Royal Cape Golf Club

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A championship course having hosted the SA Open 10 times and the SA Amateur Championships 8 times.
A well stocked golf shop.
Limited corporate usage.
Visitors are most welcome.
Bookings are essential especially in summer.


With lovely views of Table Mountain from most holes this championship course offers a beautiful setting that will make your visit here truly memorable.

Background
Royal Cape Golf Club is a true championship course having hosted the South African Open no less than ten times and the SA Amateur Championships eight times. The most recent SA Open held here was in 1996 and was won by Ernie Els.

The Course today
Extensive work was done on the greens in 2000 to bring them up to the USGA standards and the course today is a fine test of golf and worthy of its championship rating. Essentially it is a very flat parkland course, well maintained and a pleasure to play with lovely views of the surrounding mountains. But don't be deceived by its apparent easiness. The fairways are narrow, demanding extreme accuracy off the tee, wayward shots can be heavily penalized amongst the trees and the greens are well bunkered.

There is also plenty of water on the course, notably at the corner of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and also the 14th, 15th and 16th. The 4th and 15th are beautiful par-3's, the 15th in particular requiring a finely judged shot over the water which encroaches right up to the edge of the green. The most difficult holes are the par-4 3rd, at 435m the longest two-shotter on the course, and the par-4 14th, a dog-leg right played into the teeth of the prevailing south-easter and with water guarding the right front and side of the green.

To view our score cards click here.

From Rugged to Royal - South Africa's First Golf Club
The history of Royal Cape had its beginning on the 14th November 1885 when a meeting, chaired by Lt Gen. Sir Henry Torrens, was held at the Castle "for the purpose of introducing the game of golf and starting a club for the same". Thus the Cape Golf Club, the first in South Africa, was born.

It was on Waterloo Green at the Wynberg Military Camp that the Club established its first real home. The layout of the course is not known and it is certain that playing conditions at their best were rough and ready but much good sport was obtained over these links by the early pioneers of the game.

The first medal competition was held in August 1886 at Wynberg and a photograph of this historic occasion, showing Gen. Torrens driving off, has survived and hangs in the Clubhouse. The General went on to win with a gross 94.

With increasing numbers of civilians taking up the game, it was decided to leave the Wynberg course to the military and in 1891 the Club moved to its second home on the Rondebosch Common. A new era in the history of the Cape Golf Club had begun. From this time the history of golf, not only at the Cape Club but throughout the Peninsula, was one of continual and rapid growth.

Many illustrious names in the early history of South African golf, and of Royal Cape in particular, began to appear on the membership list, including no less than four SA Amateur champions - Denholm Walker, winner of the first national championship played at Kimberley in 1892, Bob Law, Elbert Steyn and Gordon Stewart.

In 1893 the Club employed its first professional, Walter Day, whose responsibilities included the upkeep of the course. Much improvement was shown and bogey for the course, which had been over 100, was gradually reduced to 88. Royal Cape has continued to be well served by its professionals, the present incumbent being Craig Ross.

Notwithstanding Day's efforts with the course, the Rondebosch Common was glebe land open to the public for recreation. To maintain the course in any sort of condition with horses galloping across the greens and football being played on the fairways was well-nigh impossible. It had become essential that the Club find premises of its own.

And so a third, and dare we say final, home for the Club was found and in 1905 the move was made to the site which the Club occupies to this day. The official opening took place in 1906. By modern standards the course was pretty rugged, the spiky reeds in the rough being particularly fearsome, but with proper care it improved in leaps and bounds and in 1910 played host to the SA Open and Amateur Championships for the first time. It was in this same year that the title "Royal" was conferred on the Cape Golf Club by H M King George V in commemoration of the visit of H R H The Duke of Connaught, representing the King at the opening of the first Union of South Africa parliament.

The layout then was very different from what it is now and three holes were situated on the far side of the railway line that now forms the eastern boundary of the property. Later, however, following the acquisition of more land, this unpopular feature could be eliminated and the course was redesigned very much to the layout we know today. The "new" course was opened in 1929.

Since then many improvements have been made from time to time without changing the essential nature of the course and the Club has remained on the roster of major championship venues. The South African Open has been hosted no less than ten times, the first in 1910 as mentioned and the most recent in 1996 when Ernie Els birdied the last three holes to win by one shot. Gary Player won in 1965 when he became the first player to break 70 in all four rounds. His four-round total of 273 (69 68 67 69) was also a record for the event.

In the years 1999 to 2002 the Club hosted the Vodacom Players' Championship, the winners including Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman and Mark McNulty.

This is probably the oldest known photograph of golf being played in South Africa. Almost certainly taken in 1886, it shows Gen. Torrens driving on the Waterloo Green Links, watched by Dr. David Gill, in the brown suit and Colonel Curtis, Officer Commanding H.M. Cavalry in Natal. Printed on porcelain, the photograph was presented to the Club by Dr. Gill shortly before his return to England in 1906.
The Wynberg Links Centenary

The Background

In its 120-year history Royal Cape has had three different homes. In its first years (1885-1891) the Club played over a course that was located within the Military Camp on the slopes of Wynberg Hill and extending down to Waterloo Green in what is now old Wynberg Village. Later, when the civilian membership became more dominant, a move was made to the Rondebosch Common (1891). This was, however, glebe land and open to the public for general use and recreation, including rugby, horse-riding and grazing cattle. The establishment of a proper course under these conditions was extremely difficult, well-nigh impossible, and the need to acquire premises of their own was realised by the members as being fundamental to the future of the Club. Several possible sites were investigated, including the area in Raapenberg that was later leased by Mowbray Golf Club, but it was eventually the land on the south side of Ottery Road in Wynberg that was chosen. In the days before motorcars, access by train, hansom cab and bicycle were important considerations and it seems that the land at Ottery best fulfilled these requirements.

In 1905 a lease agreement, with an option to purchase within the first five years, was entered into with the owners of the land, Suburban Estates, (the option was later exercised) and an immediate start was made with laying out the course and building the clubhouse. Early in 1906 the first nine holes were completed and then in April of that same year the full 18-hole course, the Wynberg Links as it was called, was formally opened. April 2006 will mark the centenary of that event and it is the intention that this important milestone in the history of the Club be remembered and celebrated. The move to Ottery was a bold and expensive undertaking at the time and we can only be grateful to those early members for their foresight. We pay special tribute to them.

The Celebrations
The celebrations will be held over the period 22nd April to 1st May 2006 and a wide variety of golf competitions and social events is being planned over this 10-day period. All the local Cape Town clubs will be involved in one way or another, as well as the clubs from the surrounding country areas, the latter in competition for the Donnison Cup on 1st May which, by a happy co-incidence, will be the 100th anniversary of the first Donnison Cup match which was played at Worcester in 1906.

Also to be invited are representatives of all those clubs world-wide, including South Africa, with whom we enjoy reciprocal arrangements or with whom we have had particular contact. The programme involving these clubs will fall within this period extending from Monday 24th with an opening cocktail party through to Sunday 30th with the closing prize-giving.

Not least in the plans for the Wynberg Links Centenary is the involvement of the members. Essentially it will be a celebration for the members and the intention is that the members will participate in all the various activities to the full.

COMMITTEE

Captain : G.A. (George) Lumb
Vice-Captain : A.G.G. (Alan) Thomson
R.P. (Richard) Beames
R.C. (Robin) Blake
M.M. (Michael) Brain
G.C. (Chris) de Bruin
R.J. (Roy) Norman
F. (Fio) Stecconi

TRUSTEES

P.N. (Peter) Sauerman
M.R. (Mike) Watermeyer
I.E.P. (Ian) Lloyd

LADIES' COMMITTEE

Captain : Mrs P.A.B. (Penny) Prideaux
Vice-Captain : Mrs E. (Liz) Turner
Secretary : Mrs V.A. (Veronica) Browne
Treasurer : Mrs J.L. (Judith) Brebner
Mrs M.J. (Jane) Brown
Mrs G. (Gina) Kohler
Mrs M.I. (Marie) Milne
Mrs C.J. (Cyelle) Pollock

CLUB MANAGEMENT

Assistant General Manager: Barbara Pestana
Greenkeeper: Vern Whitson
Membership Secretary: Adéle Daries
Public Relations / Bookings: Wendy Raeburn
Admin Assistant: Kate Parr
Creditors: Lucia America
Starter: Leslie Roman / Ryan Dunn
Club Professional: Craig Ross
Caterers: The Golfers Lounge CC (T/A Anna Paola Catering)
Course Marshall: Graham Pierrus

List of Reciprocal Clubs

Background

Rules of reciprocity allow full or five day members of reciprocal clubs the right to play golf at Royal Cape for the period of one week at a preferential green fee rate. Reciprocal members may not introduce guests to Royal Cape and are advised to make advance bookings for golf in the summer season. All golfers claiming reciprocity rights must have an up-to-date letter of introduction from their home club giving their membership status and handicap which they are requested to present to the General Manager.

Royal Cape has reciprocal arrangements with the following clubs:

AUSTRALIA
Royal Perth Golf Club

CANADA
Royal Colwood Golf Club
Royal Ottawa Golf Club

CHINA
Hong Kong Golf Club

ENGLAND
Blackwell Golf Club
Denhan Golf Club
Prince's Golf Club
Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club
Royal Blackheath Golf Club
Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club
Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club
Royal West Norfolk Golf Club
Royal Wimbledon Golf Club

IRELAND
Royal Dublin Golf Club

MALAYSIA
Royal Selangor Golf Club

NEW ZEALAND
Royal Wellington Golf Club

NORTHERN IRELAND
Royal Belfast Golf Club

SCOTLAND
Royal Aberdeen Golf Club
Blairgowrie Golf Club
Royal Dornoch Golf Club
Bruntsfield Links Golf Club

SOUTH AFRICA
Royal Durban Golf Club
Royal Johannesburg Golf Club
Royal Port Alfred Golf Club

SPAIN
Real Club de Golf Las Brisas

WALES
Royal Porthcawl

ZIMBABWE
Royal Harare Golf Club
Leopard Rock Hotel Golf Club