HIGH RISERS Biggest climbs over the past three years
87) and Knysna has climbed 10 spots from No 83 to 73. Up 9 places are Mod- derfontein (55 to 46), The Woods at Mount Edgecombe (62 to 53), Umh- lali (70 to 61) and Paarl (76 to 67). Up from 98 to 91 in two years is Emfuleni . Inside the Top 50 the climbs have not been as steep or sudden. Howev- er, Prince’s Grant on the KZN North Coast has risen 12 places from No 42 to 30 with improved conditioning and greater recognition of its attractive Matkovich design. This was a Top 20 course until 2010, and raters continue to marvel at its beautiful Aesthetics and Design Variety. Another North Coast resort course, Zimbali , is up 10 places from No 24 to 14, Rising 7 places are Ebotse Links (46 to 39), Hermanus (43 to 36), Hough- ton (36 to 29), Royal Johannesburg West (34 to 27) and Pretoria CC (31 to 24). Up 6 places are Maccauvlei (47 to 41), De Zalze (37 to 31), Champagne Sports (26 to 20) and Pinnacle Point (16 to 10).
Waterkloof , in the heart of Pretoria overlooking a nature reserve, re-en- tered the rankings in 2022 at No 92 and is up 23 places to No 69. Only in recent years has Waterkloof, with a redesign by Peter Matkovich, been regularly vis- ited by raters. They have been especial- ly impressed by the consistently good conditioning of the course. Its mark has gone from 13.6 to 15.3 in three years under greenkeeper Wessel Duvenhage. Moving up 16 places, from No 88 to 72, is The Lakes at Mount Edge- combe , although it only edged up one place this year. This Douw van der Mer- we design exited the rankings in 2012 and did not return until 2021 following general improvements. Two coastal layouts, Atlantic Beach (68 to 54) and Mossel Bay (89 to 76) are up by 14 and 13 places, respectively. Two Gauteng courses, Eagle Canyon and Reading , have moved up virtually side-by-side, Reading 13 places from 77 to 64, and Eagle 12 places from 78 to 66. Royal Port Alfred is up 11 places (98 to
These being annual rank- ings, courses don’t usually make spectacular leaps up the
rankings from year to year. The biggest climber this year, from the 2024 rank- ings, is Waterkloof , which moves up 9 places from No 78 to 69. However, a bet- ter way of identifying high rising and improving courses is to look at where they were 3 years ago, which is what we have done. Goldfields West slumped from No 84 to 94 in the 2022 rankings, and has bounced back remarkably to No 68, a change of 26 places, the biggest of any course. The Central Gauteng bushveld layout 80 kilometres west of Johannes- burg has reached its highest ranking since 2006, when it was No 62.
ROYAL PORT ALFRED NO 87 The par-3 13th green sits below the clubhouse at this Eastern Cape club.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 73
MAY 2025
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