Eastern Cape Golf, South Africa

 Including: Royal Port Alfred, Humewood, St Francis Links, St Francis Bay Courses, 

Plus Amazing accommodation at St Francis Golf Lodge

With dire warnings not to travel through Mthatha, apparently a known bad spot for crime, we decided to take a slight diversion around the town to avoid anything sinister going wrong, or putting ourselves in a place we don't want to be or can’t control.  Such horror stories as false road blocks, or when you pull up to a junction, the locals crawl all over the car, taking things off, and you’re powerless to stop them, even armed robberies - no we just don’t need that thank you.  In truth, we don’t know if these stories are correct or whether they have been embellished upon in the form of South African whispers - a bit like Chinese whispers but more danger added in. 

Our route passed traditional round huts, with broken thatch, paint peeling or the more modern tin roof version, which were also dotted along the roadside.  The rain didn’t deter the young children standing by the roadside - just watching us go by, rarely waving but sometimes we got an afterthought smile as we grinned aimlessly at these cute children, disheveled and with torn clothing, it was a sight to see.  The rain didn’t encourage the washing to be pulled back inside, maybe because there is no where to dry their clothes if not outside, space is a premium in their homes, I’m sure.  Instead it got an extra wash and was left to dry - eventually.  Local people just wore more clothes layering up to keep the rain at bay.  Hardly any of the clothes were waterproof and would soak through at some point.  Others were dressed immaculately in their blue and white ‘Sunday best’.  Women and girls were wearing longer candlewick dressing gowns, wrapped tightly around them for warmth, but only serving as a wick to soak up the rain. 

Pigs, cows, goats all huddled together under the grey skies, some loose, some penned up.  The local taxi mini buses jostling for space, pulling in and out without warning or indication, or just stoping where they were to let a customer get on or off, where they were was often in the middle of the road, and as some didn’t have working brake lights, drivers had to keep their whits about them. 

Under grey skies, the landscape is not too dissimilar to Yorkshire or Derbyshire.  With the grey skies came the stress levels of navigating around Mthatha, which did eventually take us through a nice looking neighbourhood before popping back onto the N2 the other side.

Either way, we were not game to test these negatives instead relished in the round about way we went and arrived into Coffee Bay safely and without harm to ourselves or to Andi.

It was a rainy trip and the landrover windscreen wipers screamed as they were forced to perform.  Thoughts of, we should have changed this 24v system to a more common working 12v one, but the drag on the windscreen was nothing if the motor continued to work, and fortunately it did.

A quick stop over in Coffee Bay, an area that conjures up tropical images.  The walk to the beach was a lovely, albeit a little dirty with discarded rubbish littering the way.  One lady was exercising her horses on the beach as we wandered along the craggy beach, where the water line had left deep rutted walkways along the sand, never straight or in a direct line, but taking the natural course, as water does.

A dolly mixture of houses tumble down the hill sides, in no semblance of order but with a riot of colour, they lack uniformity and could be perceived as messy as the houses seem to be plonked anywhere on the hilly landscape.

The Transkei is so much like Scotland or Shetland, or even rural England; scenic but sadly the country has an edge to it, a feeling of always looking over your shoulder kind of edge, and uneasiness that we’ve never experienced in South Africa before, in all the 30 years we’ve been visiting.  That said the countryside and the places we stayed and played golf are all top notch and with a heavy heart we are sad to say South Africa in general, is a bit broken.

Heading further south along the East coast of South Africa, our first stop over for golf is Royal Port Alfred.  The most northerly of the courses we’re showing in this section, but definitely one thats worth the extra mile.  Geographically it out on a bit of a limb, but make the extra effort north from St Francis Bay, and you’ll be justly rewarded with not only a warm welcome, a stack of pancakes but wildlife usually only seen in game parks. 

A hybrid golf course of links style in a parkland layout with sights of the sea, and its a strong course as a result.  With ocean views to beat some of the true links courses, yet an honest playing field to score well. We loved the way the course had an almost innocence about it as it ducked and dived in and out of view of the ocean.  High dunes frame the course in places and it was lovely to see large tortoise trundling along quite happily at their, contrary to belief, not so slow pace!

The large greens have been managed really well and are a pleasure to putt on, with the tee boxes being quite close to the end of the previous hole, it has a bit of a tractional feel about its design, its an open and fair design.  The course dates back to 1907 and unusually turns on 13, which begs the question; when do the South African golfers eat?  Their ingrained stop half way round for food, do they stop after 13 or carry on to the end?  We carried on through to 18, which suited us.

Hole 6, the first par three over shrub to a big green has been given as much attention as the longer holes.
  Sloping fairways with greens cut so nice that they leave a little bounce as if testing a baked cake with its spring back..  Blesbok, impala, springbok and tortoise on the course is always great to see, and watching one baby springbok, clearly confused and lost narrowly escaped it being tucked under my shirt and being adopted by me.

I could have also adopted the chef, with his stack of pancakes and full breakfast - that’s what awaited us upon our return, and we enjoyed the hearty breakfast in a relaxed clubhouse atmosphere.

The first time, and I got ahead in our Africa100 challenge, overall score Steve 12.5, Sarah 13.5

The drive to Port Elizabeth (now called something quite different and unpronounceable, so forgive my ignorance in using the name I’ve always used) was in bright sunshine, although it had a cool feel about it, and a strong wind.  Playing Humewood, the wind blew a hooley, even nearly blowing the doors off the landrover as we disembarked in the car park. The only true links in South Africa, the first hole remind me so much of one links in Scotland.  In truth the wind gave us a little head start before it blew us to pieces from hole 4 where I played driver, 5 wood, 5 wood for this par 4, handicap 1 hole.  The greens were lightening fast, probably aided by the drying wind, so to walk away with a double bogey was a result!  Add to that the cleverly placed graduated hillocks on the greens made putting tough that day, with many a ball roll leaving you looking incredulously at the slight change as it is deviated off line and past the hole.

The deep revetted bunkers with varying sand depth in them make for an interesting stance and style of play at times, bearing in mind coming out sideways is always an option!

Hole 10 fairway was like a ploughed field, one where they had left the potato rows in pace and just grassed it over, so not  so comfortable to walk along as you start to sway from feeling sea sick!  Coupled with the deep menacing slithers of bunkers, strategically placed to catch you out.  After a couple of holes on the back nine, the course became a little more protected with shrub lining the fairways and tantalising us with some ocean views.

A sneaky, ditch on hole 17, for all intense and purposes looked like a bunker, but it was the less forgiving hazard, being water!

Such a great course, with everything a links should have, characteristic sways of fairways gently leading you into the deep bunkers, the stunning views and of course, the wind.  Taking a half was a good result that day.

Overnight at Whistlewood Guest House, such a lovely house conversation, with Jane the hostess providing everything you could possibly need in the self catering accommodation.

Back on the road heading south to St Francis Links, a nice highway of decent tarmac is always a bonus after been bone shaken on so many of the African roads, loving called the African massage.

Staying at the St Francis Golf Lodge, the view over the first tee to the tumble of buildings cascading down towards the ocean, all white with dark roofs with the blue Indian ocean beyond was a pleasant sight.  A little balcony meant we could sit out and watch the golfers on the first tee coming round to  play.  Golfers of varying abilities took on the challenge of the first tee, some with
enthusiasm, others with trepidation.  Early morning tee times were booked and the welcome ping of the
club hitting the ball was a nice wake up noise, fortunately there were no shouts from exasperated golfers; the shout of woe as the first tee nerves kick in or the expectant golfer, who hasn’t hit a club for months or been travelling for hours, and still expecting the perfect drive. 

We too had an early tee time as we decided to split our 18 hole
round into 2 nines, one to play in the morning and one to play the following day in the afternoon, and it worked perfectly to see the course in the different shadows and lights.  So we were there ready to play at 6am, on a bright morning with a slight breeze, we hit out and away before the starter arrived, so keen were we.  A slight dew on the ground meant soggy shoes, but as the day progressed, they dried out quickly.  The early morning bird song and smells, smells of a fresh day and noting this as a Jack Nicklaus design, we
were expecting the myriad of bunkers.  Lead into a false sense of security, made me re-think my ability to spot a JN course from the first hole, St Francis Links goes against the grain and his bunker obsession doesn’t come into play until a few holes in - then it comes in with a vengeance!  One of the nice things about this design, it is rare to see another fairway whilst playing, and as a result it gives you a sense of being the only ones on the course, even when you know its a full tee sheet!

Hole five is simply lovely, not necessarily from the tee, although in fairness that wasn’t too shabby, but the whole thing when rolled up into one hole is a thing of beauty.  Like a pretty wedding cake the layers cascade down from the foreground golf hole to the pretty houses, white and dark in contrasting appearance to the final layer, the crescendo layer of the expanse of ocean, with the distant waves gently lapping at the shores creating a fluffy white effect where the sea meets the sand and rocks.

This fairly narrow fairway is shaped and structured around the bunkers, the trees and the overall vista effect is one of beauty.  Couple all that with the elevated tees and its a near perfect golf hole by design, as anyone can appreciate but probably only a golfer can understand.  

Taking Andi from his well deserved rest, we trundle a short distance from the comfortable St Francis Lodges down the road toward the ocean to play golf course number 29 of our Africa 100 challenge; St Francis Bay Golf Course.  Formerly a nine hole course, now with 18 holes the course is split over two parcels of land.  The first part is, I believe the original site and the site across the road the additional holes.
A very early tee time gave us the opportunity to get ahead of the field of this popular members club.  There is always something really special about playing early golf, you can capture the essence of the course but it also is a nice way to wake up!  Being in and around the town, there are houses in sight, which does make the course feel a little hemmed in in places, but as they houses are an interesting mixture of white Cape stye with dark or thatch roofs, its nice to see the different architecture around the course too.  Away from prying eyes of the residents, the monkeys skilfully slide in and under their watchful eye, we make sure the bags in the golf cart are fastened up and we don’t leave it for those cheeky little monkeys to rummage for anything they can find.

That aside, the pot hole bunkers kept our attention, with steps down to decent sand, this easy to navigate
course is crowned by a number of good holes.  Hole 8 is a pretty par three over water, from the back tees there is a ditch and the water course, but the forward tees just have the water.  Holes 11 to 15 are across the road and are fairly open which gives them a links feel.  The road noise is apparent and there is a feeling of newness, all except hole 12 which I think is a great hole and must have designed itself. From the forward tees it is a tight line to keep the ball a bit right, close to the trees and hedges to land it neatly in the middle of the fairway - then you have a choice, fly it over the trees  suffocating the fairway both sides as they clamber inwards to form a narrow gap, or chip and run it through the fairly narrow gap. 
After a decent drive, I flew it over and landed left of the green for a birdie putt - then my luck ran out as my birdie attempt went awry, but a steady par is always good, especially on a hole which carries a shot, being Index 4.

When you cross back over the road, the next couple of holes are a bit weak, and need some maturing compared to the rest, but its a good course which offer two types of play, links style and parkland style
and a very good members course too.

We stayed in the luxury lodges by the first hole of St Francis Golf Lodge course, a modern, well equipped place in an amazing location.  Breakfast was by buffet, plentiful and tasty, we didn’t feel the need to eat any more!  We also dined in St Francis Links Golf course restaurant, which offered some interesting mixes, that just worked.  It is unlikely you’ll go hungry when you stay at the lodge!

Steve and I are travelling, exploring and enjoying 11 African countries in our 28 year old landrover defender, Andi.  Whilst in Africa we have pledged to play 100 African golf courses.  Looping back into South Africa from Mozambique, we want to show places and golf courses you might not know or have thought about when visiting this vast continent.

Please enjoy and if you want to see these words in a movie, we’ve done that for you too, just click here