If you're a golfer and looking for some great deals on green fees in the Garden Route, here are some offers you should consider:

Garden Route Golf Passports offers various green fee or green fee & cart options covering most of the courses stretching from Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay.  If you're a member of a local course here, then the basic packages aren't going to appeal to you because your own member rates will be lower (same with the special Southern Cape affiliated rates offered out of season).  But if you're a visitor to the area, they certainly will be good value.  And whether you're a local member or a visitor, the rates on the championship courses (see their Albatross or Championship packages) are where you're really going to see value - to the tune of R200-300 a round on courses like Pinnacle Point (Mossel Bay), the Montagu or Outeniqua at Fancourt (George), Oubaai (George), Simola, (Knysna), Pezula (Knysna), assuming you'd normally take a cart on these courses (you pretty well have to as the distances between holes is pretty great on most, with the exception of Fancourt where walking is actually mandatory, unless you have a medical certificate).  My experience is that you can book your tee times in advance and change them as needed with the individual clubs.

It's also worth checking out the Garden Route golf deals on Flook - some are stay and play, but they also have green fee-only deals, mostly in the post-holiday season.

And finally, if you like Oubaai, they have a couple of deals that are worth keeping in mind if you plan on playing a dozen or so rounds there.  You can get 15 rounds for R5832 (the normal price during peak season for a non-affiliated visitor is R800 per round).  You'll still have to pay for a cart which is R300 (so R150 each if there are two of you).  They have a similar deal for 30 rounds at R8343.  Both the "Club 15" and "Club 30" include unlimited use of the driving range & practice facilities (probably the best you'll find within 50 km's - and certainly the closest), plus a variety of other benefits, such as food & beverage discounts, etc.  Full details here.  If you decide to take them up on their offer, tell them you heard about it on TheIslandGreatBrak.com! :)

For the full low down on golf in the Garden Route, check out the Golf in the Garden Route section of this website.

After yesterday's run, it was time for a bit of fun.  At least that was the idea.  Turns out, it was a bit of a crazy day for golf at Oubaai - the wind speed reached ~42 km/hr by the time we were playing the last couple of holes.  But, hey, the wind kept the rain clouds at bay - and, yes, it was still fun anyway! :)

Our fantastic weather continued unabated this week, with some of us swapping out gas heaters for shorts and sandals...  The golf course was no different - here are a few pics of the 16th fairway at George Golf Club taken this afternoon (after a rather hectic day on the course Friday, it was nice to have it all to ourselves!).

It's probably been a good dozen years or so since I last played the Pezula Championship Course at the Knysna Heads.  I played there on Wednesday as part of a 5 courses in 5 days golf competition with a few of the other Islanders.  For some reason in the last few years whenever I've gone to Knysna, I've played at Simola.  But aside from its dramatic elevated 2nd tee, I find Simola a bit back and forth and not particularly challenging (that's not to say that I'm acing the holes!).  When I play golf on an expensive course, I want a bit of excitement - not gimmicky, but interesting.

Well, what a treat it was to be back playing Pezula again.  I had forgotten how fun the course is to play (I do recall that the last time I played it was very windy, foggy and pouring rain - perhaps that's why it took me so long to go back....).  The men all had their best scores of the 5 days on this course, but the ladies found the carries quite difficult - and it has to be said, the undulating greens were tricky.

It was rather cold (the coldest and cloudiest day of the 5 by far), but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  They don't offer affiliated rates, but they do have reduced green fees for the winter season starting on May 1st.

After playing Mossel Bay, George, Outeniqua and Pezula, the final round of our 5-day, 5-course competition was played at Pinnacle Point.

I managed to hold off the competition thanks to a healthy lead earned during the first three days, bringing home the bottle of bubbly that was up for grabs.

Day two of the golf competition was played at Fancourt's Outeniqua Course - it started off a little bit cloudy but as these photos prove, it turned into yet another fantastic day...

Though the George Golf Club's greens have recently been hollow-tined and sanded for winter, the weather was absolutely spectacular - the temperature must have hit 26° celsius on Sunday.

Mossel Bay Golf Club did their hollow-tining a few weeks ago.  I played yesterday - the greens were faster than in recent memory (freshly cut) and are now in the best condition I've seen them all season.  No photos, but it was another spectacular day on the course where you can "see the sea from every tee".  Looks to be another glorious day today as well....

If you're interested, there's more info on the courses in the Golf in the Garden Route section of the website.

We've had spectacular weather - and what better way to enjoy it than walking around the golf course, taking in the amazing Outeniqua mountains?

There are obviously plenty of options, but we had to play our own George Golf Club on Sunday.  Rather bad golf (on my part), but excellent company.  So much so, that the 3rd who joined us, a South African expat visiting from Colorado, and I decided to play another round the following day before his flight out.  "Pack your bags, I'll pick you up at 6:15 and we'll get a round in!"

So, where to play?  hmmm, he'd already played the Outeniqua at Fancourt and the first available time on the Montagu was 3:00 p.m. (!!).  Scratch that one off the list.  Okay, how about Kingswood which we could see from the George course?  Nope, they don't open until 10:30 a.m. on Mondays.  Darn, we're not doing well here.   But wait, what about Oubaai?  Repeated calls the Pro Shop go to voice mail.  That's odd.  
Okay, make a provisional booking at George for 7:35 a.m. and hope someone from Oubaai calls back.

Brainwave:  the missus and I decide to swing by Oubaai on the way back home and pop into Dutton's Cove for a drink and the Golfer's Platter.

We get to Oubaai but due to load shedding, they weren't able to tell which tee times were available (hint guys:  print out your tee times in advance of the scheduled load shedding time!).  They'll call me back when the power comes on at 5:00 p.m.  Okay, but we need an early tee time so we can get to the airport.  No problem, we'll call you back, they say.  Sure, sure, I think.

Over to Dutton's Cove (it was either that or an ice cream cone at the beach, but it was a zoo down there).  Sadly, no Golfer's Platter as the power is out - just a few of the mains are available (anything that can be pan-fried).  Okay, fine, we'll have the grilled calamari and a side order of "the view", leaving room for tonight's braai.

Guess who calls at 4:20?  Oubaai, the power is back on and they have the morning's first slot available for us.  I call my South African expat playing partner, who had tried calling me while I was at Dutton's Cove.  Turns out, he, too, had been to Oubaai's Pro Shop and drove around - he's keen to play it.  Perfect, we're on for a 6:15 a.m. pick-up - we have the day's first tee time at 7:30 a.m.

And what a fantastic day it was - the views were amazing - it's not often both the sea views and the George mountains are crystal clear.  Even the golf was good.  And we had the whole course to ourselves - though to be fair, a 2-ball did finally catch up to us on the 16th hole (we were still 18 minutes ahead of schedule).  


Thanks for the convivial round, Pine - looking forward to seeing you back and seriously training for the Seniors' Tour!

Managed to pick up "closest to the pin" on the 9th, but the pace was a bit slow - no wonder!

The George Golf Club was quiet and the course was in perfect conditions - though it was a bit on the warm side at 36° C and not a breathe of wind in the air.  But with scenery like this who can complain?