Yellow 6407 metres, CR73.3/145
White 6056 metres, CR71.7/137
Blue 5570 metres, CR69.1/127
Purple 4872 metres, CR65.5/115
Women’s white, CR79.0/152
Women’s blue, CR75.5/145
Women’s purple, CR70.8/133
Seniors R280 all week
Juniors R235
Sunday/Monday R350
Sunday PM R500 including cart
Wednesday to Saturday R400
Golf carts R390
Guy Smith 2007
073 396 0847
www.gowrie.co.za
54 (2023), 50 (2022) & 48 (2021)
Gowrie Farm opened in 2007 as one of South Africa’s more unique layouts, a modern 12-green hybrid creation in the scenic Midlands region of KwaZulu-Natal. It quickly became recognised as one of the premier 9-hole courses in world golf. Today it has grown to a full 18-hole course, with seven new holes opened in March 2024. A residential estate borders the course, without intruding on it.
Golf was actually first played here a century ago in a rudimentary fashion, but wasn’t sustained. Owner and course architect Guy Smith was inspired by his love of classic designs in Scotland and the United States to build a simple yet visually stunning venue that is loved by traditionalists.
His new holes follow even more the Scottish theme of the earlier design, with adaptations of famous links holes. Bunkers abound throughout the 18, some 150 of them.
The new holes are numbered 3 to 9, and the halfway house is in the middle of the course, only the 18th finishing at the clubhouse. The course opens with a par 4, followed by a long 3 over a wetland, holes that have been there since the beginning.
The new holes are strong and characterful, with beautifully shaped greens, mostly small or narrow, boasting magnificent bent grass surfaces. No 3, a long 4 akin to the Road Hole at St Andrews, has a large bunker to carry on the tiger line, with an alternate route left. No 4 (Sahara) is a drivable 4 but a big mound and rockwall guards the green. No 5 is unique, a bunkerless hole based on The Pit at North Berwick. A stone wall lines the left side of the par 4 fairway with the green hard up against the wall on the other side. No 9 is another short 4. Its raised green has the same dimensions as the Postage Stamp at Royal Troon.
The new overall par is 71 due to their being five par 3s (2-6-12-14-17). The front nine is 35 with just the one par 5 at No 7 – which has an out-of-bounds fence along the entire right side of hole – while the back nine is 36 with a varied mix of three 5s, three 4s and three 3s using the old holes.
The farmland terrain has a rugged and open moorland feel, as there are few trees. From the clubhouse you can see most of the course, other than a few greens hidden by the undulating terrain. The clubhouse overlooks a magnificent dam, around which the 18th is played.
Features of Gowrie Farm include the naturally rugged look of the bunkering – Smith took a leaf from a description of Cypress Point, “Bunkers should have the appearance of being made with careless abandon.” – and push-up greens with run-off areas. It is an excellent test, with a varied set of challenges – the occasional fierce carry here and there over wetlands or water, plus the fearsome bunkers. The greens are bent grass, with cynodon grass in the surrounds and approaches, promoting bump-and-run golf.
Gowrie Farm has an understated look about it. The small clubhouse feels more like a private home, having an intimate golf-themed lounge/bar with a fireplace, plus an outer glassed-in patio area which serves as the halfway house and breakfast area. It’s only a few strides from locker room to first tee. Upstairs is comfortable accommodation. Smith was the developer of Prince’s Grant on the KZN North Coast, where he first provided luxury rooms above the clubhouse.
Gowrie Farm and Bosch Hoek, 20 kilometres apart, have transformed the KZN Midlands Meander into a golfing destination.
Gowrie Farm has golf clinics for women on Tuesday and Saturday (AM) and juniors on Saturday and Sunday.
Read: GOWRIE MOVES FROM HYBRID 9 TO FULL 18 – SA Top 100 Courses
59 by Matt Saulez in 2018. Played back nine in 28.
An excellent example of Smith’s imaginative work is the seventh/17th hole. It plays as a 330-metre par 4 the first time round to a narrow green hidden behind a ridge; then as a 179m par 3 from an elevated tee to the same green. There’s an excellent quartet of par 3s, from short to long, each with a different looking green complex. The 18th is an unusual par 5, from a high tee to a broad fairway where the option is a long carry over the dam to a small green, or as a 3-shotter via a fairway in the wetlands. If you are strapped for time, and the course quiet, you can make one tour and play 12 different holes, using all the greens.
Long and spacious range adjoining the first hole, practice green.
Gowrie Farm offers a luxurious stay for golfers, with five en-suite rooms on the upper floor of the stone clubhouse, and six suites overlooking the adjacent 18th green, two with kitchenettes. Additionally, for golfing groups there are two self-catering cottages on the property, each with four bedrooms, the Charles Smythe close to the clubhouse and Old Tom Morris on a hillside position. The Charles Smythe doubles up as a conference centre.
1/ Gowrie Farm was ranked by Golf Digest in 2013 as being fourth among the top 9 “Short Courses” in the world outside the United States.
2/ Gowrie Farm offers country living for home owners on a 360-hectare estate, and a large portion of that will remain an operational farm. The architectural style is rooted in historic farmhouses of the Midlands, and old-style simplicity.
3/ Former Sunshine Tour player Phil Simmons became the club’s golf director in May 2019. He spent many years as golf director at Mount Edgecombe.
4/ A rudimentary course existed on the Gowrie Farm site in 1923. The club has photos of golfers putting on a sand green surrounded by a fence to keep out farm animals. The land later became a dairy farm owned by Jub Greene, who currently looks after the course maintenance.
5/ Since 2016 Gowrie Farm has hosted the 54-hole SA Under-15 Challenge each March/April.
6/ Golf carts are allowed at Gowrie Farm, but without roofs to reduce their visibility on the course.
7/ In the area are Fourdoun boutique hotel & spa, and Brookdale Health Hydro & day spa.
2023 Trevor Saulez & Noogs Spall
2022 Murray Pitt & Julia Saulez
2021 Rees Emanuel & Julia Saulez
2020 Trevor Saulez & Julia Saulez
2019 Trevor Saulez
Conditioning RatingsFacility RatingsGowrie Farm will be an 18-hole course within a couple of years. Seven new holes are to be built on adjoining land, and cutting is already taking place. It will mean Gowrie becoming a busier destination (the current small car park is unlikely to cope), yet when there are 18 I will miss the uniqueness of this hybrid layout. Gowrie is quiet in midweek, and if the course is empty I enjoy playing it as a 12-holer in one loop, rather than walking around twice. After playing 1/10 I switch to the par-3 11th, play 12 and 3/13, then tee up at No 4, as tricky a par 3 you will find with wedge or 9-iron in hand. Miss the raised green and you're in trouble. After 5/14 I take on the par-3 15th adjoining the lake, another challenging and interesting short hole. Then it's 16 and 7/17, the par-3 eighth, and conclude by playing the short par-4 ninth, followed by an iron over the wetland to the 18th green. I've thus hit approaches to all 12 greens. The greens are firm and slick, the bounces reminding me of links golf. The course is superbly presented. Several new bunkers have been built, notably a deep one fronting the downhill par-3 eighth where previously you could safely run a shot on to the green.
Absolute gem. Great test, aesthetics, conditioning and atmosphere. Surely one of the best 9-holers in the world.
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