Mowbray Golf
Course: Raapenberg Road, Mowbray, Cape Town. Situated
approximately 10 minutes from Cape Town city
centre, the Mowbray Golf Club was established in 1910. The club is
recognised as being one of the best in the country with all major
amateur championships having been played here. Mowbray has hosted the SA
Open seven times and the Bells Cup three times.
The Course: Set in a very central area
- about 15 minutes from the Waterfront and Cape Town's Airport -
Mowbray is a parkland course, which provides an excellent test of golf.
The terrain is flat, but plenty of trees and water features make for an
interesting experience, with the beauty of the mountain and abundant
wild life dominating the scenery. A significant feature of any coastal
course is, of course, the wind. This is where Mowbray is unique, in that
the holes have been so laid out that you will seldom find yourself with
the wind directly in your face or right at your back. Also, believe it
or not, the wind in Pinelands is seldom as severe as in other parts of
the peninsula.
Members generally appreciate the wind, as the "windy season" coincides
with the summer, keeping the heat at bay. The rainy season is in the
winter - in the months of June through August but strangely enough, most
wives of members have come to believe that it never rains on the golf
course! Certainly, golf is very much a year round activity here and it
is seldom that the course has to be closed due to wet conditions.
Both fairways and greens remain soft throughout the year. The fairways
consist predominantly of kikuyu grass while the greens are a mixture of
fine grasses which provide an excellent putting surface. Experiments
with pure bent grass have not been successful, so the indigenous grasses
are now being "managed", with more than satisfactory results.
While the course is not particularly long, the golfer will find Mowbray
a real challenge. It is generally accepted that the S A Golf Union
ratings of 71 from the back tees and 69 from the front make it about 2
or 3 strokes more difficult than average. Don't let this put you off,
however. If you hit the ball straight, you'll do well and even if you go
off line here and there, the rough is very forgiving and is kept well
trimmed.
Signature Hole: With the imposing Devils Peak as your aiming
point off the tee, the 15th is a tough par-4 with a narrow fairway lined
by pine trees.
Did
you know?
Set in a very central area - about 15 minutes from the Waterfront
and Cape Town's International Airport.
