South Africa's Best Golf Courses - Champagne Sports Resort

KwaZulu Natal has South Africa’s best climate, white sandy beaches and tourist attractions. KwaZulu Natal also has some of the the best golf courses in the country, with 16 courses being ranked within the Golf Digest top 100 courses for South Africa. KwaZulu Natal has winters that are extremely mild – because of this, golf can be played anytime though the year. KwaZulu Natal has a wide variety of tourist attractions for visitors, and a KwaZulu Natal golf holiday can offer a lot more than just playing golf.

With the favorable South African Rand exchange rate, overseas visitors will also find that the price of green fees, accommodation and restaurants is just a fraction of what they would pay in Europe or the United States. To find and book an airfare to South Africa, or within South Africa, take a look at the following airfare search and booking facility for South Africa.

Both amateur and professional golfers will find the KwaZulu Natal golf courses an interesting challenge – the top quality championship courses offer tee boxes to suit all levels of golfer. Any KwaZulu Natal golf holiday should include the following courses:

• Durban Country Club – The top ranked golf course in KwaZulu Natal. Opened in 1922, this historic course has hosted the South African Open 14 times. With its dense bush, indigenous trees and undulating fairways it is hard to believe that this spectacular championship course is actually situated in the center of Durban. This semi-links course which has been carved into the sand dunes is no walkover, and really bares its teeth when the a strong onshore wind blows.
• Wild Coast Sun Country Club – Rated as one of the best courses in Southern Africa, this course is a must on any KwaZulu Natal golf holiday. Wild Coast is a permanent yearly fixture on the South African professional golf tour. As this extremely hilly golf course has been designed over some extremely rugged, but spectacular terrain, golf carts are compulsory. Although under 6000 meters, with six par threes, this course is no pushover – especially when the wind blows off the sea.
• Champagne Sports Resort – Set against the magnificent backdrop of the Drakensburg mountains, this perfectly manicured course not only offers the golfer a superb challenge of golf, but also an incredible scenic experience. Although a long course with the longest par five in the country, the high altitude means you will hit your longest ever drives.

A good website for more information about the KwaZulu Natal golf courses is the GolfLinx KwaZulu Natal golf guide.

KwaZulu Natal has numerous other attractions besides its spectacular world class courses. KwaZulu Natal has some of the top beaches within South Africa, and the warm Indian Ocean provides ideal swimming conditions most of the year. Northern KwaZulu Natal also has some of the best game reserves in South Africa, two of which are the Umfolozi and the Hluhluwe nature reserves. The Drakensburg mountain range is also a must on your itinerary if you are into mountains, hiking and backpacking. The Amphitheater in the Northern Drakensburg is the single biggest rock face in the world. KwaZulu Natal offers a host of other tourist attractions beside the few mentioned in this article – so you can take a break from golf and enjoy many other attractions KwaZulu Natal has to offer.

To search and book accommodation within KwaZulu Natal, check out the GolfLinx accommodation guide for KwaZulu Natal.

Silver Lakes Golf Estate – Gauteng in South Africa

Although Gauteng is the smallest province in South Africa, it is the financial capital and industrial hub of the country. 31 Gauteng golf courses are ranked within the Golf Digest top 100 golf courses for South Africa, and Gauteng is the main golfing hub of the country. Gauteng also has a wide selection of other tourist attractions, and is therefore the ideal destination for a golfing holiday.

A Gauteng golf holiday offers the golfer a wide variety of top rated championship golf courses which will challenge the amateur and professional alike. Gauteng has an ideal climate for golf, and golf can be played all year round. The favorable South African Rand exchange rate is also attractive for tourists coming from Europe or North America. When converted to euros or dollars, the price of golfing green fees, accommodation and restaurants is a fraction of what one would expect to pay in Europe or the United States.

Many of the golf courses in Gauteng have been designed by some of legends in golf, such as Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Greg Norman and Ernie Els. Many European PGA Tour and South African Sunshine Tour golfing events have been hosted at Gauteng golf courses. Any Gauteng golf holiday should include the following courses:

• Glendower Golf Club – Rated as the top golf course in Gauteng, and is one of South Africa’s most challenging and beautiful golf courses. This famous golf course has hosted numerous South African opens and is one of the older courses in South Africa. A must play for any golfer visiting Gauteng.
• Royal Johannesburg Golf Club – The two 18-hole parkland golf courses at ‘Royal’ are among the best courses in Johannesburg. The challenging ‘East’ course is rated as one of South Africa’s 8th best course and has hosted 7 South African opens. Royal Johannesburg’s ‘West’ course offers a slightly easier, but a totally different type of golfing challenge, and is also ranked within South Africa’s top 30 courses.
• Blair Atholl Golf Club – Recently opened in 2008, Blair Atholl was designed by Gary Player and it is predicted to become one of Africa’s top golf courses.

To find out more about the golf courses in Gauteng, have a look at the GolfLinx golf directory for Gauteng.

Besides its world class golf courses, Gauteng has many other attractions. Gold Reef City is a reconstruction of Johannesburg during the gold rush era, and is built around a functioning gold mine. Visitors can take a trip down an old mine shaft and observe the process of mining gold. Besides the gold mine, Golf Reef City has a brewery, a Victorian fun fair, pubs, hotel and tribal dancing.

The famous Cradle of Humankind, 50km southwest of Johannesburg, is a strip of dolomitic limestone caves containing the fossilized remains of ancient forms of animals, plants and most importantly, ancient human fossils. There are more than three dozen fossil-bearing caves, with some of the ancient ape-man fossils dating back 2.3 million years.

Visitors wanting to see the Big Five, which are Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Rhino and Buffalo, can visit several excellent nature reserves and game parks situated around Johannesburg and Pretoria. The few tourist attractions mentioned here are just the tip of the iceberg, and there are many other exciting tourist attractions in Gauteng, not to mention the spectacular Gauteng golf courses.

If you want to find and book accommodation within Gauteng, have a look at the GolfLinx Gauteng accommodation directory.