[Padraig Dooley]

I was at Humewood earlier in the week. The SA Open is on there at the moment. I didn't play but drove around it in a cart on Sunday.

The fairways are impressively undulating. The other standout feature was there were quite a few elevated greens, the greens tended to be quite narrow as well. The best example of this was the par 3 sixth. I would imagine that these would create quite a number of interesting approaches, particularly in crosswinds.

The wind hasn't blown strongly yet which is unusual for the Port Elizabeth area, but hopefully it will blow at the weekend.

[Philip Gawith]

Padraig - what are you doing in South Africa all the time? Be careful what you say about Gary Player.

I am busy watching some of the SA Open at Humewood as we speak. I have never seen it before - although i had been wanting to play it - and my appetite has been whetted. It really does look like a genuine links with serious undulations on some of the holes.

The surface of the greens looks quite  unlike those where most tournaments are played - although they appear quite true, the  colouring is quite mottled. They seem to have a lot of grain. I wonder what sort of grass they are? They are clearly pretty slow - commentators say they have quickened up considerably, but are still only stimping at 9.

The course as you no doubt know was designed by Colonel SV Hotchkin of Woodhall Spa fame. Apparently it originally had eight par 5 holes, but four of these have been changed to par fours. Donald Steel did some work on the course, adding new bunkers, back in the 1980s.

Maybe one day we can have an ambitious GCA event which takes in, inter alia, Humewood and Durban Country Club and some of the other attractive coastal courses like the Wild Coast Sun and one or two of the newer ones eg Arabella, Oubaai etc.

[Paul Payne]

I had never heard of this course until seeing it on the broadcast this morning. It looks very good on tv, has anyone here played it before?

Philip

I agree with your comments on the greens, they are not the typical we see on the tour. They look like they would be fun to play, especially considering the grain. I know enough to recognize grain patterns when I see them but I don't know if I could putt them well. There seem to be few courses in North America where the greens have significant grain anymore.  

[David Stamm]

Calling Bob Huntley......

[Bob_Huntley]

Yes, I have played it but it was over forty years ago. The greens were grainy and the the wind was a huge factor in what sort of scores were posted.

It is a pity that some of the coastal courses do not host the big tournaments anymore. Humewood would be a good test.

Bob

[Tom_Doak]

I made the trip from Durban to play there 15 years ago and was not disappointed ... in fact I just included it in a piece about links courses around the world which will be out next spring.  The day I played, many of the holes were back and forth either right into the teeth of the wind or downwind, so it felt like there were still eight par fives!

Bob:  Are there other good courses in South Africa which one would call a links without reservation?  Durban is in the dunes but doesn't play very linksy in my experience.

[Matthew Hunt]

It is good the way they have went for Fast and Firm not "Masters" green

[Philip Gawith]

Tom - Milnerton in Cape Town probably qualifies as a pretty good links course, though not spoken of in same breath as Durban and Humewood. It is on the coast of Table Bay and has stunning views of Table Mountain. I only played it once years ago and do not recall it having undulation similar to the other courses.

Close to M

BTW - last week someone was asking whether Leopard Creek had the best wildlife you saw from any golf course. They have just shown from Humewood some wonderful footage of a whale splashing around....all the good things South African golf offers you!

[Padraig Dooley]

Humewood and Milnerton are generally the only two courses in SA that are links like, I haven't played Milnerton, passed by it a few times, but I don't believe it is anything special. Atlantic Beach up the road from Milnerton is links like and I must say I enjoy playing there.

There was flooding in Port Elizabeth in august and some of Humewood was covered in water for a period of time. The local members were worried in wouldn't be in good shape but the greenkeeper did an excellent job.

I'm not sure what type of grass is on the greens but it is quite prevalent on the coast in SA, it is very grainy but generally putts well.

The other notable feature in Humewood was the general lack of rough around the greens, in particular the elevated greens, the ball tended to run a long way from the hole on misjudged approaches.

Philip, I'm in SA for the good weather,it's been dreadful at home recently, gotta follow the sun.

I watched Imellman on the range a few times,was tempted to put the house on him, lucky I didn't, Ernie played very well.

 

 

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