222 - Champagne Sports Resort

Location: Drakensberg, South Africa

Rating: 8.2

Champagne Sports is a resort course nestled in the heart of the Drakensberg mountains, running alongside the Sterkspruit River. A mountain range that borders Lesotho and sits in the Eastern part of the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa.

A parkland course at altitude, Champagne Sports offers a really enjoyable experience with stunning backdrops and a number of scenic par 3’s. The Drakensberg at this time of year is hit by regular thunderstorms and despite the deluge of rain, Champagne Sports was still in incredibly good condition.

Despite being at over 6,200 meters in distance, it does not play nearly as long as that. Champagne Sports is situated 1,500 meters above sea level allowing the golf ball to travel significantly longer than you’d normally expect.

Starting off with a gruelling 600 meter par 5 the course is a really fun design of undulating holes, bending in both directions, not favouring either a fader or a drawer of the golf ball. It has some stunning par 3’s most notably the 4th, with the green set behind a small lake and mountains in the background.

Everyone around the resort was super friendly and at R700 for a round it was really good value for money. With the length of the course and several big changes in elevation it is quite a walk so I would suggest taking a cart.