Leopard Creek Golf Club - a special place!

LCGC Club House and 9th green

We had our final ‘official” golf round at Leopard Creek Golf Club today. This is still in today’s ranking the #1 course in South Africa and certainly the most exclusive. You may call it the “Augusta National” of South Africa. There was no time for an early morning game drive because our tee time was 9:30 am and it took us about 45 minutes to drive from Lukimbi to the golf club which is just out side the National Kruger Park. Not many things are easy when dealing with this super exclusive, super private club - at arrival we all had to sign indemnity forms since the course is very exposed to wild animal life and, even more dramatically, they do not take cash in the Proshop. We were welcomed by Derrick, the golf professional, who kindly gave us a complete tour of the club house and told us about the short history of the place. The golf club is owned by a multi-millionaire and he built it the place only 14 years ago. He decided he wanted the club house to look old - like the original and most traditional clubhouses in the world, and therefore all the furniture, colours, wall decorations, locker rooms and everything in general makes you feel as if you had jumped in a time machine that took you back 80 or 100 years. The club house over looks the 9^th and 18 greens, which are difficult holes where water comes into play when approaching the greens, especially 18^th, which is literally an island green. Pretty nice and challenging!

The owner also managed to get a huge collection of hickory clubs from Scotland. These are very nicely displayed in one of the rooms in the club house. They run little tournaments with these clubs every now and then but the lack of a sand iron in those old sets make it a bit hard to play the bunker shots! The one thing that wasn’t very appealing for many of us (animal lovers) was the heads of the animals hanging from many of the walls of the building. The club only has about 300 members and many of them are internationals. To be a member you must buy a property in the area, which is what golfers like Ernie Els, Gary Player and others have done.

The golf course is actually designed by Gary Player but has a massive Jack Nicklaus influence. There are statues of leopards that decorate every hole, and there were many different opinions within the group trying to figure out if they should at all be on the course or if they were even attractive…

The golf course is certainly challenging with water and creeks running amongst many of the holes. Whether it was because all the final prizes were to be decided after today’s round (and many players were still in contention), or just because you want to have your best game in places like this, the bottom line is that everyone was trying hard. The winners, however, will only be announced during presentations at the final tour dinner at the Butcher Shop in Johannesburg. 

During the famous “Half Way House” break - which is compulsory in many clubs in South Africa - we saw a Rhino standing in the river near by the club house and another later on the 13^th hole! Pretty cool! After the game and many shirts and hats bought in the Proshop, we went quickly back to Lukimbi for an afternoon game drive. This was, once again, was full of surprises with amazing animals and beautiful views. Dinner was lovely and we all went to bed with yet another early start tomorrow. 

View of the 'Half Way House' Rhino