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Harare might not be the place you’d think about as a golf destination, but when we visited, we got to play three amazingly good golf courses, stayed in some luxury accommodation and ate some the best food.
Here, I will share our experiences.
Chapman Golf course is in spitting distance of the heart of the metropolis of Harare, hard to believe with very little road noise whilst playing and a course which brings pretty much every challenge a golfer might want but maybe not need at the time! The front and back nines play very differently, with big shapely greens which didn’t resist the roll of the ball. The gentle undulations on the greens - the type that you’re on the way to pick the ball out of the hole, and it takes a little turn off centre and misses the hole by a fraction, adding another shot to the hole! A clever design and pleasing on the eye. Straight or swaying fairways, narrow or wide and some with water in play. Various tee positions to suit your golf game set in a little tropical oasis amidst the turmoil of the
capital. It did seem to me that the forward tees often had more to negotiate around, such as overhanging tree branches. But as I lost maybe I’m looking for excuses. Back into the
friendly clubhouse, members chatting happily and including us in their conversations, we then got one of the best foodie treats from Chef Lincoln, a talented chef based at Chapman Golf Club. Chef Lincoln has travelled the world and bought his wealth of international expertise and culinary flair to share at this beautiful location. Such a treat for golfers and non golfers alike. We dined overlooking the 18th green, a great finishing par 5 hole, with a table decorated with petals, this was the start of our gastronomic feast which left us feeling satisfied, full and amazed at the tastes beautifully presented to us, course after course. The package is complete when you
stay at St. Tropez apartments. Recently renovated, this complex of buildings offers multiple apartments in varying styles. A place to call home away from home, with its differing decor in each unit, you could self catering, well that is, if you could resist Chef Lincoln’s repertoire that is!. With Chapman Golf Club being a few minutes walking distance from the St Tropez apartments, it’d be difficult to not join Chef and his team for every meal. Great golf, great food and great accommodation. Whilst basing yourself at St Tropez, you can explore Harare, and reach the other golf courses too.
Borrowdale Brooke Golf Estate is slightly out of Harare in a gated community, so a pass code needs to be arranged with the golf club in advance. An upmarket golfing community, beautifully maintained with planting to be the envy of your neighbours. The few glimpses of the golf course as your drive in do little to let you know how good this course really is. Book a golf cart with Kingsley, though the club, complete with a detachable sat nav system, and once checked in you’re ready to go. Keeping the club house on your left, the first hole is the start of a series of networks that offers golf and estate living in harmony. Quality shines through and by the time you reach hole number 4, you’re warmed up and ready to take on the next challenge. If the first three holes were akin to elevator music, from hole 4 is much more punk rock. Not that the verdant green has gone away, its just been chopped up by sways of green fairway as opposed to one continuous one. Dissected by water courses which luckily for us the were empty at the time, placement for the golf shots became more of a priority.
Humps and bumps in play gave greater emphasis the the shape the course was now taking - humps and bumps which may help or hinder the rolling ball. As seen with other Peter Matkovich designs, he does like to shape and hide the bunkers, and whilst fairly shallow with good sand, hole 6 had a clever hidden bunker. With a modern built half way house under the shade of the trees and a clubhouse to greet the weary golfer at the end, Borrowdale Brooke also offered a tasty menu to enjoy. As we played early, we took a late breakfast option, which set us for for the rest of the day and replenished some of the lost energy when playing.
Royal Harare Golf Course - there is always something quite special about playing a Royal course, and as we’ve been lucky enough to play a few of them, we knew we’d be in for a treat. We were also lucky to mingle with some of the female members of the club, who were so chatty and welcoming, and of course curious as to what we were doing, offering suggestions for our remaining route in Zimbabwe.
An early tee time, after being chastised for making sure we kept up with the group in front or let them through - hello! We finally set off down the first, whereupon a 1 ball came up quickly behind us, so we let him through and didn’t see many other golfers after that. I think he was sneaking a quick game before work, so we weren’t going to hold him up anyway.
Hole number one had a deer wandering across the fairway, ambling along as if no worries, he even dotted back into playa few more times, which made me think, this deer is walking round as if a golfer, here there and everywhere.
As tranquil as a golf course can get with the first opening its arms to what laid ahead, and we took that course embrace with gusto. Hard to believe it was next to an army barracks, no gun fire, or evidence of army life, just the stillness of the golf course. Some of the flat top trees gave it away as a little tropical paradise. Being tree lined the varying shades of green offset each other to taper to the putting surface. Large and smooth to the ball rolling, running true, they were a pleasure to putt on. Royal Harare isn’t a course that has hills, it is easily walkable and with he amount of shade from the trees, there was plenty of respite from he sunshine too.
We might be getting used to playing on green courses, as the weather warmed and bought some rain (and on-course watering) but one can never get used to the smack in the face that we got with all three of the Harare courses we played.
Current score of our challenge to play 100 African golf courses - Stephen 10, Sarah 8
18/100 played - so far!
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