If you are looking for a great place to go on golf tour this is the place. Highland Gate which is near Dullstroom is probably the best golf course in South Africa, and i would recommend 2 games here. Be warned, you will need to take your own golf cart and probably 4×4 (don’t forget you can rent a 4×4 or rent an SUV at Pace Car Rental). To get there you take a right about 2km before you get to Dullstroom. There is a 14km dirt road to the course. The road is a big ask for a car, and i think it requires a high ground clearance car especially if you are towing. The road is bad.
The course, once you get there (as at 24 September 2013) has a large palatial entrance and that is where it all ends. Once inside you park your car and play. Payment is done by writing your name on an envelope and putting R200 per player in the envelope. They have two golf carts available at the course and if you don’t get one of these two, you need to take your own. The Highland Gate golf course is about a 3 hour drive from Johannesburg. Keep in mind that the last stretch of dirt road takes about 30 minutes.
There are no amenities, so take the following:
- Drinks for half way and afterwards
- Food halfway and after
- Beers for after
- Toilet paper
- Ice
- Lots of balls
The course is crazy good. There is a driving range but you need to take your own balls, and no caddies, so you need to fetch the balls yourself. It really is like stumbling onto Augusta, but everyone left and you are alone. Not even a caddy to fetch the balls, or a proshop to take your money.
Highlands Gate Golf Course Review
The Highland Gate Gold Course near Dullstroom is without doubt a top 5 in the country course, if not the top course. In our opinion, the conditioning is better than Leopard Creek, except for the bunkers which need some more sand. The fairways are amazing all mowed perfectly. The greens are 10/10 all perfectly mowed and not a bit of alien grass or a even a single bare spot. It seems like very few people play here, so hardly a divot in the fairway. It feels like you have died and gone to golf heaven, the greens are like persian carpets. The same goes for the fairways, not a bare spot on the fairways at Highlands Gate Golf Course. The layout of the course can be seen on google maps. It is spectacular. There are holes with 50m drops, tees on top of one hill where you hit to the top of another hill. There are holes that run across the top of a hill, others run through the bottom of a valley. In terms of layout, it is up there with the best holes on Zimbali and Leopard Creek. I know that in terms of deciding which is the best course in the country, they take the facilities into account, so this course would not rank, but in terms of the course, conditioning layout and test of golf, Highland Gate Golf Course must be the number 1 course in the country. I imagine Augusta would be like this.
Highland Gate Golf Course Bookings
To book a game of golf at Highland Gate Golf Course, you need to call Jenni on 0784561792 or Matthew on 0834566717, they are the Highlands Gate Golf bookings, proshop and reservations people. Highlands gate dos not have great cell reception, so send an sms if the phones are off, and they will call you when they get back to Dullstroom. Don’t give up, you definitely can book a game at highland gate golf course.
One of the most important things is getting a golf cart vehicle rental, some of the green to tee walks are long and hilly. We had one walker in our group, and he was finished after 14 holes. You can rent golf cars from a company like eazirent.co.za and you can get trailers at www.trailarent.co.za . You can rent a vehicle with a tow bar from www.pacecarrental.co.za or you could ask the people at Pace to organize everything for you. It may seem like an effort but it only costs R200 to play this amazing course. The rental of a golf car is apparently R400 for a round if you can get one. Compared to other courses of this standard it is worth it.