From South Africa’s Top 100 Courses

Durban Country Club has long been recognised internationally as South Africa’s premier classic golf course. Opened for play in 1922, it currently occupies a place in Golf Digest’s ranking of the 100 Greatest Golf Courses in the World outside the United States.

Country Club was a masterpiece of original design work on what is sublime undulating terrain alongside the Indian Ocean coastline, with a wonderful balance to the holes from first to last.

In 2023 the course was given a modern upgrade by Golf Data following devastating floods in 2022 which closed DCC for several months. It was re-opened in March 2024 with 18 new greens complexes to acclaim from members and visitors. A benefit of the flooding was the realisation by the club hierarchy that this was the perfect opportunity to rebuild and reshape the course for the 21st century. The club had a benefactor in businessman Nick Jonsson who made it happen.

The club placed their trust for the redesign in Golf Data, a company with an enviable reputation for sound and innovative golf course design and construction. The chief problem to overcome in the renovation was drainage. Country Club, being close to the Umgeni River mouth, had suffered annual flooding. Golf Data’s solution was to build a wide “burn” that snakes through many of the holes at the far end of the course from the clubhouse. Ground water keeps it full. The burn is an attractive feature, and was designed to influence playing strategy from the sixth hole through to the 14th.

DCC was famous for its opening five holes, and a few others that uniquely stood out, like the par-five eighth, Prince of Wales par-three 12th, 17th and 18th. Now, the other holes have been strengthened and given more character through essential design improvements.

Some greens occupy new sites, such as six and 14, while others have shifted slightly. Number 17 is sensational, the green extended left into a high dune with a lower punchbowl portion. DCC’s iconic 18th remains much the same, although a new championship tee will stretch it to 292 metres. The green has been realigned, and a large greenside bunker catches tee shots running in from the left.

A weakness of DCC had been the quality of the grass on the greens, paspalum for many years, then Bermuda (MiniVerde) since the 2010 SA Open. The 18 new greens have bent grass, a strain called Super 7, being tried for the first time at a coastal KwaZulu-Natal course.

The two back nine par-fives at 10 (525 metres) and 14 (519 metres) are significantly more challenging due to the presence of the burn. The green at 14 has been moved 45 metres further back into what used to be a bushy area left of a new par-three 15th (tees and green), and the burn runs up the right side of the fairway before crossing in front of a raised green. Similarly, 10’s new green is protected by the burn’s sinuous presence. Number 15 is now shorter than 12, but these par-threes run in opposite directions so will always play differently in the prevailing winds.

The renovation has highlighted vastly improved aesthetics around the entire property. DCC’s scenic splendour has been revealed more than ever by removing the denser tropical foliage (not all) and allowing an uninterrupted vista of views from hole to hole. Big trees hidden in the bush are now on display. Holes like seven, nine and 11 look more natural with cleaner lines. Gone is the ‘parkland’ look of old, replaced by more natural wild grasses and bunkering which convey how DCC is assumed to have looked in early years.

Country Club began in the 1920s as a links-style treeless championship layout among the sand dunes. In the fashion of that time, the holes play out to the furthest point and then back to the clubhouse for the first time at 18. The halfway house is in the middle of the course. Two years after opening it hosted the 1924 SA Open. There have been another 16 since then.

A magnificent clubhouse is part of the Country Club ‘look’. The stately building stands hard up against the first tee and 18th green, adding to the atmosphere of the venue. Today the course is an island encircled by busy roads, yet it continues to retain its reputation as a magical place to play.

DID YOU KNOW

• Record 17 SA Opens, 1924 to 2010. Winners: Bertie Elkin 1924, Jock Brews 1928, Bobby Locke 1939, 1950, Gary Player 1956, 1969, 1976, Retief Waltman 1963, Bob Charles 1973, Bobby Cole 1980, Wayne Westner 1988, 1991, Tony Johnstone 1993, Ernie Els 1998, 2010, Tim Clark 2002, 2005.
• The club hosted the 100th SA Open in 2010, which gave Ernie Els his fifth Open title, and second at DCC.
• Gary Player won three of the five Opens he entered at DCC, and also two Natal Opens.