Golf in the Knysna area

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Just for golfers.......

Brother in law, Bill and I have played 5 different courses in the past couple of weeks. They vary greatly so I thought I would jot down a short summary for anyone interested or who may be thinking of coming to Knysna with their clubs.

Golf costs converted to UK pounds sterling:

Simola and Pezula both charge the equivalent of about 70. This includes a buggy and compulsory 'half way house'. The custom here is to stop after 9 holes for 10 minutes and have a snack and drink. If Bill and I had managed to find any kind of decent swing then the half way stop pretty much destroyed it! Knysna, Plettenburg Bay and Goose Valley all charged about 35 plus extra for a trolley, caddy or buggy and extra for the halfway house.

We were lucky that we found 'corporate' tickets for sale at a local driving range that reduced the fee at Simola and Pezula down to about 50.

The greatest value for golf if you came for a longer stay of a month or more would be to join a local club, which comes with an affiliation card for all the courses in SA. It cost about 200 to join Knysna. With the affiliation card you then pay all the courses for about a tenner, although I'm not certain this would apply at the championship courses.

Fynbos - this is a SA word for the mix of grass, plants, jungle, snakes, trees etc. It is simply an impenetrable barrier into which you could not go, even if you wanted to (in which case you would be extremely foolish). It is prevalent on most courses.

There are plenty of opportunities to buy back some of the balls lost in lakes and rough as they are recovered by the locals who sell them at the side of the road. We bought 16 prov1s in mint condition for less than 20 quid, there was lots of bartering (pun not intended) to be done for any type of balls.

Courses in order of preference.

Goose Valley Golf Club. This is a lovely parkland type course where Gary Player comes from and still has a house. It has the ambience of a 'members' type club where we were made very welcome. There were lots of snake warning signs and although we never saw any it was never worth it, even for a prov1. I had a decent 34 points here so maybe that has something to do with it's top ranking but it is worth playing by any standard of golfer.

Simola. Talked about this in a previous blog. Stunning course, amazing views and of championship standard. Not too much fynbos and we only lost one ball each. A must to play if you visit SA.

Plettenburg Bay Country Club. This was Bill's favourite. It was a bit dry, due to being in a 'water stressed area' so they were only able to water the tees and greens. There were wonderful birds around the course and signs up warning you about baboons and monkeys although we didn't see either.

Knysna. Another members type course where we received a warm welcome. We would have played here more if we had the time and as it is nearest we could have considered joining in order to get the affiliation card. An easy course to walk as it is flat and not far from green to tee. Plenty of water hazards but thankfully no fynbos.

Pezula This is the championship course and a great experience but it comes last in my rankings. The views are stunning and the people running it are incredibly friendly, all the time checking if we were happy, enjoying the experience etc. The hotel is mega posh and the changing rooms great. The buggy (compulsory, no way could you walk this) included a state of the art sat nav, which was useful. The downside is that the course is so tough it detracts from the overall experience. The fynbos was so proliffic it runs alongside almost every hole. Narrow fairways, hardly any secondary cut, then fynbos. The greens were fast and treacherous so a 2 putt was a result. On some shots you have to carry the fynbos either off the tee or during the hole. At least one tee shot was a carry of about 180 yards, so ok for big hitters but otherwise a struggle. There was always a drop zone after the fynbos but scoring was difficult, I had 23 stableford points. Bill lost 10 balls, I lost 6 and everyone we spoke to had suffered a similar fate. The experience makes it worth playing so long as you don't mind losing some balls but I'm not sure I would play it again.

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