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Stop two: Kruger National Park
South Africa's best courses are spread across a country that is roughly equal to France and Spain combined, so my itinerary called for a bit of traveling. I needed a one-hour flight sandwiched between a pair of 90-minute drives to reach Jock Safari Lodge in Kruger National Park, the largest game reserve in South Africa.
Truth be told, I saw little delight in rising at dawn to rattle across bumpy terrain in an open vehicle. But the trip organizer, Gordon Turner of PerryGolf, insisted I stay two days in the game reserve; I'm very glad he did.
Soon upon my arrival, I was getting ready for dinner when to my astonishment a family wandered by the window -- a family of rhinoceros. These were white rhinos, which were almost extinct in the 1960s. Now there are more than 7,500 in Kruger, thanks to a dedicated conservationist named Dr. Ian Player, Gary's brother.
The next morning I was to play South Africa's most prestigious private club, Leopard Creek Country Club. The club had provided a car and driver for the 40-minute trip, and within moments of hopping in, I dozed off. Then there was a tap on my shoulder.
"Sorry to disturb you," said the driver, "but I think you should see this." Staring directly at us was an enormous bull elephant. We were within 30 feet of him and the big fellow kindly obliged while I snapped a dozen photographs. Then, as if on cue, he ambled off into the bush.
"Early morning is the best time for game viewing," said the driver. "You might want to stay awake for the last half hour of the ride."
Over the next 15 miles, we saw zebras, giraffes, impalas, Cape buffalo and best of all, a leopard perched serenely in the branches of an acacia tree. Many who go to South Africa on safari return without a leopard sighting, and I randomly spied one while going to play golf! I had now spotted four of Africa's Big Five-rhino, elephant, Cape buffalo and leopard. Only the lion remained.
Leopard Creek is the vision of Dunhill czar Johann Rupert, who built the Player design as a playground for his well-heeled friends. It has the look and feel of an elite American club-lush fairways, bunkers with bright white sand and meticulously manicured, fast-running greens. The Crocodile River and several manmade ponds are in play on half the holes, most notably at the fifth and seventh, a pair of side-by-side, all-carry par 3s, and at the ninth and 18th, which end in pond-fronted greens at the foot of an elegant yet comfortable clubhouse that shot straight onto my list of the 10 best in the world.
There are a few sights at Leopard Creek you won't find anywhere else. On every tee is a life-size bronze sculpture of the club's eponymous feline. On a wall in the halfway house is the Leopard Board, where members dutifully record sightings of the elusive cat ("left of 14th tee, 2 p.m. Thursday"). Then there is the burly denizen of the pond that guards the green of the par-3 16th -- Harry the Hippo, who provides despondent three-putters a truly novel excuse: "Harry snorted on my backswing."
Back at the lodge, I found a "sightings checklist" for my game-viewing expedition the next day. More than 250 different species were awaiting discovery. There were also lists of birds of prey and potentially fatal snakes. More comforting was the roster of medicinal plants. (Should you ever find yourself ailing in the African bush, know that acacia karoo leaf combats diarrhea.)
By 9 a.m., thanks to our game tracker, my fellow safarists and I had spotted nearly two dozen different creatures, from a massive blue wildebeest to a dwarf mongoose. We even came upon a pride of lions. My five boxes were checked, and more importantly, I had an experience I would never forget.
Stop three: Durban
The seaside city of Durban is home to the grande dame of South African courses, Durban Country Club, founded in 1922 after a flood had all but destroyed Royal Durban Country Club. Appropriately, the two architects responsible for rebuilding were named Waters and Waterman, who did a magnificent routing job, making full use of prime land just a few hundred yards from the Indian Ocean.
I have never seen a more stern start-set along a narrow stretch of rumpled dunes with dense tropical vegetation on both sides. The centerpiece is the par-5 3rd, played from an elevated tee to an ever narrowing fairway that climbs to a small, ball-repelling green.
No. 12, 156 yards to a small plateau green that slopes off on three sides, is affectionately known as the Prince of Wales hole in fond memory of the day half a century ago when His Highness twirled a 16 on it. The nation's finest players, from Bobby Locke to Player to Ernie Els, have had some of their finest moments there during multiple South African Opens. Although I couldn't make the same statement, I found myself wishing I had the time to play this course again. And again and again.
Stop four: Fancourt
After another short plane ride south, I was in George, at the western tip of the scenic stretch known as the Garden Route. Just a five-minute drive away was Fancourt, site of the 2003 Presidents Cup.
Africa's leading golf resort, Fancourt offers four courses, including the jewel, Player's Links course. Although well removed from the sea and hardly a true links, it has a similar look thanks to the 60,000 truckloads of dirt excavated from this former airstrip and fashioned into dozens of hummocks and swales.
I knew this would be a difficult course when I saw some hole names: Calamity, Kilimanjaro, Wee Wrecker, Prayer. It was the merciless greens that got to me. At the par-4 12th I thought I hit a perfect 5-iron approach -- it settled happily, less than 10 feet from the pin. As I was walking to the green, putter in hand, the ball rolled off the false front, 30 feet back down the fairway. What had looked like a possible three quickly became an effortless six. The name for that hole was perfect: Sheer Murder.
The 2003 Presidents Cup ended in a 17-17 deadlock, forcing a sudden-death playoff between Els and Tiger Woods that was halted due to darkness, whereupon captains Player and Nicklaus controversially decided to call it a tie.
