68 - Arabella Golf Course

Location: Hermanus, South Africa

Rating: 8.5

Arabella is a beautiful course with a pretty grand setting with the hotel in the background and set near the river mouth. Both 9’s work their way up hill, inland and sometimes play into the wind which makes it a stern test. The par 5 13th is about 500 meters slightly up hill into the wind, took me about 4 lusty blows to reach the green.

Favourite hole would be stroke index 1, par 5 8th hole. A par 5 reachable in to but it funnels downhill towards the estuary and narrows closer to the green with reeds on either side, high risk, high reward. Definitely reachable in 3 with much more safety.

The halfway house has a good selection of food and drink and there’s a really well stocked pro shop, could spend a pretty penny in there.

Condition of the course was superb. There were ground staff all over the courses keeping it in top condition. Watch out for the snakes, don’t want to spend too much time searching for balls on courses in this part of the world.

There’s a very nice driving range with free balls where you can hit off the grass and two separate large putting and chipping greens. Certainly worth a visit if you’re in and around Cape Town.