The Missing Links: October 2018

Monday 29 October 2018

Humewood Golf Course, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

humewoodgolf.co.za

White tees par 72, S.A.G.A. 71, 6096 metres

Red tees par 74, W.G.S.A. 73, 5350 metres

Lying to the south east of the city of Port Elizabeth on Algoa Bay in the Indian Ocean, Humewood Golf Course is the only true links course in Africa. In 1929 golf was becoming popular in the area, probably due to an increasing European influence, and the Port Elizabeth Golf Club commissioned Colonel Stafford Vere Hotchkin who remodelled Woodhall Spa golf course in Lincolnshire, to design a new course which opened two years later in 1930 as Humewood Golf Course.

The view from the clubhouse over the 18th green to the

1st fairway and the Indian Ocean

We played Humewood on a perfect day with light winds. The members, from whom we had a very friendly welcome, told us that there are three courses - one in the east wind, one in the west wind and one like today! The course is a true links topographically although the turf was rather lush in places and the fairways although typically undulating, were not as hard and fast running as we would expect. The course starts with two straightforward par 4s with raised greens which we came to realise are a feature of the course, punishing any slightly short approach shots. The four par 3s are all excellent tests of golf, not least of which is the third which is 190m from the white tees and may need a driver in strong winds. The par 3 sixth was described by Retief Goosen as 'the shortest par 4 in the world' and reputedly had an average score of 5.2 in a tournament when the wind was blowing. The 12th requires an accurate tee shot to a long narrow green guarded by bunkers. The final par 3 is the 14th

The approach to the 13th green

which is played to a plateau green sloping from back to front and guarded by a bunker short left and a hidden bunker on the right. The par 4s are no less challenging. Four are particularly long - 4,8,10 and 13. The 13th is particularly memorable with a typically crumpled fairway leading to an elevated and sloping green. The course finishes with the par 4 18th heading back to the clubhouse over a very sloping fairway and a green well guarded by bunkers. An added attraction of the course is the prolific wildlife - we saw ibis, mongoose, cape grysbok and blacksmith plovers to name but a few.

The par 3 14th hole. There is a hidden bunker on the right

Worth playing? Yes - it's the only true links in Africa!

The Links Project

There are 246 true links golf courses in the world and this blog is a record of our attempt to play all of them. My husband Ron and I are keen golfers and I came up with the idea of this project after he gave me the book by George Peper and Malcolm Campbell 'True Links' which lists them all.

The commonest question we are asked about our project is 'How do you define a true links course?' This will be debated by aficionados for long after we have (hopefully) completed our quest and there will never be a correct answer. The strict definition is from the British Golf Museum:

1. The course must be beside a river estuary

2. It must offer partial or occasional views of the sea

3. It must have few trees

4. It must have numerous bunkers

5. It must have nines that run out and back, the front heading to a far point and the back returning to the clubhouse

Peper and Campbell defined their list as follows:

Terrain - how close is the course to the sea? Do the fairways run fast and hard? Do the greens favour a run-on approach? How open is the site? How natural? Is there a freedom from trees? Is the invasion of gorse and brush controlled? How light is the environmental footprint on the land?

Turf - is there a sand base? What grasses are dominant on the fairways and greens? Is the rough managed ( creating biodiversity for flora and fauna)? How well does the course drain?

Weather - how exposed is the site to the elements? What are the typical wind conditions? Does the course play hard and fast all year round? Must temporary greens and tees be used in winter? Is the course susceptible to winter closure?

Peper and Campbell included courses which supplied the correct answers to most of these questions. But however defined, to me the poem by Sir John Betjeman encapsulates the feeling of links golf.