The Cape Peninsula and surrounding areas have a very wide and diverse selection of golf courses for the visiting tourist to enjoy and be challenged by, from meadow and parklands to equatorial jungles and bush, or traditional links style golf courses, whatever the preference, and without exception of a very high quality and on a world scale. It would not be possible to document all the courses here, so, to provide a taste of golf by Royal appointment, great golf estate, wonderful links golf, fabulous hotel/golf, award-winning wine and golf, here are our top 5.

1. Royal Cape Golf Club

Perhaps one should start with South Africa’s oldest Golf Club, built in 1885 and bestowed with its Royal patronage and title in 1910, after a visit by The Duke of Connaught, The Royal Cape Golf Club, has not got the modern length and challenges one comes to expect today, this coupled with a high green fee, sadly does not attract the visitor interest it once did. Apart from the above, a round of golf at Royal Cape provides one of those enduring days out every golfer dreams of.

2. Pearl Valley Signature Golf Estate & Spa

Designed and created by the 20th century’s greatest golfer, Jack Nicklaus, this modern classic epitomizes all this greatest of golfer’s ever achieved, both as a player and golf architect. In keeping with his design guidelines the estate has been built closely with nature and includes the local and surrounding environment, surrounded by the Groot Drakenstein, Klein Drakenstein and the Simonsberg mountains it is set within fruit and olive orchards. The famous vineyard towns of Paarl and Franschoek, west or east are the only roads to Pearl Valley, it does not get better or more graceful to start and end your visit to this golfing “gem”.

3. Atlantic Beach Golf Club & Estate

Situated around 30 kilometers from Cape Town on its rugged west coast, this wonderful “links” style golf course has been a superb addition to golfing options in the Western Cape. Built within the natural fynbos this is environmentally protected and creates hazards and natures own ‘out of bounds’ protecting against the wayward shots, on virtually every hole across this windswept links land that requires all a golfers’ skill to negotiate. True to tradition, Atlantic Beach offers links golf equal to any challenge and for the purist, its modern golf with historical origins of the game, and the bonus of Table Bay views.

4. Arabella Country Estate

Designed by Peter Matkovich and built around The Western Cape Hotel & Spa, which offers its guests 6 star facilities and service. The golf course is consistently voted by Golf Digest, as one of the top 100 courses outside the USA.The course plays along the banks of the Bot River Lagoon, one of South Africa’s largest and beautiful natural lagoons and is always in spectacular condition as one comes to expect from this truly fabulous property. It deserves its world ranking and provides another 5 star experience in this part of South Africa.

5. Kleine Zalze & De Zalze Winelands Golf Estate

This estate has been making wines since 1695 collecting awards both nationally and internationally along the way, today it also boasts an excellent golf course that meanders through the vines, all overlooked by the imposing Cape Dutch, complete with thatched Clubhouse. The views are stunning, and represent probably the best panorama of the mountains surrounding Stellenbosch to be found anywhere.

This article was kindly supplied by Geoff Robertshaw. Beside being a very capable golfer, Geoff has constructed, equipped, marketed and managed golf courses and clubs in the U.K., the Americas, Middle East and Asia. For an informative and entertaining stay in Cape Town, we highly recommend Geoff's Golf and Grape Guest House, situated in the village of Somerset West in the Helderberg Basin.