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New bunkers on No 7; parking for push carts; Erinvale clubhouse.
and although not too deep compared to others on the course, you don’t want to be up against the face. Interestingly, the absence of a bunker on the left now brings the ditch more into play, so it’s still a demanding tee shot. ERINVALE SWITCH BUNKERS ON PAR 5 It’s a tribute to Gary Player’s design skills that Erinvale has hardly changed its look and feel since the Somerset West estate course hosted the men’s World Cup of Golf in 1996, won by the South African duo of Ernie Els and Wayne Westner. There have been nu- merous upgrades to the clubhouse in- terior in the past 30 years, but not the course.
Thus, it was a surprise to see what has happened to the challenging par-5 seventh hole in recent weeks. This al- ways had a long fairway bunker on the left side of the fairway, and between that and the estate fence was a ditch. The bunker has been grassed over, and three new bunkers have been con- structed on the right of the fairway. The move was done to try and encourage golfers to play down the left side of the hole, because anything with a slice was heading towards the residential homes on the right side. The bunkers have revetted faces,
110 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
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