Golf Courses

SA Golf Trader: Gary Player CC Consistently Awarded Gold

Golf Courses, John Collier Survey, Media Article / By

By Alistair Collier | From SA Golf Trader From the John Collier Survey From the 10th to 13th of November, the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City will once again be hosting the Nedbank Golf Challenge, which celebrates its 40th anniversary as “Africa’s Major”. For many years, this event has featured the biggest names in world golf, and now as a DP World Tour event, hosts an elite field of 64 players, playing over 4 days, for a purse of $6 million. To add further excitement, the tournament is the penultimate event in which players are able to accrue qualifying points in the Race to Dubai. Over the years, what Sun International has achieved as host, in partnership with Nedbank as tournament sponsor, is to put on a world class sporting event deserving of its name as “Africa’s major”. The course is, as ever, an immaculately groomed layout, which has received rave reviews from the world’s top golfers, who agree that it is both demanding and fair.In addition, over the past number of years, the Gary Player Country Club has participated in independent third-party reviews of its environmental compliance and good governance processes, through the John Collier Annual Survey. In this regard, the course has been consistently awarded GOLD compliance accreditation for its reporting on issues such as sustainability, local procurement of resources and inclusivity within its local community. These awards do not happen without considerable planning and attention to detail, and special congratulations must go to Ken Payet and his club management team and green keeping staff for their efforts. The golden thread that holds together compliance of sustainability principles and good governance is transparency. The John Collier Survey provides clubs with the ideal tool to achieve this with minimal cost and enjoy the real benefits that come from their participation. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email ajcollier@telkomsa.net or visit the John Collier Golf website at www.johncolliergolf.com

SA Golf Trader: Nine Hole Golf Clubs are the Backbone of South African Golf

Golf Courses, Industry News, John Collier Survey, Media Article / By

By Alistair Collier | From SA Golf Trader media, these publications usually carry articles about top eighteen-hole golf courses hosting regular professional tour events. The exposure is there, continually, week in and week out, showcasing carefully manicured greens and fairways and beautiful views of blue lakes and green vegetation. In South Africa, taking into consideration our climatic conditions and the actual number of golfers playing the game, in reality the Augus­ta syndrome is beyond the reach of many golf clubs. From a media perspective it is important to maintain the narrative but in reality, more than 60% of golf courses in South Africa are nine-hole courses. Notwithstanding the hype, it is suggested that this is where the enthusiasm for the game starts and the place to grow the game. There are many advantages in playing a 9-hole course. For example, it saves time in that the average pace of play for nine holes is just under two and a half hours. It saves money in that many nine-hole rates are typically 50 percent ormore discounted from the full round rate. It is easier on your body as playing nine holes allows you to get great exercise without overdoing it. It is a great way to start because it is not necessarily as taxing mentally and physically for those who are still trying to master the basics. Most importantly your scores still count so you can still submit your -nine-hole scores if you are keeping a handicap. Furthermore, in terms of research carried out through the John Collier Survey many of the so-called big clubs could learn a great deal from these nine-hole courses in respect of environmental compliance and good governance. Good examples of these clubs include Hankey Golf Club in the Eastern Cape, Jagersfontein Golf Club in the Free State, Utrecht Country Club in Kwa Zulu Natal, Mooi Nooi Golf Club in the North West, Springbok in the Northern Cape and Chrome Golf Club in Mpumalanga. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email ajcollier@telkomsa.net or visit the John Collier Golf website at www.johncolliergolf.com