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The Top 7 Golf Courses in South Africa

South Africa is a great golfing destination. There are about 450 golf courses in South Africa and approximately 15 regularly feature in the list of the world’s top golf courses. Here are the current 7 top rated course juts in case you needed another excuse to hit the greens’. 

1. Leopard Creek

Rated the best course in South Africa and 25th in the world outside the US by Golf Digest USA, Leopard Creek is situated on the border of the world-famous Kruger National Park.
Gary Player's design takes advantage of the natural environment, which is home to Africa's "big five" - lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo - and over 200 species of birds that make their homes in the surrounding trees, some of which are over 100 years old.

Players are protected from the wildlife by means of innovative architectural and landscaping techniques - although water hazards might include the odd hippopotamus or crocodile!

2. Gary Player Country Club

Host to the Nedbank Challenge, the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City in North West province features two holes that have ranked in Golf Online's list of the 500 best holes in golf: the 520 metre par-five ninth, and the 402 metre par-four eighteenth.

The course is one of the longest in South Africa and certainly one of the toughest, with the rough especially punishing. It places a premium on accurate approaches, with plenty of bunkers and water hazards sprinkled around the layout to test even the best.

3. Fancourt Hotel, Country Club and Golf Estate

Located in the picturesque southern Cape, The Links at Fancourt hosted a memorable 2003 Presidents Cup clash between the USA and the International Team, as well as the inaugural Women's World Cup of Golf in 2005.

Ranked 59th in the world outside the US by Golf Digest USA, the course is unique in South Africa. Gary Player's design took a marvel of construction to piece together, with over 700 000 cubic metres of earth being moved to create a typical Links-style course on what had been a flat piece of land.

Perhaps the most eye-catching hole is the par-three second, with a bunker in the heart of the green. Despite the challenge of the bunker, Player reckons the contours on the green can be used to get the ball near the flag.

4. Durban Country Club

The Durban Country Club has hosted more South African Open Championships than any other in the country, with a list of winners that includes Gary Player, Bobby Locke, Bob Charles, Ernie Els and Tim Clark.

Built on old swampland surrounded by high dunes, the course blends into its surroundings as it undulates along the coastline a short distance from the Indian Ocean. The channels created by the dunes mean that the wind - depending on whether one is sheltered by a channel or not - is a very testing factor.

Three of its holes have been included in Golf Online's top 500. These all occur within the first five holes, starting with a par-three 176-metre second, followed by a par-five third that plays at anywhere from 460 to 513 metres, and ending with a par-four 461-metre fifth hole.
5. Arabella Country Club

Bordering the largest natural lagoon in South Africa, with the ninth, seventeenth, and eighteenth running parallel to the water, Arabella Country Club provides both a wonderful golf challenge and an eye-catching landscape. Designed by top local designer Pete Matkovich, it made a strong impact when Golf Digest named it the best new course in South Africa in 1999, and it has kept up the high standard it set early on, featuring regularly as one of South Africa's top-10 courses.

6. Pearl Valley Golf Club

This was the second Jack Nicklaus signature design to be opened in South Africa, in 2003. Nicklaus was in top creative form in laying this out on a flat property between the Paarl mountain range and the Berg River. Tremendous design, well bunkered, very fair for all levels of golfer, that asks for topclass approach shots.

Two of the most visually attractive and challenging holes, the seventh and eighth, both par 4s, have been built around a large dam.

7. Wild Coast Country Club

Designed by the world-renowned Robert Trent Jones, the course is set against the background of the Indian Ocean, making it beautiful - but punishing for those that stray into the rough.

The course isn't long, but it presents interesting and challenging changes in elevation, and while the fairways are wide, it is important not to stray from them at all.

The club's signature hole is the par-three thirteenth, which measures only 146 metres but is a real tester, and has been included in Golf Online's 500 best holes in the world.

Leave us a comment and let us know what your top picks are.