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Woodhill

Pretoria - Gauteng

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Head of Golf: Rosh Schoeman
Greenkeepers: Chris Jansen & Matthew Crystal
Club captain: Maartin Boshoff
Chairman: Frank van Heerden
CRITERIA SUMMARY: Total points 71 out of 100
Conditioning15.4 / 20
Playability14.8 / 20
Aesthetics12.0 / 15
Design Variety9.6 / 15
Shot Values9.4 / 15
Memorability9.8 / 15

Course Summary

Four tees / Par 72

Yellow 6697 metres, CR74.5/135
White 6326 metres, CR72.4/136
Blue 5904 metres, CR70.2/130
Red 5428 metres, CR68.0/119
Blue women, CR78.7/146
Women’s Red, CR74.4/138

Visitor green fee

Affiliated
R410 Monday
R500 Tuesday-Friday
R665 Weekends, holidays
Non-affiliated
R775 & R800 & R970
Affiliated pensioner
R240 & R265 & R485
Golf cart R450

Course designer

Peter Matkovich 1999

Contact

012 998 0021
www.woodhillestate.co.za

Previous ranking

57 (2022) & 70 (2021)

Woodhill is a smart residential estate in the hills south-east of Pretoria, with luxury homes, and its undulating Peter Matkovich design has matured over the last 20 years into an attractive and enjoyable layout. Good conditioning has been a strong point for several years.

Less than two years after the course opened for play, Woodhill replaced Houghton and the Wanderers as host of the SA PGA Championship, with Telkom as its new sponsor. Five tournaments were played there, from 2001 to 2005, won by Deane Pappas, Chris Williams, Michiel Bothma, Warrick Druian (with a score of 267) and Warren Abery.

Woodhill’s parkland look and feel differs in several respects from most other Matkovich estate layouts, primarily having fewer water hazards, although there is a dam separating the ninth and 18th greens in front of the clubhouse. Both the finishing holes on each nine are par 4s, whereas Matkovich often likes to conclude with a risk-and-reward par 5. As usual with Matkovich the greens are creative designs.

The front nine has plenty of strong holes, beginning with the uphill par-4 first. It climbs around what used to be a high rocky koppie, and then swoops back down towards the clubhouse, ending with a short par 4. The back nine meanders around the lower part of the property, and here there’s more water, with a tree-lined stream and several hazards coming into play.

The clubhouse has been extensively renovated, with a new golfers bar and terrace, new women’s locker room, upgraded pro shop, halfway house and golf cart facility. It has two squash courts.

Read: WOODHILL IS THE MOST IMPROVED
Read: MATKOVICH HAS NINE IN THE TOP 50

Additional Course Facts

Course Record

62 by Alan McLean in 2005 Telkom PGA;
Scott Vincent in 2016 Mauritius Open qualifier.

Feature Holes

The par 3s at Woodhill are uniformly excellent and challenging, the shortest of them being 154 metres from the club tees. That’s the memorable 12th hole, played from an elevated tee to a green on the opposite side of a hazard. The closing stretch from 15 to 18 has an interesting mix of holes, a downhill short par 4, tricky par 3 with water left, a par 5 reachable in two for longer hitters, and then the excellent 18th.

Practice Facility

Full-length range with mats, no grass, open to visitors. Has a kiosk. Coaching provided by PGA teachers Sean Botha and Nardus Brooks. Also home to The Golf Lab club fitment centre which sells Bettinardi putters. There is a short-game facility and putting greens in front of the clubhouse.  www.thegolflab.co.za

Club Champions

2024 Japie Fanoy & Esme Behrens
2023 Fabio de Abreu & Veronica Paddy
2022 Fabio de Abreu & Holly Lau
2021 Japie Fanoy & Esme Behrens
2019 Werner Deyzel & Esme Behrens

Did You Know

1/ Sunshine Tour pro Alan McLean equalled a world record at Woodhill in the 2005 Telkom PGA when he had 9 consecutive birdies in a third round 62, from No 7 to 15. He had 11 birdies and played the back nine in 29.

2/ There have been five holes-in-one on par 4s at Woodhill. Four aces at No 9, by A Giovanni (2001), N Jacobs (2006), H Venter (2007) and C Petersen (2015). Another at No 15 by E Meiring (2005).

3/ Former club champion Werner Deyzel is one of the country’s top amateurs and represented SA in the 2018 Junior World Cup. He was runner-up in the 2018 SA Junior Boys Championship at Woodhill. Deon Germishuys shot 13-under 275 with two rounds of 66 to win the strokeplay, and Keegan McLachlan won the matchplay.

4/ Woodhill hosted 2019 SA Women’s Amateur Championship. Kajal Mistry enjoyed a rare double triumph by winning both strokeplay and matchplay titles in the same week in April. Her best round was 67.

5/ Tour pro Zander Lombard grew up at Woodhill and is a honorary member along with Michiel Bothma, who won the 2002 Telkom PGA Championship at Woodhill.

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Course Reviews
One of my favourite courses but sadly found it in a bad condition. The greens aren't what they used to be, and the bunkers require more sand. The PGA Club Pro Championship was meant to be played at Woodhill in May but will be moved to a different venue.
Ignis van der Merwe
04 April 2024
Woodhill reaches a surprising height on the front nine without you knowing it, until you begin the descent and espy beautiful views. One look from the clubhouse at the estate houses opposite confirms a significant hill. The climb from first tee to fourth green is steady if not extreme, although it includes the 546m third, where trees guard the entrance to a bunkerless green. After the flattish fifth, another strong par 5, the par-4 sixth sweeps grandly downhill. Behind the par-3 seventh green is a steep slope 50 metres down to the eighth tee. No 8 is the longest 4 at 445 and was maligned in earlier years because the fairway falls right, and it's a dogleg left. A much better hole today for the modern game. Two fairway bunkers delineate where a drive should finish. After that the fairway narrows and buckles for a risky landing. No 9 is an excellent risk-reward 4 from all tees. Water right of fairway and green.
Stuart McLean
16 March 2024
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I enjoyed my game at Woodhill. Loved the layout and the challenge the course brings. For me the highlights were great greens running true, and an exceptional halfway house, a place where you want to break after 9. Some areas they can improve: the pro shop has adequate stock but did feel dark inside; the sand texture in the bunkers varied from hole to hole; although naturally dry following the winter months, some fairways weren't well defined in terms of the first cut. Can't wait for the rain to arrive and play there again.
Ignis van der Merwe
07 September 2023
Woodhill has an excellent honours board in the clubhouse corridor, and every albatross on the course has been recorded. I was surprised to see there have been four aces in the last 20 years on the par-4 ninth hole, an attractive risk-and-reward par 4, with water right of the green and fairway. It plays 330 metres from the club tees, so it's not a hole I suspected might yield that many. There's only been one ace for instance at the downhill 300-metre 15th where you would expect more. (The big surprise was a hole-in-one on the 428-metre eighth! However, I'm told it happened when the hole had been temporarily shortened to a par 3 in 2001.) Woodhill's bent grass greens are outstanding; much of the poa in them has disappeared. Greenkeeper Hugo van den Berg has been inter-seeding three times during the growing season with an abundance of bent, in September, January and March. The result is impressive.
Stuart McLean
26 October 2022
Woodhill has improved as a club and I love being a member there.
Jackson Wolter
11 August 2022
More clubs in Gauteng are acquiring greens rollers to improve the putting surfaces of their greens and also increase the speeds. Having a greens roller operating regularly is said to increase the Stimpmeter reading by at least 1.6. Woodhill have bought the latest Toro GreensPro 1260 which crabs sideways at pace across the green. It couples quickly up to a vehicle, so can be moved around all 18 holes in about three hours. The result of the purchase is outstanding greens at this Pretoria golf estate and a superior putting experience.
Thomas Souness
17 December 2021
Woodhill has evolved over the last two decades into an attractive and most enjoyable parkland course, heavily tree-lined in places so that the estate housing is generally hidden from view from the fairways. It's in superb condition, particularly lush. The front nine is not only extremely strong, but blessed with an excellent variety of holes that continually undulate. The opening five holes lay down a daunting challenge to any golfer. You begin with an uphill par 4 that curves through a narrow neck to the green, then comes a long par 3 (without a single bunker) and a demanding par 5 that climbs gently to a narrow green tucked away in the trees. The fourth is an excellent long par 4 that doglegs left around one of the biggest and deepest bunkers in South Africa, a forbidding place to put your tee shot. That's followed by a stunning par 5 that is a creative piece of design by Peter Matkovich.
Stuart McLean
11 December 2021
Woodhill is arguably the best manicured course in Pretoria. The greens are true and chipping and putting is a joy. This estate course has matured. The trees are growing big, which helps with the shaping of the holes, while the houses are less visible from the fairway. Great improvements to the clubhouse, a comfortable place for a sundowner after golf.
Philip Malan
10 December 2020
Woodhill is coming of age in 2020 when it turns 21. And boy has this course matured beautifully over its lifetime. Compared to the early years of its development when it hosted the Telkom PGA Championship it has blossomed into an attractive visual experience. Quite the parkland beauty. I loved the par-5 fifth. An unusual hole for South Africa, like something you would find in the UK. And the par-3 12th from the high back tee is superlative. What a thrill to hit the green from 190 metres!
Stuart McLean
17 March 2020
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