Anyone visiting Oubaai today will see a vast improvement compared to how the course looked earlier this year when it was being maintained on a shoestring basis because maintenance costs were not being paid. New machinery owned by Mark Wiltshire Golf has made a difference to fairways and rough, and the water hazards, particularly the one at par-3 11th, have been cleared of unsightly vegetation. Bunkers are again playable, although you wonder if some might be removed. There are just so many. What is the point of a cross bunker at the front of the fairway on the par-5 ninth? It impedes the weaker golfer. The bunkers didn’t bother the Sunshine Tour pros in last week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Final, with Dean Burmester having an incredible 32 birdies over 72 holes to win on 28-under 260. Take the wind away and the course is too easy for anyone who hits gigantic drives. Oubaai’s weakness is having five par 5s (and five 3s), so Burmester was 16-under for the 5s. The toughest holes were two of the longer 3s, No 6 (189) and 14 (207).