NELSPRUIT GOLF CLUB

Mpumalanga, South Africa

GOLF COURSE

Golf Digest S A

Top 100

Nelspruit Golf Club

#47

Hole by Hole

Length:

Men 6074m

Ladies 5234m

Par: 71

Loweld Layout Par Excellence

Nelspruit Golf Club, with its spectacular backdrop of kopjes, boasts a well-established, attractive Lowveld layout that dates back to 1939.

The golf course is a Bob Grimsdell design with a curious history: It was a 9-holer for nearly 30 years before Grimsdell returned to complete a second nine in 1967-68. In the years that followed, the course was left largely untouched until 1998 when course designer Peter Matkovich lead an extensive upgrade.

Johnnic Properties had bought the land bordering the course from the city council to develop a housing estate. As part of the purchase agreement, Johnnic financed renovations to the golf clubhouse and covered the cost of 18 new bent grass greens, 36 new bunkers, and rerouting the first, second and third holes to accommodate the estate. All work was undertaken by course designer Peter Matkovich. The company also handed over a fleet of new maintenance equipment, bringing the total financial value of the upgrade to around R5-million.

With a par of 71 and measuring 6 063 metres it is not long or overly difficult to play, but Nelspruit golf course has an unusual start to the front nine in that the first is a par 4, the second a par 5, the third a par 3, the fourth a par 5 and the fifth a par 3, before closing off with four straight par 4s. The seven-minute gap between tee times had to be extended to eight minutes to overcome backlogs during peak times because of this.

The dogleg-right first hole is as tough an opening hole. With houses to the left and right an accurate tee shot is needed to find the fairway. You then face a daunting medium- to long-iron shot into a green surrounded by trees and bunkers to the right.

The back nine, save for the two par 3's on 13 and 17, is either played uphill or downhill, with the signature hole being the 498-metre 14th, the only par 5 on the back nine. From an elevated tee, a generous tree-lined fairway runs away gradually to a green surrounded by bunkers. There is the option of going for the green in two, but for high handicappers the safe bet is to lay up.

Straddling the 6th and 18th fairways at Nelspruit Golf Club is the biggest fig tree you are ever likely to see. If your ball lands anywhere near it, there is little chance of going for either green in two. Just imagine trying to play over, around or through a five-storey building spanning some 40 metres at its widest point.

For all its grandeur though, the fig is not the only tree golfers at Nelspruit have to worry about. Many other indigenous trees line the fairways, with more than 50 species having been recorded.