You don’t have to be a golfer to appreciate the benefits of visiting a golf resort. Indeed, some of the best resorts and estates in South Africa are also top destinations for non-golfers.
South Africa just happens to be fortunate in that some of its finest golf courses are part of extended estates that offer hotel and timeshare accommodation as well as a range of facilities to tempt even the most hardened anti-golfer.
And, of course, golf is a great business tool, with many a great deal worked out on fairways and greens. Most of our top golf-based resorts also offer excellent corporate and conference facilities, making the sport one of the fastest growing specialist areas of tourism worldwide.
So what’s out there that’s great? Let’s have a look at some of the great golf (and non-golf!) escapes to be had in South Africa.
Fancourt
It’s in the news and by now world-famous thanks to the hosting of the upcoming President’s Cup on its challenging Links course. But Fancourt is so much more than a golfing estate.
For a start it has one of the best wellness centres and spas in the country, and a marvellous range of exciting restaurants, including the eclectic Sansibar, with an exclusively African menu featuring dishes from across the continent.
Accommodation ranges from the Manor House rooms to garden suites and syndicated lodges, and the grounds of the estate are more than enough for energetic joggers, cyclists or fans of plain old walking.
It’s situated outside George, an ideal place from which to explore the Garden Route, with exciting destinations such as Knysna and Plettenberg Bay a short drive away.
For more information on what Fancourt has to offer, contact the estate on Tel: (044) 804 0000 or visit www.fancourt.co.za.
Arabella Country Estate
Located between Kleinmond and Hermanus in the Western Cape, Arabella features the Western Cape Hotel and Spa.
The hotel is sumptuous, with all the facilities you’d expect at a top international resort: 24-hour room service, a fully-equipped business centre, a pool bar, a cigar bar, a library and a variety of restaurants and bars to cater for everything from family dining, to business lunches and candlelit dinners.
The Altira Spa is widely regarded as the best wellness facility in Africa.
The estate has a renowned conference centre with top-notch banqueting facilities, making it ideal for launches, theme evenings, weddings and special occasions.
The championship golf course was designed by Peter Matkovich and is open to visitors and residents alike.
For more information contact the hotel on Tel: (028) 284 0000 or check it out at www.arabella.co.za.
Spier Country Club
Situated at Stellenbosch, a short drive from Cape Town, Spier has become something of a South African legend, with its annual festival making it the highlight of the arts calendar.
The Village at Spier offers guests beautifully appointed rooms in double-storey buildings grouped around private courtyards, each with its own pool and entertainment area.
Spier is renowned as a working wine farm and has a number of top-class restaurants, a conference centre and an equestrian centre in its extensive grounds.
Its 18-hole course was also designed by Peter Matkovich and is open to visitors, societies and corporate golf days.
For more information on Spier contact the estate on Tel: (021) 809 1100 or visit www.spier.co.za.
Erinvale Golf Estate
Enjoying a great position in Somerset West, close to Cape Town International airport, a 40-minute drive from the Mother City itself and a stone’s throw from the legendary Cape winelands, Erinvale has become one of the top golfing destinations in the country.
With a top-class hotel and several affiliated guest houses, Erinvale is an ideal getaway for golfers and their families wishing to explore further afield, or just relax on the beautifully-manicured estate with its fantastic mountain scenery. The 18-hole course was designed by the legendary Gary Player.
For more information contact the hotel on Tel: (021) 847 1160 or visit www.erinvale.co.za.
Hans Merensky Hotel and Estate
Limpopo’s (if not South Africa’s) finest, the Hans Merensky has achieved legendary status among national and international golfers and tourists alike.
Situated a short distance from Phalaborwa and the Kruger National Park, which runs along its entire eastern boundary, the estate boasts game aplenty in its grounds and on the golf course.
The hotel is an Out of Africa experience, offering guests the perfect combination of luxury in natural surroundings, with hotel rooms overlooking a picture-perfect swimming pool and thatched chalets set along the golf course.
In addition to the leisure facilities there is a beautiful conference and business centre.
An added bonus is that there is so much to do off the golf course in this part of the world — with the lure of the Kruger National Park a short distance away, and the African Ivory Route and Limpopo’s historic Valley of the Olifants on the doorstep.
The course itself was designed by Bob Grimsdell and features crocodile and hippo as well as resident giraffe, impala, warthog, baboons and vervet monkeys.
For more information contact the hotel on Tel: (051) 781 3931 or visit www.hansmerensky.com.
Sabi River Sun
The picturesque lowveld town of Hazyview is home to this charming hotel and timeshare resort with its Golf Data-designed 18-hole course set in a verdant tropical paradise.
Part of the Southern Sun group, the Sabi River Sun offers comfortable en suite accommodation in the main hotel block, and luxurious self-catering timeshare units with all mod cons, which can be rented by guests when not in timeshare use.
The chalets are arranged in groups along the edge of the golf course and each group has its own swimming pool.
If you want a break from self-catering, the hotel has a lovely restaurant and outside terrace for alfresco lunches or snacks.
Sabi River Sun is also ideally positioned in the centre of one of the most beautiful tourism areas in the country, within easy driving distance of the breathtaking Blyde River Canyon and the Panorama Route along the edge of the escarpment, which takes in such sights as Bourke’s Luck Potholes, God’s Window and the towns of Graskop and Pilgrim’s Rest. The Kruger National Park is also a short drive away as are a myriad private game lodges.
For more information call the hotel on Tel: (013) 737 7311 or visit www.southernsun.co.za.
Selbourne Golf Estate, Spa and Hotel
Located a short drive south of Durban at Pennington on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, Selborne is the perfect antidote for non-golfers with a newly-opened health spa, floodlit tennis courts, a private beach club bordering the balmy Indian Ocean, swimming pools, walking trails, superb cuisine in romantic candlelit surrounds and a well-stocked cellar.
The estate and its 18-hole championship course is surrounded by indigenous coastal forest — home to duiker, mongoose, bushbuck and more than 160 bird species.
Accommodation is provided in manor-house style elegance, with six manor rooms, nine garden suites or 36 luxury twin rooms, all with en suite facilities. For more details contact Selborne on Tel: (039) 975 1133/ 688 1800 or visit www.selborne.com.
San Lameer
Situated at Southbroom on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, this is a true family resort set in lush gardens adjacent to a beautiful nature reserve and one of the nicest stretches of beach along this part of the coast.
Accommodation is offered in either the Protea Hotel San Lameer or in self-catering villas, both options giving guests high levels of comfort and a range of excellent facilities.
The hotel overlooks a lake, with its pool raised on a timber deck from which guests can idle away their time birdwatching or simply soaking up the idyllic surroundings.
Walking trails wind their way through the nature reserve and a separate swimming pool and entertainment centre for villa residents helps keep children occupied.
The villas have their own laundry facilities and a mashie course offers would-be golfers the chance to pit their wits against the pros.
Other sporting attractions are squash, tennis and bowls, and a range of watersports from canoeing and windsurfing to fishing is available.
There are conference facilities on the estate for up to 120 delegates and for those wanting to combine business with pleasure, the 18-hole championship course is widely regarded as one of the most demanding in the country.
For more information contact the hotel on Tel: (039) 313 0011 or visit www.sanlameer.co.za.
Sun City
No overview of South Africa’s top golf-based resorts would be complete without the Sun International’s flagship and Africa’s “kingdom of pleasure”, Sun City. This is home to the Gary Player Country Club and the Lost City Golf Course, perhaps the most famous of Gary Player’s signature courses.
For those who don’t know it, Sun City boasts a range of fine hotels —from the Cabanas and the Sun City Hotel and Casino to the Cascades and the legendary Palace of the Lost City.
There is an amazing range of activities to sample: from hot-air ballooning and clay-pigeon shooting, to elephant-back safaris, game drives in the neighbouring Pilanesberg National Park, to swimming (or surfing) at the Valley of the Waves or in one of the hotel pools, a feast of watersports on the lake, an entertainment centre, and fine dining at a range of eateries.
But the highlight for any self-respecting golfer is the country’s number one golf course — the Gary Player Country Club.
For the latest information on what’s what at Sun City, contact Sun International on Tel: (011) 780 7000 or visit www.suninternational.com.
Leopard Creek
The Kruger National Park is your playground when you visit the Leopard Creek Estate at Malelane. And, if your wallet can stretch to the R1 300 green fees, the ultra exclusive Leopard Creek course is a challenge bar none.
The brainchild of magnate Johann Rupert, only members and guests at the adjacent Malelane Sun Intercontinental hotel can play the Gary Player-designed course (Player had input from none other than Jack Nicklaus and the course is African bush golf at its best).
Because of the position of the estate, access to the Kruger National Park is easy (a mere half kilometre from the gatehouse) as is access to the nearby lowveld capital of Nelspruit and the attractions of the Panorama route.
The hotel is among the best, with excellent service and comfortable luxury accommodation, and one of the best game-viewing decks in the area overlooking the Crocodile river.
For more information call the hotel on Tel: (013) 790 3304 or visit www.leopardcreek.com or www.southernsun.co.za.