46
Maccauvlei
Vereeniging, Free State - Northern Cape & Free State
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Yellow 6631 metres, CR74.3/137
White 6218 metres, CR72.2/133
Blue 5753 metres, CR69.9/124
Red 5239 metres, CR67.2/120
Women’s blue, CR76.0/141
Women’s red, CR72.5/134
R180 Monday to Friday, Sunday PM
R250 Saturday, Sunday AM
George Peck 1926,
Col S V Hotchkin 1929,
Peter Matkovich 1999
016 421 3196
www.maccauvleigolfclub.co.za
47 (2022) & 51 (2021)
Maccauvlei is a famous club in SA African golfing history, yet its classic 1920s course remains something of a hidden gem due to its remote location on the Vaal River 80 kilometres south of Sandton City. It was a fashionable weekend retreat for golfers between the two world wars. There was a dormy house. In those early years one member used to fly in from Johannesburg with his Moth biplane and land it on the 18th fairway.
Today it offers an outstanding experience in terms of both challenge and conditioning, and has the best value visitor green fee among Top 50 courses.
The long winding driveway to the club takes you into a tranquil old-world environment and the original clubhouse set amidst shady trees. Inside, some of the rooms have been restored to how they were in the club’s heyday.
Maccauvlei was labelled an “inland links” in its early years, and the sandy terrain on which it was built backs those claims. However, the holes are now mostly lined with giant eucalyptus trees, and only the bunkering bears any resemblance to a links. The course has some of the largest individual bunkers to be found in South Africa.
When Johannesburg Golf Club professional George Peck first visited the site in the early 1920s this was a sandy wasteland with tall grass and reeds between the Vaal River and a large forest of oak trees. It was known as Maccauvlei (Wild Duck Pan) because it was regarded as a sanctuary for wild birds. Peck saw that nature had provided him with a site that he compared to those on which seaside links had been built in the UK. Accordingly he littered the layout with natural bunkers.
The club ushered in the millennium with a new upgraded course by Peter Matkovich. All 18 greens were remodelled. He did away with virtually all the old water hazards (three remain) and reinstated bunkering as the main design feature. One of his best ideas was to remove many of the trees on the banks of the Vaal River which obscured the view. He created a new green close to the water on the par-5 15th.
Maccauvlei is on the Free State bank of the Vaal, and in recent years became part of the Free State Golf Union after many years with Central Gauteng. There was a short period when it was part of Western Transvaal (now North West). On the opposite bank is Riviera golf course, in Central Gauteng.
62 by Mellett Hendrikse in National Teams Champs.
58 by Bradford Vaughan in November 2006 during a social round. He had 29 on each nine with 12 birdies and an eagle three at 7.
The signature hole, and one of the most unique designs in South Africa, is the daunting 422-metre 17th which plays away from the river back to the clubhouse. A wide fairway curves left and opens up a vast bunker which stretches 100 metres up a slope to a high lip concealing the green beyond. Only the top of the flag is visible. The third is a short par 4 to a narrow raised green adjoining an old Boer War cemetery.
Range adjoining clubhouse has grass bays. Attractive large putting green in front of clubhouse.
2023 Vernon van der Walt
2022 Divan van Zyl
2021 & 2020 Attie Schwartzel
2019 Attie Schwartzel & Olivia Tait
Four-time SA women’s champion Sanet Marais, who represented SA at the 1994 World Amateur team event, won 9 consecutive club titles from 1991 to 1999. Maureen Ahern (Steyn) won 19 titles between 1978 and 2006.
1/ Masters champion Charl Schwartzel grew up on a farm near Maccauvlei. His father George was club captain during the 75th anniversary. Younger brother Attie, having regained his amateur status after playing on the Sunshine Tour, has been the men’s club champion eight times (2003-07 and 2019-21), Charl three times (1999-2002), and George once (1995).
2/ Maccauvlei became a SA Open venue soon after it opened. It hosted four between 1927 and 1949, three won by Sid Brews, the other by Bobby Locke in 1938.
3/ Maccauvlei may have hosted more elite amateur tournaments than any other club in SA. Every year there are at least three. For many years, while there was accommodation on the property, it was the venue for the men’s National Teams Champs. Two of the club’s premier trophies are the Vaal Amateur (since 1959, first winner Denis Hutchinson) and Harry Oppenheimer Trophy (1964) in honour of an early club patron. These two trophies have been contested 115 times.
4/ The club has an excellent on-course pro shop owned and managed by professional Marthinus van Staden.
5/ Former club captain, chairman and president Dereck Mocke, the club historian, played in the club championship 50 consecutive years from 1967 to 2016. He passed away in April 2020.
6/ New Vaal Colliery adjoins the course, supplying coal for Eskom’s Lethabo power station next door.
Conditioning Ratings
Facility Ratings
Drove an hour to Maccauvlei in May and only managed to play one stroke as the rain would not relent. We were invited back and the Vaal River course had withstood the elements and was looking as beautiful as I remember it. There has been a clearing out of trees on the par-4 13th which has improved visibility of the green, though I will miss the blind approach. This is a fun course to play with some of the biggest bunkers outside Pecanwood. Greens were perfect and ran true. Fairways were okay, just don’t miss them as the lie changes for the worst.
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