Limpopo / North West Top 13
9
Mooinooi
Buffelspoort Valley, near Rustenburg - North West Province
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Back tees, 6 425 metres, Slope 132
Front tees, 5 557 metres, Slope 123
Women’s front tees, Slope 136
R320 affiliated
Weekday special
R750 for twoball with cart
Sunday special
R900 for twoball with cart
Unknown 1974
Guy Bouman 1999
014 574 4111
063 351 4870
Mooinooi Golf Club, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2023, has long had a reputation as one of the five premier nine-hole courses in South Africa, alongside Bosch Hoek in KZN, Kambaku in Mpumalanga, Cullinan in Gauteng North, and Metropolitan in Cape Town. It combines an outstanding design with consistently good conditioning.
From the back tees it is challenging enough to have been chosen as the venue for the Sunshine Tour’s Platinum Classic which ran for 18 tournaments from 1996 to 2013. It was sponsored by the platinum mines in the immediate area. Being part of the “winter tour” the biggest first prize was R112 000, won by Louis Oosthuizen in 2007 and Thomas Aiken in 2008.
Close to the Magaliesberg mountain range this is bushveld country in the North West Province, yet the Mooinooi layout has a parkland feel to it, with numerous large trees flanking the fairways. These beautiful trees are a distinctive feature of the design and play a considerable part in the difficulty of the challenge. The trees also provide a delightfully shaded car park.
Variety between the two nines is created by different tees rather than changeable angles or alternate greens such as you find at other leading 9-holers.
The course opens with a daunting 490-metre par 5 which doglegs to the left. Long hitters can carry the trees on the corner of the dogleg but club golfers have a more demanding route to get to the green. On the second nine it becomes a 421m par 4 from the front tees. The fifth plays as a 434m par 4 on the front nine and 501m par 5 on the back nine, and this is a strikingly difficult hole.
Mooinooi enjoyed a major upgrade in 1998-1999 when the greens complexes were modernised by Bouman Golf, specialists in course construction (they built the World of Golf complex in Gauteng). Guy Bouman, with assistance from then greenkeeper Jock Campbell, moved a considerable amount of earth on the property to shape the new greens and make the bunkers more pronounced.
There’s an excellent clubhouse with a restaurant and interesting 19th hole.
1/ There are several good 18-hole courses in the area, including Pecanwood, Rustenburg, Seasons-Eco and Magalies Park, plus 9-hole Sandy Lane on the shores of the Hartbeespoort Dam.
2/ South Africa is the world’s largest producer of platinum, and the large Marikana mine is close to Mooinooi. The golf club was owned and subsidised by Lonmin, the mining division of Lonrho, until 2007 when it went on its own.
3/ Bobby Locke played at Mooinooi soon after the course opened, and shot a then course record of 74 in 1974.
4/ Titch Moore, a two-time winner of the Platinum Classic, played the back nine in eight-under 28 in an opening 64 on his way to winning the 2004 title. He eagled both the par 5s and had four birdies.
5/ Grant Muller holed out with a 3-wood for an albatross 2 on the eighth hole in the 2005 Platinum Classic in a 63. He lost in a playoff to Jaco van Zyl.
6/ With nearly 500 members it is the third biggest club in the North West Province.
2021 George Wolhuter & Jhannelle Strydom
Ray Janse van Rensburg was men’s champion from 2017 to 2020
63 by Richard Kaplan in 1998 Platinum Classic, equalled by Bobby Lincoln (1999), Grant Muller (2005), Jbe Kruger (2009), Divan van den Heever, Tyrone Ferreira (2010), Hennie Otto (20110, Anthony Michael (2012) and Bryce Easton (2013).
Mooinooi is the only 9-hole course where the Sunshine Tour has held 54-hole tournaments, and the popular Platinum Classic was played at the club for 18 consecutive years from 1996 to 2013.
The first Platinum Classic was contested in August 1996 and won by Mark Murless on 12-under 204. The second was played in January 1998 and Desvonde Botes won with 17-under 199. The lowest total was 20-under 196 by Jean Hugo in 2010 when he had 21 birdies and 3 eagles. Louis Oosthuizen was the winner in 2007 in his only appearance. Multiple champions (twice) were Bobby Lincoln, Desvonde Botes and Titch Moore.
Conditioning Ratings
Facility Ratings
Mooinooi is a fabulous golfing experience, and probably the most challenging 9-holer in South Africa due to its many beautiful trees that line the fairways. This is a parkland layout in bushveld surroundings. The Sunshine Tour pros loved playing the course when it hosted the Platinum Classic for many years. It attracted most of the leading players. Bobby Lincoln won the first two events in 1998-99 when he was in his mid-40s. The par 4s are strong holes, No 18 being a great finishing test, and the two par 3s are well designed. Conditioning is excellent, and if there is a weakness it would be that the two nines are identical, other than in terms of distance. No different angles to tee shots. The opening par 5 switches to a front tee to become a par 4 for the second nine, and the opposite applies on No 5.
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