November 27, 2009

A Gauteng Golf Holiday in South Africa

Author: Bill | Category: General Info

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. Golf Digest ranks 31 Gauteng golf courses within the South African top 100 courses and Gauteng is said to be the golfing capital of South Africa. 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. Because of its ideal year-round climate, golf can be played throughout the year in Gauteng. 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 Gauteng courses have hosted major golfing events for the South African Sunshine Tor and European PGA Tour. 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. Glendower has hosted many South African open tournaments and is one of the oldest golf courses in the country. A must play for any golfer visiting Gauteng.
Royal Johannesburg Golf Club – Two of the best 18-hole parkland golf courses in Johannesburg can be found at Royal Johannesburg. Rated as South Africa’s 8th best golf course, the challenging, but spectacular ‘East’ course has also hosted many South African open tournaments. For a totally different, but slightly easier golf challenge, try out the ‘West’ course, which is also ranked in South Africa’s top 30.
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.

For more information on Gauteng golf courses, take 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. The golf mine gives visitors the opportunity to view the process of mining gold, as well as the opportunity of taking a trip down an old mine shaft. Besides the gold mine, Golf Reef City has a brewery, a Victorian fun fair, pubs, hotel and tribal dancing.

50km southwest of Johannesburg is the famous Cradle of Humankind. This is an area of caves set in dolomitic limestone formed billions of years ago, and the fossilized remains of ancient plants and animals, as well as ancient human/ape fossils can be found here. 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.

In order to locate and book Gauteng accommodation, go to the Gauteng accommodation guide provided by GolfLinx.

Related Information: