Early in the 20th century, Clovelly Estates owned a golf course, situated alongside the Silvermine River in the Fish Hoek Valley, home to Clovelly Golf Club. When they went into liquidation, during the Great Depression of the early 1930s, the members of the Club tried to buy the course from the executors of the insolvent estate. Unfortunately their bid was not successful. The course was bought by Messrs Ackerman and Pevsner and they formed the Clovelly Country Club. Membership was offered to all members of the original Clovelly Golf Club, but the majority of the members decided to move away and purchase their own golf club.

The members of the old Clovelly Golf Club had their eye on a farm, ‘Raapkraal’, at the foot of the Silvermine mountains near Lakeside, for their new course. On the 31st March 1932, a meeting was set up in the Kalk Bay Anglican School, between the members and the farm owner, an elderly dairyman, Mr. Hendricks. The members agreed to the terms of Mr Hendricks’ lease and subsequently formed a new golf club, called Westlake. ‘Oupa’ Harrison then moved his ‘brood’ of 112 golfers to their new home on the other side of the mountain.

The 18-hole parkland style course was originally designed by the club’s own members. With consultation and advice from professionals, many significant improvements have been made over the years.

The greens are mainly Poa Annua which requires care but if managed correctly, delivers an excellent putting surface. Fairways, semi-rough, tee boxes and rough are being changed to Kikuyu, as is the standard in South Africa.

Since 1935, Westlake has seen many course improvements. The most recent being the re-building of the fourth, seventh, eighth and 11th greens in 2004. The clubhouse has also had no fewer than four extensions and improvements over the years, the last being in 2000. Well known golfers have praised the layout and conditions of the golf course, among those being, Bobby Locke in the 1950s and 60s and Gary Player in the 1980s and again at his charity event in 2018. Thanks to the design contributions of various architects and course designers, today’s Westlake boasts excellent amenities in a modern setting.

The golf course is meticulously managed on a daily basis with the greens and the bunkers being maintained each day. The fairways and rough are mowed regularly and the rough is kept short to enable easy ball location. Westlake likes to pride itself in delivering a true test of golf.

DID YOU KNOW

• Course record: 64, Jonathan Burgess, 1992 club champs; Trevor Immelman, 1999 SA Stroke Play; Women: 66, Diksha Dagar, 2019 SA Women’s Open
• The club hosted the SA Women’s Open for four years on the European Ladies Tour, won by Ashleigh Buhai (2018), India’s Diksha Dagar (2019), England’s Alice Hewson (2020) and Lee-Anne Pace (2021)
• Gary Player and Ronan Keating held an 18-hole charity shootout at Westlake in May 2018, raising funds for their respective foundations