Worcester Golf Club

Worcester’s championship layout, 112 kilometres from Cape Town in the Boland Golf Union region, is set against an attractive backdrop of the Brandwacht mountains. In winter, a fine time to play here, there is often snow on the peaks. It is the third oldest club in the Western Cape, founded 1895. The course, opened in 1988, adjoins the N1 and is easy to access. It is an early Peter Matkovich design when he was working for Gary Player. Matkovich was into risk-reward short par-4s and par-5s, and being creative with the shaping of greens. He liked to be different, so the final three holes on each nine are only par 3s and par 5s, three of each. He introduced one of the first par 3s (No 7) where golfers had to carry a large body of water to a green sitting on the edge of the dam, and a double green shared by No 9 and 18. Worcester’s layout could be described as “Karoo parkland.” The fringes of the course border dry bushy scrubland indigenous to an area with limited rainfall. The green fairways provide a contrast to the rest of the landscape.