All aboard for a feast of golfing exotica
All aboard for a feast of golfing exotica
Fantasy is a common adjunct to golf. Most of us have dreamed of playing in The Open or The Amateur Championship when, truth be told, we have difficulty winning the occasional monthly medal or reducing our handicap remotely close to scratch. It's pure fantasy, total self-delusion but harmless fun.
When the subject is golfing holidays, though, fantasy becomes a most useful aid. Many of the best holidays can trace their gestation to fireside musings over a good malt on a winter's night.
Well, winter has ended but allow me to inject a little fantasy into your day. Climb aboard your flying carpet and follow me on a magical tour of golf's more exotic destinations. It will be a long haul, the length of Africa, but I promise great fun and an unforgettable holiday.
Let's touch down first in mystical Marrakesh, the city they call the Cradle of Civilisation, where the taxis are Mercedes but where a camel train can bring chaos to peak hour traffic. Each Moroccan city has at least one golf course, several have two but Marrakesh has three.
It also has La Mamounia, one of the great hotels of the world. This is for those who can resist anything but temptation, because here they lay on temptation with a golden trowel.
Even the standard rooms will have your eyeballs spinning and the suites are incomparably opulent. Winston Churchill, not renowned for modest tastes, was a regular patron and his suite has been preserved just as he left it. Yes, it's in use. If it's available you could reserve it.
The hotel has every facility you'd expect; there's a casino and a nightclub; there's tennis, swimming and a spa in the gardens where you'll also find villas for those seeking a little extra privacy. Royal guests and film stars usually bunk down here.
La Mamounia also has a golf driving range for that kink-remover before tackling the real thing, in this case the nearby Amelkis Golf Club, venue for the European Tour's Moroccan Open. Many rate this as the finest course in the land; it's a big one with everything in scale and all impeccably presented: huge greens, expansively undulating fairways and a necklace of lakes with fountains. Stand on any tee and there's no doubt about what's required. So uncork your best and go for it. It's breathtaking and addictive.
A few days of this and you'll be eager to push on, to discover the next surprise. We're heading due south, into the desert, to a town that grew up around a French Foreign Legion fort.
Known as Ouarzazate (pronounced Oozazatt), its claim to fame is that the century-old fort has been converted into a giant film studio. Most films with desert scenes were shot here, starting with Lawrence of Arabia back in 1962. The town itself is best described as rustic. But that's part of the charm. This is real Morocco.
There's a golf course on the high ground that's equally quaint but great fun and with views to die for. It overlooks a huge lake reflecting the vibrant blue of the sky. On the far shore is the desert, stretching away to the horizon where it runs into the snow-capped Atlas Mountains. You'll stand goggle-eyed. Concentration doesn't come easily at Ouarzazate but golf here is simply about a fun day out in a setting that defies description.
Let's move on again, over the Atlas Mountains now and turning south, to Egypt, the land of the Pharaohs, the Sphinx in Cairo and the Valley of the Kings at Luxor. You didn't know they had golf? Stand by to be stunned.
It's obligatory to spend some time in Cairo, to see the Sphinx and the Giza pyramids, take a cocktail cruise on the Nile, maybe swing a club at one of the five courses that dot the city. They're all good but the best awaits your pleasure on the shores of the Red Sea.
En route, though, let's pop into Luxor. There's a cracking course there, too, if you're having withdrawal symptoms, but the main attraction is the Valley of the Kings, the burial grounds of the Pharaohs.
Those with an appreciation of ancient history will be beguiled. The valley has a series of tombs, cut into the sand-stone hills, that house the remains of monarchs whose dynasties ruled Egypt centuries before Christ was born.Each tomb is a series of highly decorated rooms off a long corridor that leads to the last resting place. They're virtually apartments, somewhere for the departed monarch to pause while awaiting his call to the other side.
You'll gather how large they are from a tale I heard about BMW, the German auto company. The board wished to stage a launch function with a difference. So they hired one of the tombs for the evening and entertained 200 guests to dinner while a string ensemble and a trio of vocalists performed excerpts from the opera "Aida". I can't say that dinner in a tomb holds great appeal but it's impossible not to admire such lan! It would have been the high point of a memorable experience.
You'll be reiterating those sentiments at our next halt; the Gary Player course at the Cascades Country Club at Souma Bay near the Red Sea resort of El Gouna.
It too is a desert course although the sand was trucked in from the Sahara, to soften the shale that permeates the landscape. The kikuyu grass fairways are emerald strips; the greens are jade islands set in a landscape the colour of parchment. Six of the more spectacular holes edge the Red Sea, including the signature hole, the par three 5th. It's a sight to lift the spirits.
From the tiger tee it measures 207 yards, but the secondary tee of 170 is meaty enough for most. The green pokes into the sea like a fat finger and the shot is all water carry, although there's a bail-out area to the left for the faint of heart. A strategic bunker runs around three sides of the green which, just to add piquancy, is stepped.
It's a hole to impoverish adjectives and it is almost matched by the 14th, another par-3 calling for a shot over a desert ravine with the sea as a backdrop. This one merits a painting.
The course has a lilting tempo and routing, a design of consummate flair. It would be outstanding in any location. Set as it is, where the desert meets the sea, it deserves every accolade. Go play it and you'll marvel at man's artistry and ingenuity. It will be a tough act to follow but you won't be disappointed at our penultimate stop.
Sun City is one of the modern wonders of Africa. It covers several thousand acres adjoining the Pilanesberg National Park, a 150,000 acre game reserve 120 miles or so west of Johannesburg. It has been described as a cross between Las Vegas and Xanadu with a hint of Disney, the product of an epic imagination.
There's a monorail sky train, a man-made rain forest, a water theme park and a 6,000-seater super bowl. But this is only a minor part of an estate encompassing theatres, cinemas, casinos, shops and every imaginable facility, sport and service.
There are 20 or so restaurants and four hotels, the Sun City Palace being the ultimate in scale and style. Here are imitation palm trees in huge pots, flaming torches on the walls, acres of muralled ceilings and mirrors, fountains and waterfalls galore; life-sized statues of elephants and neo-savage artefacts litter the public areas.
You might say it's a touch over the top. The presentation borders on the theatrical, but by heck they know how to run a hotel! In all, there are about half a squillion bedrooms and what seems to be a comparable number of staff and at no point do they prevent you having a good time! Not all the wild life at Sun City is in the game reserve!
There are two golf courses, both by Gary Player, the Country Club and Lost City Golf Club. Both are visually distinctive and technically demanding.
You'll probably know of the Country Club course: it's the venue for the annual bash that is the Million Dollar Challenge and is arguably Southern Africa's premier course. Water abounds and it plays long because of the kikuyu grass fairways but it's a joyful experience and walking is encouraged. A bonus: the fee is the equivalent of about 20 and that will include a trained caddie.
Like its clubhouse, built from huge rocks and looking like something out of The Flintstones, the Lost City course is unique in style. The terrain is much hillier and carts are mandatory. The opening loop is desert-like, with lots of sand and waste bunkers; the inward loop can only be in Africa. It's a walk in the bush, in fact only a wire fence separates it from the game reserve.
And it has the ultimate golfing thrill: the shape of the green at the short 13th imitates the map of Africa and the tee shot must carry a huge pitthat's home to 40 or so crocodiles! As local colour goes it takes some beating. Legend has it that a local pro once played a recovery shot from down there but it's not recommended practice.
On the subject of wildlife, if you've contemplated golf and a game safari be advised it is possible. Hence our final call. It involves a short flight north to Hoedspruit on the edge of the Kruger National Park. There, near the township of Phalaborwa, will come a dream finale to your magical holiday.
Think of a safari lodge and you'll probably conjure up visions of huts with basic necessities, questionable plumbing and meals cooked on a campfire under the stars. Think again!
The Kapama Lodge, set in 12,000 acres of private game reserve, is a five star inn overlooking a lake where luxury is a by-word. It's rather like the Ritz but with a thatched roof and lions at the bottom of the garden!
There are 20 sumptuous cottages and a central lodge with lounges and dining room plus an open-air bar alongside a small swimming pool. The staff ratio seems to be one for one and both the service and cuisine are outstanding, the serenity tangible, the ambience utterly inimitable.
There's a game drive each morning and evening, three hours in a Land Cruiser, with a halt for cocktails, or one hour on foot, the ultimate spine tingler, with an armed safari guide. You'll see every species, close up, an exhilarating climax to an unforgettable travel experience.
Thanks to fantasy, your golf holidays will never be the same again
*Barry Ward is Editor of www.posh-golf-travel.com
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