The evergreen course at Sardinia Bay Golf & Wildlife Estate in Gqeberha proved a hit during the summer swing as holidaymakers took advantage of its position next to the mellow waters of the nearby beach.
Club manager Steve Daly, who oversees the day-to-day operations of the nine-hole layout, said it had yet again experienced an increase in the number of rounds played over the festive season.
He believed the nature of the slightly undulating course, which is tucked away among the natural surroundings of the Sardinia Bay Conservancy, has everything going for it as it met the needs of players of all ages.
Besides the residents, which range from young families to retired couples from across the country, learners from Nelson Mandela University and the neighbourhood schools routinely take to the fairways at the end of the academic year.
And, with the estate literally a few drives and a chip down the road from the beach at Sardinia Bay, the golf course naturally attracts its fair share of holidaymakers from all over the country.
“So we pick up substantially during this period,” explained Daly. “Of course, the number of rounds is also ruled by the weather and when the wind starts blowing the numbers tend to suffer a bit.”
The club is affiliated to the Eastern Province Golf Union and SA Golf Association and welcomed visitors but he said they made sure that residents could continue to enjoy the lifestyle they had invested in.
Even though visiting players often request very early or late tee-offs, the club’s rules dictate an earliest start of 7am while the last golfer must be on his cart and off the course by 6pm.
“It is important to consider the homeowners as the golf course is common property. In a sense it is their front garden and if golfers overstay their welcome they wouldn’t be able to enjoy it.”
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He said residents naturally wanted to walk their dogs or enjoy the open areas with their children in the early mornings and evenings.
The bountiful wildlife are however not governed by any of these curfews.
“On the contrary,” explained Daly, “the game have ‘right of way’ on the course.”
Each hole is guarded by two tee boxes, which give players the option of playing nine holes either side of an ice-cold pint at the clubhouse. It also changes the character of the “second” nine to offer a substantially different challenge.
It plays to a par of 64, which is made up of five par-fours and four par-threes on each nine.
The most testing hole is the 360-metre par-four third. Rated stroke one, it is particularly tough when played into the teeth of the coastal “breeze”.
Under Daly’s direction, the course continues to prosper – with the upgrading of the tee boxes one of his team’s most recent success stories.
“At the beginning of winter we started levelling the tee boxes and that project was completed by December. It took a while, but we achieved what we wanted.”
To provide greater definition on some of the sloping tees, frontal areas were raised by laying down poles to form barriers. The second step was to level the grassed area behind it.
“On some holes that dipped severely the ground was starting to fall away, so we put in retaining walls and then filled them up. I may be a bit biased, but they look nice now and we will continue to work on them to ensure proper tee-off areas.”
Another sizeable project in 2022 was the construction of a dam to the left of the fourth. Completed in August, it enables ground staff to water all nine greens and 18 tees.
It is fed by a borehole and grey water from the estate’s sewerage plant and has a capacity of 500-million litres.
In the past they had no alternative than to drag hose pipes to several of the greens, explained Daly. Some tee boxes were totally out of reach and therefore rarely watered.
Although pleased with what they had achieved since February 2020, when he had been t(asked) to nurture the course on behalf of the Homeowners’ Association, he warned that every day was a blank canvas.
“I believe the progress we have made is off the charts but don’t interpret that as the finished product. We’re at it all the time.”