Playing Durban Country Club was always a goal of mine, so I made sure to set a couple of days aside during a recent trip to check it out.
Royal Melbourne East was always my barometer for hot and cold courses, with its mix of sublime and ridiculous, but Durban CC leaves it in the shade in that regard.
It follows almost without exception at Durban CC that the good holes are on the good land and the poor on the flat land.
The best of the land is on the seaside east of the course and the southern area near the clubhouse (much of the front nine and the last two holes), while north and west, where the lion's share of the back nine sits, is plain and poorly used.
The undulations on the good land are extreme, with greens largely built on the high ground, maximising those landforms and ensuring you can't miss them.
The standout in that regard is the mid-length par four 17th, which plunges from a highpoint in the fairway to a series of ocean swell rolls before climbing up high again at the green. It's as dramatic as natural, traditional golf can get
The vegetation management is a disappointment, with jungle so thick just off the fairways that going in to look for a ball is the definition of futile.
Another let-down on the back nine is the removal of two epic fairway bunkers that would previously have made the par five 10th and 14th standouts on plain land, where now they lack something exciting.
The best holes are incredible, though, and present some of the most exciting golf shots I've played. Among those most notable are:
2nd hole - 172m/160m - an African cousin to 5 @ R. Melb West.From a tee with a commanding coastal view, it's slightly downhill to a green fronted by a steep dune that feeds anything underclubbed back towards the tee. The drama of that land makes the green appear almost flat, but it pitches significantly in the same direction.
3rd hole - 468m/462mA sizeable fairway trap set in a dune gets lots of attention, but the thing I loved most about this short par five was the subtlety at the green, which sits atop a modest dune. But short of the green is a ripple of dune about 40m short that creates hidden ground in front of the putting surface and messes with your depth perception.
8th hole - 458m/440mOne of the bst long shots I have played is the 200m or so you find between you and the pin on this short par five. The massive foreground bunker dominates the eye and the green is atop another huge dune that slopes hard right at the front, meaning you have to get your ball up top on the fly or watch dreams of eagle get swatted hard away from and below the green.
12th hole - 143m/131m - The famed Prince of Wales holeIt's rare to find something unique like this hole, which plays from one tall dune to another with the narrow green reaching all the way to the edges of the platform, meaning plenty of balls that land on the short stuff end up rolling down one of the flanks 25ft below the putting surface. If that's not tough enough, bunkers sit at the front and back of the green. I always thought the 17th at NSWGC was a severe short iron test in a high wind zone, but this is something else.
18th hole - 250m/241m - the perfect finish to a quirky and unconventional courseAn extremely short four over some really fun land. Easily driveable, but if you take a straight line to the green you have to traverse a deep valley that kicks the ball right towards a steep falloff down to the range. The ideal shot is either a fade that lands on the higher ground and runs down to the green or a bold draw that flirts with thr right before landing into the slope and running up the hill to the green. The putting surface is made by the flow of the central valley that runs naturally to a great RHS chipping area.
With some judicious work, Durban CC could be a good two tiers better than it is and a worthy inclusion in the World Top 100, within which it nonetheless sits. Not many courses have as many breathtaking holes or such incredible land.
I highly recommend a visit despite the drawbacks. There's a lot to see that you won't see elsewhere and - my favourite thing about golf travel - you get to enjoy the game played a different way in a different culture.
My caddie in one round made a big song and dance at the first tee about me not hitting driver. Fairly firmly, and at great volume, he explained how the hole needed to be played, that driver was too much club and that my 2 Hybrid was the tool for the job, mentioning several times that he had caddied at the club for longer than I'd been alive.
I relented, mostly just to shut him up, and hit a hybrid down the fairway. As we walked off down the hole, he gestured to the club pro giving a lesson to the right of the 1st tee and says: "He is one of the best professionals in the country. Very good teacher and he sees me advising you, giving you the knowledge you need to play well and he understand that I am a very good caddie."
He was very proud of the tournament that was being played at Durban CC this week, the latest chapter in the club's lengthy tournament history. He assured me he would get a bag for the tournament, and I bet he'd be just as firm with a World Top 50 golfer as he was with me!
A few hours' drive north towards Mozambique, here's the best reason to visit South Africa as soon as you can: The HluHluwe-Umfalozi Game Reserve. More incredible than any golf hole could ever be.
