Gary Player Country Club

The Gary Player Country Club is home of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, and if you have watched the tournament on television you will know the course before you reach the first tee. It is long and demanding, set in the bushveld beside the Pilanesberg.

You arrive from Johannesburg by helicopter, a forty-minute flight over the Magaliesberg, and stay at The Palace of the Lost City. We play the course in the morning, before the heat of the day, with a caddie who knows how the greens run in the afternoon and will tell you why you are not out there then. Non-golfers spend the morning at the Palace spa and gardens and join the golfers for a long lunch.

From Sun City your jet flies from Pilanesberg to Malelane for Leopard Creek, so within three days you play two courses that host DP World Tour events. Our Highveld journey runs in April to June and September to November, which is when I would want to play here, with clear mornings and none of the January heat.

Country: South Africa