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. 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. Visitors from Europe or the United States will find that the price of accommodation, restaurants and golfing green fees a fraction of what they normally would pay when converted to euros or dollars.
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. Glendower is one of oldest golf courses in South Africa, and has hosted numerous South African opens. A must play for any golfer visiting Gauteng.
- Royal Johannesburg Golf Club – ‘Royal’ contains two 18-hole courses which are considered two of the best parkland courses that Johannesburg has to offer. Although a challenging golf course, the famous ‘East’ course provides a spectacular round of golf. 7 South African opens have also been hosted at the ‘East’ course. 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 – This golf course was opened recently (2008) and is predicted to become one of the top courses in Africa. Blair Atholl was designed by Gary Player.
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.
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. There are many other tourist attractions in Gauteng besides the few mentioned here to keep you busy whilst you are not on the golf course.
If you want to find and book accommodation within Gauteng, have a look at the GolfLinx accommodation guide for Gauteng.
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