The Sunshine Tour stops off at Pecanwood Golf Estate this week on the shores of the Hartbeespoort Dam for the second HotelPlanner Tour co-sanctioned tournament of the season, the MyGolfLife Open.

Pecanwood Golf and Country Club is a legend of South African golf, and it was the first Jack Nicklaus Signature design in Africa, with a magnificent backdrop of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Over the next decade Nicklaus would return time and again to design another five courses in South Africa.

Nicklaus delivered a championship-quality layout at Pecanwood that at the time was the longest course in the country, 60 metres longer than the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City. It was the first course in South Africa to make maximum use of fairway bunkering as serious hazards. There are four-and-a-half hectares of sand. Providing contrast and definition, the bunkers are placed in strategic positions on every hole, so straight driving is a premier requirement.

The fairways are generous and inviting and the Crenshaw bent grass greens are immaculate all year round. Although the course is flat, there are high mounds, carefully crafted water features and strategically placed bunkers that have been set amid the scenic mountain surrounds and vast expanses of water to create a challenging and interesting golf experience. The signature hole is the beautiful par-three 13th hole that plays alongside the dam to a green flanked on both sides by bunkers.

The next two par-fours, 14 and 15, are special, as they encircle a large inner water hazard. The Nicklaus greens are a feature of the course, beautifully shaped and without the extreme slopes which distinguish some of his later designs.

Sunshine Tour professional Wynand Dingle went round the course in 59 just over a year ago on January 12, 2024 in social round. He had loops of 29 and 30 from the white tees (6,401 metres) with two eagles and nine birdies.

DID YOU KNOW

• Pecanwood derives its name from a stand of large pecan trees between the fifth and seventh holes. The architectural design was modelled on an American gated development, PGA West in Palm Springs, California.
• Scot Paul Shields played the front nine at Pecanwood in 28 in his course record 61 at the 2012 Gauteng North Open. He failed to win the tournament.
• Sunshine Tour professional Justin Walters was the first men’s club champion in 1999, and heavyweight boxing champion Corrie Sanders won in 2003.