Killarney Country Club

Killarney is the only Robert Trent Jones design in South Africa. The legendary American course architect visited in 1968 at a fraction of his normal fee, which even then was about $250 000. Former club pro David Black met Jones at the 1967 US Open and persuaded him to take a look at the challenge facing Killarney which was losing parts of their original course to the new M1 motorway. It was the first course in SA to have bent grass greens when it opened in 1970. The motorway adjoins a narrow course property – no more than two holes wide – which is split into three parts due to arterial roads and connected by tunnels. Killarney, with Golf Data having rebuilt the greens in the 1990s, is a strong par 70 championship layout at a club which seldom hosts big tournaments. Water hazards and ditches feature prominently on the cleverly designed layout. The quartet of par 3s would qualify as one of the toughest sets in SA, varying from 175 to 203 metres. Killarney began in 1903 as the Transvaal Automobile Club, before becoming a country club. Golf was added in 1929.