From the African Animal’s August postings of all those pictures of Durban Country Club, I gathered from the discussion the following unfinished business:
1. Take pictures of flat holes;
2. Take pictures of 8th hole;
3. Take pictures of monkeys.
Really all I wanted to capture was the sights, the sounds, the smells, of a great golf course. And I got that. But I got more, a whole lot more. But, hey, enough of my yakkin’…
Yes, we’re in Africa. Better hit it straight!
Yes, we’re in Africa:
Yes, we’re in Africa:
Now, the 8th. The tee shot from the Par 5, 502-yard 8th calls you to flirt with the bunker left, as that’s the only way you will get a view of the green. But landing in the bunker forces a layup shot.
Where's the green?!?
The greens on many approaches are farther than the eye calculates, owing to their raised nature, the distance to structure behind them, and to the false fronts or swales found on nearly every green-- green is upper left:
It's farther than you think:
17 approach:
17 approach, as seen from the right -- green is extreme right:
Bunkers and green, 6th hole:
Oh, the flat holes...7, looking down the fairway from 6 green:
13, from the tee -- Prairie Dunes, anyone?
Par 3 15th green, with the new halfway house:
The par 4 16 -- the road wraps to the right and draws the golfer's eye in that direction -- fore right!
The 560-yard par 5 10th looks flat, as it plays in a floodplain, down to a river:
Note the dense trees on the sides and behind the hole: a gnarly-rooted mangrove forest – brutal!But the fairway’s not perfectly flat:
And the green isn’t a pancake, either:
Note slope from right to left, then abrupt dropoff.PS. David McLay Kidd has been hired, mainly to reposition bunkers, but I don’t believe that work has started.
Mark