Mr Variety Golf Vlog At Serengeti Golf And Wildlife Estate! This golf course is one of South Africa’s Top 100 Golf Courses (Ranked 44th)
Serengeti, with its opulent Jack Nicklaus Signature layout, is home to a large and growing residential estate which will soon have a 5-star hotel. It is conveniently situated to OR Tambo International Airport and the R21 highway with its direct links to Johannesburg and Pretoria.
The development of the 780-hectare estate has transformed a flat and featureless plain into an attractive golfing venue, famed for its outstanding conditioning. Nicklaus takes painstaking care in the look, feel and positioning of his bunkers, and at Serengeti he cultivated a naturally rugged and ragged wasteland look to balance softly undulating playing surfaces. Water hazards are a feature, although they only come into play on eight holes.
Acclaimed by Golf Digest as South Africa’s Best New Course in 2010, it’s a championship layout from the 7 096-metre back tees, and within three years of opening it was hosting the SA Open on the European Tour, where there was low scoring from the leaders. However, the club tees are friendlier at 6 246 metres, where the average golfer can best enjoy a mix of dramatic and unusual holes. Undulating greens make for an interesting challenge, and the pace of the putting surfaces is regulated as a result.
Nicklaus designed 27 holes at Serengeti, with a separate 9-hole course called Whistling Thorn. This is now a unique 18-hole championship Par 3 course. It’s a stunning creation by Dino de Abreu (recently appointed Chief Operating Officer), a part of it in among attractive wetlands. There are five different tee options, and from the pro tees it measures 3268 metres, or an average of 182 metres per hole. The middle blue tees are a more manageable 2514 metres (average 140 metres). Two or three holes resemble short par 4s from the back, and each nine has a really short par 3.
FEATURE HOLES
The eighth is a talked-about risk-and-reward par 5, with water right of the fairway, and an island green. That’s followed by a superb long par 3. The back nine has some beautiful water features, and a terrific stretch of holes from the par-3 12th to par-5 16th.
PRACTICE FACILITY
Serengeti has one of the best practice facilities in the country, having a long, wide range with target greens conveniently set next to the clubhouse. It is home to the Wanna Be A Champion Golf & Fitness Academy headed up by teaching professional Doug Wood and fitness guru Garth Milne. There is a gym in the clubhouse. They also have academies at Fancourt and Woodhill. Each offer latest swing analysis and putting aid technology. Serengeti has the only registered AimPoint instructor in South Africa in Sandra van der Berg.
Let us know which golf course we should do next!
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1 Comment
Found you on siege playing blitz on last round