I have now played all the Jack Nicklaus Signature courses in SA, and Pearl Valley stands out above the rest with the beauty of its design, and the fairness and playability of the greens. In this respect they are more like Pecanwood’s, with the odd exception. The aesthetics here are as good as at Simola, even though Pearl doesn’t have the same spectacular scenic views. I was impressed with the quality of the conditioning. It’s the variety of the holes that stands out though, and their isolation from each other. That is really cool to experience. The only time you see another hole is at 7 and 8 where these par 4s are separated by a large lake. I liked the gentle opening par 4, and then a seriously tough 4 to finish. The par 3s are exceptional in their design, so challenging too that making par feels special. The par 5s were actually the “easiest” holes if you played them cautiously as 3-shotters yet attacking them clearly brought trouble into play.
