I met the Leopard Creek goat herder on the 11th tee. Until then I hadn’t realised such a position existed at SA’s No 2 course. The herder was following 14 boerbokke, cute looking smallish fellas munching away at the vegetation while hurrying from hole to hole, bleating to each other. The herder was struggling to keep up, although he had time for a chat. Leopard Creek’s boerbokke are not as famous as the goats at the Lahinch links in Ireland (you can view them on YouTube), but they could have been. Sadly, I hear they are being made redundant. The herd numbered 70, but even that many weren’t able to make a sizeable dent on the dense bush. Leopard Creek have employed a labour force to cut back the undergrowth bordering some holes, opening up clearings and exposing more of the bushveld trees. Projects like that are ongoing at Leopard Creek which doesn’t rest on its laurels. A team were building a new back tee high up the hillside on the par-3 12th (170m), and every hole now has a Green tee, this latest addition being forward of the Red tees.
