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I had no issues with time. First off at 8 a.m., I was finished two and half hours later-finished in every sense of the word. My struggle would have been even more desperate if not for Promise -- not the name of a hole but my caddie. Whether it's coincidence or canny marketing, South African caddies seem to adopt names that buoy the spirits of their golfers. In three days, I was accompanied by Promise, Valor and Fortune.
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Stop five: Pinnacle Point
On the following morning came two big surprises. First, instead of driving to the next course, I was hoisted there by helicopter. Second, the course itself.
Roughly 25 miles southeast of Fancourt, on a stretch of cliffs 600 feet above the Indian Ocean, sits the most spectacular course I have ever seen. Less than a year old and the creation of South African architect Peter Matkovich, Pinnacle Point is destined to do for South Africa what Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers have done for New Zealand. It simply must be seen and played.
The only places I can begin to compare it to are Pebble Beach and Ireland's Old Head. But it's set on more jaw-dropping terrain than Pebble and is a much better course than Old Head. This is extreme golf, to be sure, but it is also honest golf. There are no unreasonable assignments, no silly holes -- just engaging, exhilarating ones.
The course is also home to 264 species of flora-more than in the entire U.K.-so there's ample opportunity to stop and smell the flowers. There are also two private beaches, a hotel and a casino on site. The casino, in fact, came first and the property's non-golfer owners had no idea what to do with the land before someone suggested golf. Today, regulations forbid building this close to the sea, so South Africa will never have another course quite like this one.
Pinnacle Point will ultimately be a private club with an international membership, most of whom have bought lots near the course. For now it's open to guests of the Pinnacle Point Hotel. I urge you to find your way there.
Stop six: Cape Town
My route south resumed with a three-hour drive along the coast, through a mountain pass, past a string of cattle and ostrich farms before heading back toward the coast and the Western Cape Hotel & Spa, where continental-style accommodations, food and service blend gracefully with South African dŽcor and ambiance.
The hotel course, Arabella, was completed in 1999 and ranks among South Africa's best. Another Matkovich design, Arabella is set on gently rolling terrain within a nature preserve and alongside South Africa's largest natural lagoon. There is great variety -- long and short par 4s, doglegs each way and elevation changes. The closing holes of each nine wend toward the lagoon, most dramatically at the 8th, a steeply downhill par 5 to a green surrounded by water and reeds.
There were other courses I wanted to play -- Pearl Valley and Steenberg in the wine country; Humewood, the only true links in Africa; Wild Coast, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design with a par 3 over a natural waterfall. Alas, my time was limited and the final stop was Cape Town, a city I wanted to see, not just pass through.
The one-hour drive along the edge of the Western Cape took me through a stretch of scenery that was like the Monterey Peninsula on steroids-broad sand beaches at the feet of steep mountain cliffs. I rarely take the time for pictures, but at one point I simply had to pull over and snap off a few, just to be sure I wasn't dreaming.
A few miles outside Cape Town, Table Mountain hovered into view. A geological oddity, it rises 3,000 feet but instead of forming a peak, it flattens into a two-mile-wide plateau, the iconic broad shoulders above one of the prettiest harbor cities in the world.
Situated at the southernmost point of Africa where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans merge, Cape Town was a waystation for the Dutch East India Company, and the colonial influence remains in the 19th century Dutch and Victorian architecture. I was fortunate to be billeted at the Cape Grace, a classically elegant hotel on the west quay of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, a working harbor that has been gentrified into a dining, shopping and entertainment center. The French doors of my balcony opened to a view of the marina below and Table Mountain above.
Since opening in 1996, Cape Grace has ranked among the best hotels in the world. Bascule, the hotel's cellar bar, is stocked with more than 450 varieties of single malt whisky. While sampling an all too small selection of them, I learned a few words of Afrikaans from the Englishman on the barstool next to mine as we listened to a terrific jazz trio. It was all very cosmopolitan, emblematic of what this city is about.
I could have gone to several lovely beaches but took a tour of the city, wandering the shops of the waterfront and stopping for a couple of adventurous meals-medallions of ostrich steak, springbok salad and crocodile curry. I heartily recommend the ostrich, which is actually a red meat. I could have sworn I was eating prime aged filet.
The weather throughout my stay was San Diego perfect-sunny 70-80 degrees during the day, cool at night-as it is for most of the year in most of the nation. Indeed, for 12 days I was blessed and pampered.
I was also more than a little sheltered. Much of South Africa beyond the resorts continues to be troubled by high crime rates and drug use. Unemployment is high, a third of the population doesn't have electricity and a fifth has AIDS.
The legacy of apartheid is evident in the deep economic divisions that remain, and South Africa's rich cultural diversity-there are 11 national languages and almost as many religions-can be a two-edged sword. Even tourists can't escape the evidence. Every rental car facility has signs urging motorists to keep their car doors locked at all times, and in one hotel the complimentary toiletries kit included a pack of condoms with an exhortation to observe safe sex.
There are also positive signs. The government is stable, its economy has seen eight years of growth, and over the past decade housing prices have risen at record rates. There is a spirit of optimism, evident in the smiles of caddies, cabbies and nearly everyone on the streets, as well as an inescapable feeling that most citizens want to get on with the business of building their nation. They are doing so on the shoulders of a tourism economy that last year grew at three times the global rate -- and for good reason. South Africa is an intoxicating place -- and a great place to take your golf clubs.
