169 - Nkonyeni Lodge & Golf Estate (Links)

Location: Sidvokodvo, Swaziland

Rating: 7.5

The Links course at Nkonyeni is a more recent development. It is a 9 hole loop in addition to the Bushveld 18 holes that were there before. Louis Oosthuizen was apparently the brains behind getting this new 9 built having seen a plot of land adjacent with a much different topography.

The bushveld course is as the name would suggest weaving through trees and bush for the 18 whereas the links course is much more open with more undulating fairways as you’d expect. It is a fun course to play, a nice change from the bushveld and they do it in such a way that you can mix and match a variety of holes from the original 18 to make different routings, I think they have 4 in total.

I think the design is quite good, however the par 3’s were a bit uneventful, pretty open plots of land with not much to them. The rest of the holes are pretty good, I would say the condition on this loop isn’t as good as the others on the fairways but the green complexes are very well looked after, some of the best I have played on.

If you’re staying at Nkonyeni or even just passing through, add this course to the diary. Nkonyeni is not that busy a place where the round will take too long and it’s worth the time, you’ll enjoy it.