State Mines

State Mines is a hidden gem among Gauteng golf courses, an attractive, tranquil experience on the East Rand that in days gone by was a firm favourite of Bobby Locke, who grew up in the area (Brakpan) and was a club member during the 1930s.

South Africa’s four-time Open champion joined State Mines as an 11-year-old junior member in 1929, after his father Charles Locke, a keen golfer and Bobby’s first coach, moved the family from Germiston to Brakpan where he opened a new outfitting business.

In 1931 Bobby was made a full member of the club after winning the Transvaal Prentice Memorial at 14. That allowed him to enter all club competitions. He saw this gesture as a landmark in his golf career. “A signal honour which impressed my father and me,” he wrote in Bobby Locke on Golf. His first handicap as a full member was 14, but by his 15th birthday he was playing off 5.

After winning the SA Open at Parkview in 1935, State Mines made Locke a honorary life member. In 1937, shortly before turning pro, Locke won the State Mines club championship with a course record 62 in the second round.

Tall blue gum trees are a feature of the property, and add character to the design of the holes. It’s a well-balanced layout with a mix of different holes, having been redesigned by Gauteng course architect Rob O’Friel in the early 1990s.

State Mines have recently replanted the greens with bent grass, with some new shaping done on certain holes.

With its excellent quality greens, the layout is a friendly one if you’re hitting it straight, and State Mines was the scene of the lowest score in a professional event in South Africa in 2003, when Jaco van Zyl shot 58 on the Diner’s Club tour. Club member Casey Jarvis had a 61 in the 2018 Ekurhuleni Open.