The thatch-roofed clubhouse at Kriel Golf Club.
The clubhouse at Skukuza was upgraded in 2022, and the new restaurant and pub facilities have transformed the popularity of this unique golf experience inside the Park, where encountering wild animals on the course has long been part of its attraction for those with a brave disposition. Much of its charm though lay in its previous emptiness. Animals were more likely to venture out on the fairways with no one around. That’s when you had to be alert. Now the course is teeming with roaring golf carts and you might have to wait for an empty table on the clubhouse deck. It remains a special experience though, and the terrible greens of old have been rebuilt with smooth putting surfaces. I like the layout, and there’s a wonderful par 3 finishing hole played over Lake Panic to a green in front of the patrons and submerged hippos. The course at Pilgrims Rest is one of the oldest in the region, its 9 holes attractively laid out in a narrow tree- lined valley alongside a stream and rocky hillside. The immediate area is where SA’s first gold rush took place in 1873, prospectors recovering alluvial gold from the gravel of river beds, and the original name of the golf club was TGME (Transvaal Gold Mining Estates). The small stone-walled clubhouse is thought to be 100 years old. Hosting movie legends A favourite road trip is the day-long drive from Mbombela to the KZN Drakensberg resorts (530km), taking the alternative R40 route towards Barberton, then climbing the escarpment to the Highveld, on the twisty R38, filled with dramatic vistas. About 90 minutes from Mbombela, tucked away in a picturesque mountain valley five kilometres from the main road is a quirky 9-holer at Badplaas Golf Club & Lodge . It was the vision of Leon Rorich, who designed and built the course, and personally maintained it without much assistance. He bought the property at an auction in the early 1990s, and over the years added accommodation and a delightful pub. Sadly, he’s sold up and is no longer there. That pub hosted American movie legends Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer, who lived in the area in 1995-96 during the shooting of The Ghost and the Darkness in Songimvelo Nature Reserve
giant tree resembling a redwood is a striking feature in the middle of the fairway on the downhill par-4 second hole. From the back tee, golfers must fly their drives over the top of the tree or find a way around it. Henning's win at Kriel Allan Henning was one of our finest golfers. The youngest of the four Henning brothers won the SA Open at age 19 and several Sunshine Tour trophies. He was the first to shoot a 61 on tour, at Glendower. He later won the SA Senior Open three times, and the last of these victories came at a 9-hole Mpumalanga course where you would least expect the event to be held. Kriel GC hosted the 54-hole event in June 2001, and competitors faced gusty winds. Henning shot 74-71-74 for a three-over total to win by three. Visiting Kriel today I was impressed with the challenging nature of this parkland layout, and attractive clubhouse facilities. The number of staff on duty, plus the busy 19th hole, suggested an 18-hole facility. It’s just over an hour’s drive from Benoni, and there are several routes from the N12. My advice is the one via Ogies on the R545, to avoid any chance of getting lost amid the power stations and collieries. This is an area where signposts don’t exist. The Greyling family, farming in the area, were involved in the early development of Kriel, and Iaan Greyling’s son Christo was a promising junior golfer. He might have become a star locally, but the Greylings emigrated to Florida in 1997 when Christo was 14. He became the top-ranked junior in the United States (at 17 he qualified for a PGA Tour event), and while his pro career failed to take off, he did have a Sunday pairing with Phil Mickelson in the 2011 US Open at Congressional.
on the border with Swaziland. “Douglas, who played a wild game hunter in the movie, loved his golf, carrying a small bag and walking my hilly course,” said Rorich, who later on was the chief executive at Graceland when that casino and golf resort opened in the late 1990s. “He would hire a helicopter to fly us to play golf at Sun City.” The terrain is extremely undulating, so a feature of its design is a succession of elevated tee boxes. Rorich did exceptionally well to create nine thrilling holes, including three par 3s. Majuba and Volksrust The R38 continues climbing to Carolina. A detour to Ermelo (it has an 18-holer) and N17 south to KZN. On the border between Mpumalanga and KZN lies Volksrust, overlooked by the majestic Majuba mountain where the Boers won a decisive 1881 battle over a British force in the Transvaal War of Independence. Volksrust became a key station on the railway line between Johannesburg and Durban. Steam trains pulled the Trans Natal Express up Laing’s Nek pass into town. Hiking the steep slopes of Majuba to view battle memorials on the summit takes less time than walking nine holes at Volksrust GC , a quality “hidden gem” with well-designed holes on gently undulating and tree-lined terrain. It was the home course of Sunshine Tour star Nico van Rensburg and his brother Adriaan, a long drive champion. Nico represented Eastern Transvaal when at school in Volksrust before Mpumalanga existed. His course record 65 was later shattered when another local who played the Sunshine Tour, Barend Wessels, shot 61. And this is one of SA’s longer 9-holers, 6 399 metres from the tips. The club has its origins in the early years of the last century, and an ancient
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 67
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024
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