The Sunshine Ladies Tour’s Platinum Ladies Championship goes to Blair Atholl Golf & Equestrian Estate which was built on Gary Player’s former Gauteng home and stud farm.

Completed in 2007, this Gary Player design measuring 7,528 metres off the championship tees is a par-72 course with stunning countryside views and the Crocodile River flowing through it.

The layout boasts no fewer than 11 water-featured holes and with it being designed in a loop, it is challenging and rewarding for scratch players, yet still an enjoyable round for handicap golfers.

Two of the standout holes are undoubtedly the par-three third and the par-four fourth, both of which are modelled on famous holes at Augusta National – the 12th and 13th respectively. On the third hole, golfers need to navigate a long carry over a pond to an elevated green, while on the fourth the tee shot has to carry the river.

The beauty of the layout is that it ambles far into the countryside, rather than looping back to the clubhouse, and has just the one starting tee. The halfway house comes after the eighth, an idyllic setting on a wooden deck under the trees overlooking the Crocodile River. The clubhouse is briefly seen at the 12th green before a final loop of six strong finishing holes, including South Africa’s most challenging par-four, 512 metres from the back tees and playing uphill. And it is six metres shorter than the par-four 15th! At least that plays downhill.

There are two unusual aspects to the course layout. Firstly, there are five par-fives and five par-threes – similar to Simola and Oubaai in the Garden Route, designed respectively by Jack Nicklaus and Ernie Els. Blair Atholl and Simola, coincidentally, begin and end with par 5 holes. Secondly, the back nine from the gold tees measures 4,034 metres, just 545 metres fewer than the shortest 18-hole course in the South Africa, the red tees at Wild Coast Sun.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Course record: 63 by Ockie Strydom in second round of 2022 SA Open. He had 31-32 with 9 birdies
• Not only is the course at Blair Atholl rated as the third-longest in the world, it also has the biggest greens on the African continent
• Fittingly for Gary Player, who won 13 SA Opens, Blair Atholl hosted the 2022 SA Open, won by Thriston Lawrence on a 16-under-par total of 272, and 2023 SA Open, won by Dean Burmester on 277