In 1885 a meeting was held with the intention of introducing Golf to South Africa. It was chaired by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Torrens and resulted in the first South African Golf Club being established in the Cape, and from that many courses over the years have been established in all parts of South Africa.
The first South African to play golf internationally was Bobby Locke. In 1938 he turned professional and after playing in the U.S. he spent most of his time playing in European and British competitions eventually winning the British Open 4 times between 1949 and 1957. In 1959 he was involved in a car accident which ended his golfing career.
In 1977 Bobby Locke was chosen to be included in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Gary Player is regarded generally as one of the foremost players in the history of the sport and has been often referred to as one of the big 3 in world golfing history and is one of the 5 players in the world who have won the “career Grand Slam”. Gary Player was elected to the World Golf hall of fame in 1974.
Succeeding Gary Player are South African Golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen both major figures in international Golfing circuits.
In the 1980”s, South Africa’s Golf Professionals, when playing in tournaments worldwide realized that Courses in South Africa were not on a par with the best courses around the world, so they started upgrading and remodeling existing courses and building new ones and today it is recognized that South African Golf Courses can compare with the best in the USA, Europe and the U.K.
The Gary Player country club golf course at Sun City is known as one of the best in the world according to international golfer Bernard Langer and is the venue for the annual Nedbank million dollar golf challenge.
There are many other prestigious courses in South Africa and the country, due to the clement weather, is a very popular golfing and holiday destination throughout the year, with outstanding golf courses in all provinces.