Leopard Creek is South Africa’s most expensive and most exclusive golf course.
To play a round at Leopard Creek, visitors are required to pay a green fee of R7,500 per person. According to Golf365, this makes it the most expensive course in the country.
The fee includes the use of a golf cart and a halfway house offering. The golf course is, however, not open to everyone.
Those who wish to play at the championship club must stay in one of Leopard Creek’s associate lodges.
A one-night stay in these selected lodges ranges from R2,300 per person sharing in a chalet at Olivers, to R47,950 for a luxury villa at Londolozi Lodge. Tee times must then be booked through the chosen lodge.
Visitors may still be disappointed, however, as non-members are only permitted to play on the course on certain days, in limited off-peak periods, and access is subject to member bookings, club events and scheduled course maintenance.
The steep fees are worth it, according to Leopard Creek’s consistent accolades. The golf course won best course in South Africa at the World Golf Awards in 2014.
In 2025, the course was ranked number one on Cederberg Africa’s list of the top ten golf courses in the country.
The publication said the golf course has improved recently. “It has re-opened after an extensive revamp, which repositioned fairway bunkers and also redesigned the 12th hole,” it said.
“They have also worked with indigenous plants to encourage wildlife and support the local ecology.”
The golf course was designed by Gary Player and takes advantage of the surrounding natural environment, where South Africa’s Big Five roam.
Some of the trees on the course are over 100 years old, and over 200 species of birds frequent their branches.
Unusual hazards
Players are protected from the wildlife through innovative architectural and landscaping techniques, although water hazards may include crocodiles and hippopotamuses.
The club is known for its high standards, and this extends to its visitors. It expects all visitors to follow strict behavioural and wardrobe regulations.
This includes keeping shirts tucked in at all times, caps facing forwards at all times, no shorts, no apparel with big logos or “large numerals” and no bright or bold clothing.
The club said it is conservative in style and by nature. “Leopard Creek is proud of its standard, and every effort is made to ensure that it is upheld.”
A project of Johann Rupert, the 18-hole golf course was constructed on the southern edge of the Kruger National Park in 1995. It was created to be both a challenge for the best golfers and fun for the average player.
The billionaire chairman of Swiss-based luxury goods company Richemont turned to Player for help in constructing the course from a tract of virgin bushveld.
The club opened in 1997, and not long after, the course was recognised as one of the world’s top 100 courses and became a fixture on the South African Sunshine Tour in the early 2000s.
This is despite a damaging 2000 flood in which the Crocodile River burst its banks and severely damaged the greens. Much of the golf course had to be redone.
The course has hosted the Alfred Dunhill Championship since 2004, with the top players in the world visiting Leopard Creek, including Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Adam Scott.
Ernie Els, South African champion golfer, has been quoted as saying: “There is just nothing like Leopard Creek in the world of golf.”
“Leopard Creek has grown out of the vision of a banker and the skills and expertise of one of the world’s great golfers. It is founded on the values of friendship, a common love of the game of golf, and a shared reverence for nature,” the golf course owners said.
More photos from Leopard’s Creek Golf Club:
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