KwaZulu-Natal’s most popular golf club is the venue for the Sunshine Tour’s Sunbet Challenge hosted by Sun Sibaya for the fourth year in a row.

Umhlali Country Club’s vision is to be the venue of choice for sports and recreation on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, and if its high membership numbers are anything to go by, it is certainly achieving this. It is a busy country club, with more than 1,500 members, also home to bowls (two greens), tennis (five courts) and squash (two).

Peter Matkovich, who was the greenkeeper at Umhlali in the early 1980s, rebuilt the nine-hole course into the magnificent layout it is today. With beautiful trees framing the sloping fairways and occasional water hazards, this course keeps players on their toes.

It is characteristically varied, providing a fantastic golfing test over the relatively short distance. There is also an abundance of indigenous flora and fauna and the course has simply been sculpted around the inherent beauty of the region.

Standout holes include the par-three fourth which is played from an elevated hillside tee to a green fronted by a large water hazard, and the risk-and-reward par-four 14th which brings water, trees and sand into play from the tee.

The toughest hole on the course is the 422-metre par-four 15th, which starts with a demanding drive with out of bounds to the right, and a water hazard and a tree to the left. The par-three 18th, played from a high tee to a green in front of the clubhouse, is a memorable closing hole.

It is not only on the course where Umhlali excels, though. In 2016, 2019 and 2025, they won the annual John Collier environmental award. They also won the Club Management Association of Southern Africa’s Club of the Year award in 2019 and 2022.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Course record: 63 by Jacob Oakley, first round 2024 Sunbet Challenge (32-31)
• Umhlali hosted its first Sunshine Tour event in October 2022, the Sunbet Challenge, won by Dylan Naidoo on six-under 207. Martin Rohwer won 2023 title on 208, Luke Jerling the 2024 title on 200
• Nobuhle Dlamini won the SA Women’s Strokeplay title at Umhlali in 2012, and the club hosted the 2014 SA Boys Championship, with Tristen Strydom (stroke play) and Paul Boshoff (match play) the champions