SKUKUZA – For its R20m budget, you would expect something impressive at the refurbished Skukuza Golf Club (SGC), dubbed “the wildest golf course in the world”.
But nothing quite prepares you for the extent of the changes and improvements, the attention to detail, or the scope of the club’s world-class achievement and vision.
Indalo Hotels and Mark Wiltshire Golf were awarded the refurbishment project and have a 20-year contract with SANParks to manage the famous course and its magnificent new clubhouse.
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The nine-hole course has also undergone major improvements.
“We’ve lengthened the course slightly and have laid entirely new greens, which will be ready for play at the end of January.”
The refurbishment has employed a total workforce of over 200 people, including 32 permanent staff members.
Indalo Hotels joined forces with Norse Projects, Afrirent, landscapers Agriturf, Topshell, Earthquest Management
Consultants and interiors specialist Angela Rogers, all elevating the SGC’s nine-hole course and clubhouse to world-class status.
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Afrirent’s project manager, Eric Njuguna, said, “We wanted to resuscitate the golfing economy in the park, which includes creating new jobs and providing a tremendously exciting new venue for visitors.
“The SGC will be a major highlight for any visitor to the Kruger Park. Being in the wildest golf club in the world is an entirely different experience,” Njuguna said.
At a cost of R9m, including a new irrigation system, the nine Royal Blue Cynodon (Cynocydon Transvaalensis) greens have taken beautifully. “Agriturf entirely removed the old greens, including the earth underneath them, and then layered compacted sterile silicon soil before planting the Cynodon by hand, all 75,000 plugs of it.”
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Rogers said. “It’s taken over 15 guys four weeks to replant the greens. We’ve had such an excellent team.”
The greens are surrounded by Malibu grass, a new Cynodon variant that is unavailable anywhere else in South Africa at present.
When it comes to the clubhouse, the old, traditional feel has been retained.
A major improvement is that the SGC is now completely compatible for people with disabilities, including ramps in all the right places and a separate bathroom and shower facility, alongside the brand-new male and female shower rooms.
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