It is heartening to know that the old place is still going strong.
Bob
"Nchanga rolls out green carpet for tour
Posted on 14 March 2006 - 18:29
Not even the absence of their clubs or clothes could dampen the Sunshine Tour professionals' enthusiasm about the 18-hole championship layout of the Nchanga Golf Club.
The Club is the host venue of the 2006 Stanbic Zambia Open.
From early Tuesday morning, the professionals took the course in all manners to check out their ‘office' for the next six days.
Those in shorts and slops walked alongside the privileged few that had both kit and clubs, while in some cases, up to four players shared a bag, just to get that all important practice round behind them ahead of the two Pro-Ams scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
But there were smiles abound, as the unknown par-72 layout was a pleasant surprise to the competitors.
The Nchanga Golf Club was established as a nine-hole layout in 1936 and re-opened as an 18-hole layout in 1946. It hosted among others the Four Day Cup in 1946, the Northern Rhodesian Championship in 1947, as well as 1950, 1953 and 1957.
It also played host to some of the world's leading golfers, including one of South Africa's greatest, Bobby Locke, who rated Nchanga as one of the best courses in Southern Africa.
It was exactly 50 years ago that the four-time Open champion beat the reigning Open Champion, Peter Thomson by one stroke in a special 72-hole Matchplay tournament at Nchanga.
Both Locke and Thompson were full of praise for the course, but had some constructive advice - narrow the fairways and reduce the size of the greens. This was counsel the Club Committee took to heart and this is the challenge facing the Sunshine Tour pro's this week.
The gloves are off from the first hole, a 371m par-four bearing a slight dogleg to the right.
The long hitters might get brave with the driver, but will need dead accuracy to find the landing area, which tapers to about 35 paces across. The more conservative player will hit a three-wood or four-iron off the tee and play a soft nine-iron into the small green, measuring 26m long, but only 15 across.
In fact, apart from four larger ‘lawns', Nchanga boasts 14 coin-sized greens protected by bunkers and lateral water hazards, coming off tapered fairways.
And, although the rough is not extremely penalising, the 1600mm rain over the last six weeks has left enough of a warning for the pros to keep it on the short grass.
The four par-fives will give the big hitters an opportunity for birdies, with the fourth even offering an eagle opportunity for an accurate driver. But it is at the par-fours that will test the golfers' bag of tricks.
The par-four sixth, in particular, is quite a tester.
The club's stroke one is a straight downhill drive, then an uphill shot into the small green guarded by bunkers front left and right. Off the tee golfers face a fairly broad fairway, but it tapers very quickly into a landing area that tapers 28 paces across and is cut off from the upward slope towards to the green by a broad water hazard.
In other words, if you're gutsy enough to go for the driver, you better be able to put the brakes on before you find the drink. An estimated 106 players have converged in Chingola, including 11 Zambian nationals, to chase the lucrative prize fund of R750,000 - boasting a first prize of R 118,875 - in the opening event of the 2006 season.
The main event tees off on Friday and finishes on Sunday, with a cut to 55 and ties after round two."