guards the right of the green. It’s a firm fairway on what is usually a dry course, and the tee shot can run a long way. The issue with the hole is that there are rocky outcrops and trees scattered about the fairway in the last 100 metres before the green. Any of these can stymie the approach shot. Too far left and you can’t even see the green, while right also spells trouble. Every hole at Mbombela is named after a tree, and No 1 is Mobola Plum. 4 ATLANTIC BEACH LINKS CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE This 404-metre par 4 typically plays into the south-easterly wind and is a wonderful links-style hole to begin the round. It needs a beefy tee shot to carry the crest of a hill and open a view of the green in a distant hollow. If you don’t have that power, you’re going to be left with a blind second shot from an uphill lie. This is Stroke 2 on the card, and a natural dune flows along the left side of the fairway. That’s the safer side of the fairway to miss, because right of the fairway can be seen the red stakes demarcating the fynbos which may be an attractive feature of the course but gobbles up golf balls. 5 PRETORIA COUNTRY CLUB PRETORIA, GAUTENG NORTH Uphill golf holes always make for a demanding start to a round, and this 390-metre par 4 is Stroke 2 for a reason. At the top of the hill the green sits high above the fairway, guarded by a pair of
up quickly. What’s required from the elevated tees is a bold drive that gets as
an easier proposition if it came later in the round. The chief difficulty lies in a wooded ravine that runs through the middle of the hole, forming a barrier. Many golfers lay up too far back with their tee shots and leave themselves a lengthy carry over the ravine to the el- evated fairway on the other side. Play- ing a fairway metal from a tight lie with the second shot of the day can be nerve- wracking, because the ball needs to get
close to the ravine as possible. 2 ELEMENTS PRIVATE RESERVE WATERBERG, LIMPOPO
Another unusual opening hole by de- signer Peter Matkovich which can in- volve laying up with your tee shot on this 397-metre par 4. There’s a small for-
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 67
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2026
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator