61 - St Francis Links

Location: St Francis, South Africa

Rating: 8.9

This is a magnificent course and a Jack Nicklaus signature one at that. It is a stunningly designed ‘links’ course with undulating fairways, bends, blind shots and contoured greens making it a very tough challenge. It is not your typical Scottish/Irish links course that hugs the coast as this is a little more inland but still a stunning place to play. There were lovely juicy soft fairways and very quick greens. It is a tough place to putt as I can’t recall a single flat green

If you’re ever in this part of South Africa or wondering if you should make the trip down to play it.  I could not recommend it more highly and given I paid R400 for the round it is incredibly good value for money.

I was told by the pro shop manager that it is a course you need to play at least 3 times to score well, and I could not agree more. Shot placement is essential here with all the twists and turns and mounds that you’ll find on the fairways and finding the green on the right level as they’re often tiered or elevated parts to them. It is set in an estate but don’t pay much notice to the houses around.

Luckily, I was there on a quiet day but by all accounts, if you get there when the wind is up it’s a very difficult course to play. The club has a wonderful clubhouse with white walls and a traditional African thatched roof. The pro shop was well stocked with many items at a very reasonable price.

Facilities were good, there is a driving range near the entrance, but you may need a cart to get there. There’s a nice big putting & chipping green and the staff around the club are very helpful. As soon as you arrive in the car park an attendant approaches you to collect your bag and take it round to the pro shop, a nice touch!