Erinvale is one of the Western Cape’s “Big Three” courses, and by Western Cape I’m not including the Garden Route which is part of the vast province but much further away from the Cape Peninsula, Winelands and Overberg regions. The other members of the “Big Three” are Pearl Valley and Arabella, and the three course designers are Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Peter Matkovich who between them can boast 22 courses in the SA Top 50. Erinvale is a championship test yet it has a more forgiving nature to it for the club golfer than Pearl Valley and Arabella. Ample room off the tee for one. It has a superb opening hole, a beautiful dogleg right par 4 to a strikingly creative raised green that seems to stretch forever. The greens at Erinvale are excellent in their design, size, and the quality of putting surface. Magnificent in summer. Erinvale is a rarity among top modern courses in not having a par 3 among the finishing holes. The last one is the 14th, which is far and away the best par 3, the others I find disappointingly middling (on two of them you’re playing uphill to a hidden green).
