Pezula

Pezula are focused on the course's overall conditioning. Presentation excellent, the greens impressive. Noticeable attention to detail around general landing areas, while an excellent touch is the clear distance boards on each par 3, keeping the field moving quicker. We played in 4:45 with halfway, and this is high season in the Garden Route. The design often divides opinion, with the par-5 first a quirky starting hole. The 3s are enjoyable and the demanding fifth plays over 180m to a well-guarded green. The generous amount of space off the tee is often underestimated. The finishing par 5s (9 and 18) present opportunities for birdies depending on the prevailing breeze. Excellent 19th with a beautiful setting and great service.

Jon James

04 March 2024

Pezula is both a well-designed and well-maintained course which has so many enjoyable and interesting holes. The extreme undulations on some holes make it a fun challenge with club selection. The views of the sea, cliff-faces and Knysna Lagoon are stunning, giving you more during your round than just the golf.

Louis Venter

22 December 2023

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We played Pezula following the Sunshine Tour's Vodacom Origins of Golf Final and benefitted from the course being in excellent shape. Pezula's maintenance team have worked hard this year on uplifting the general conditioning and it showed. Greens were running true and at a perfect pace. Always an enjoyable layout to play, particularly with the wide variety of tee boxes to choose from. The downhill par-5 13th, one of the best holes, has had bush cut back so you can see the green from the fairway, which makes it much fairer. Interesting stat from the Vodacom Origins is that the three hardest holes for the pros were 6-7-8. We played these par 4s into the wind and they are formidable both off the tee and the approach shots. The front nine for the pros was 1.3 shots more difficult than the back, where the only difficult par 4 is the awkward, uphill No 16. It ranked No 4. Neil Schietekat won the tournament with just two bogeys and one double (at 16) in 72 holes. Quite an achievement in windy weather.

Stuart McLean

14 November 2023

I never miss an opportunity to play Pezula when in the Garden Route as it's one of those modern courses where numerous tees have been cleverly situated to accommodate golfers of varying ability. Going to a forward tee therefore makes a round more enjoyable even if at your home course you use the club tees. The difficulty at Pezula does lie in hitting longer clubs into greens where higher approaches work better. Conditioning keeps on improving and the speed of the greens is kept manageable. The daily stimpmeter reading is posted on a board at the starting tees which I find most helpful.

Rory Gabriel

21 March 2023

Some interesting stats about the amount of work needed to maintain Pezula. There are 128 bunkers covering 2.7 hectares to rake, and 3.2 hectares of bent grass to irrigate on tees and greens. After the driest November on record in terms of rain the course has recovered exceptionally well and is looking superb. A special location in the Garden Route with its many different types of holes and remarkable views. A challenging layout to play with all the elevation changes and undulating greens.

Lamprecht de Villiers

27 January 2023

Pezula has incredible views and the quality of this course has always been world class. Our favourite.

Jurgen Bremer

08 November 2022

One of SA's best golfing experiences. An absorbing collection of superb golf holes, wow factor tee shots to be enjoyed, stunning scenery, and excellent conditioning. We've been fortunate in this century to gain spectacular resort destinations such as Pezula. I caught it on a beautiful June morning so calm that a passing yacht was having to use its engine to make headway. Pezula takes you inland on the front nine, through forests and wetlands, the routing and terrain constantly changing direction and elevation. It has a fine balance of holes from the word go, no sense of repetitiveness, and that continues on the back nine, where you finally sweep down towards the much-awaited ocean views on two memorable holes at 12 and 13. The greens are large and creative designs, notable undulations on every one of them, which means green speeds cannot exceed 10 on the stimp without causing problems. They favour good long distance putters. The bunkering is another feature, and I'm told there are 128 (none though on No 12), which is more than they have at Simola. You disappear from sight when you enter some of them, and the recovery shots are anything but routine.

Stuart McLean

23 June 2022

Great course design, excellent greens, but fairways not in the best of condition. With more attention to conditioning the course could be the best in the Garden Route.

Pieter Odendaal

29 March 2022

Pezula not only have the best views on the back nine, but the course has possibly the best conditioned tees in the country. You can practice your putting on them. The bunkers have a soft and consistent sand, and there's lots of attention to detail around the greens.

Henry Trevena

06 July 2021

One criteria on this website for ranking courses is Playability, which measures the challenge of a course for low handicaps and how its design also helps higher handicaps score well. Looking at the scores recorded by our tour group on a brilliant windless day for golf, then Pezula should receive an excellent mark for Playability. Our average individual Stableford score was 36 points, easily the best result of five Garden Route courses we played in a week in May. The course is mainly very fair, although the uphill 16th is one hole that came in for criticism, perhaps because it is more intimidating than the rest. The landing area for tee shots is extremely undulating, leaving awkward stances for the uphill shot to the green.

Thomas Souness

14 June 2021

Pezula is a great layout and I was fortunate to catch it on a calm day. I was playing with two golfers who had never seen the course before, so it was interesting to see how they experienced it and approached each hole. While always a spectacularly visual course to play, I did find alien grasses creeping into the fairways, plus areas battling from too much rain and limited run-off, so it was damp in parts.

Chris Wood

18 January 2021

Although a must play course I feel that Pezula loses something in golfers not being able to walk due to the severely undulating terrain. It is clearly a cart course because walking requires a great amount of time and effort between some of the holes. In saying that the course is well designed, enjoys stunning views, and has good holes which test each club in your bag.

Keith Simpson

21 December 2020

Greens and tees were excellent. However, some bunkers were unplayable; the rest were muddy, hard and semi water-damaged. Some fairways were too long, having not been cut. I would not expect this after a hefty green fee. I'm a big fan of the course design and the collection of holes on two contrasting nines.

Robert Simpson

02 November 2020

Played a twilight round as a twoball sharing a cart, and it was a terrific experience on a calm and sunny afternoon. We were round all 18 holes in under three hours, which just shows how playable and accommodating the layout is. The later in the day you play the more likely you are to see some of the local wildlife, including bush buck and a puffadder we spotted crossing the cart path. We began on the back nine, heading towards the ocean, so we were treated to a glorious sunset at about 6.30 as we played into the setting sun from the sixth to eighth. Pezula undoubtedly gives you some of the most panoramic and exciting tee shots of anywhere on the planet; lots of thrilling moments to savour and remember.

Stuart McLean

23 October 2020

Pezula has had a hard time due to Covid and is only now getting back to its usual high standard. The greens had been hollow-tined 10 days before so my good rating could easily become excellent in a month. The fairways were irregularly cut which will be corrected when the rainy season (exceptional this year) has passed. Bunkers were too variable to be considered good. Still a good test of golf with wonderful views.

Ponky Firer

03 October 2020

This is a remarkable golfing site. The creative design work on such undulating topography is superlative. Several holes would rate among the best in SA. Pezula hasn't had the recognition it deserves as a world-class resort and venue. The difficult opening hole might be a reason. Too intimidating for many golfers.

Stuart McLean

19 February 2020

Superb championship course, with variety in design and spectacular views. Friendly staff in the clubhouse make this a great place to play and relax.

Ivan Palframan

19 February 2020

Knysna - Garden Route

Course Summary

Five tees / Par 72

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