About

From Rugged to Royal - South Africa's First Golf Club

The history of Royal Cape had its beginning on the 14th November 1885 when a meeting, chaired by Lt General Sir Henry Torrens, was held at the Castle "for the purpose of introducing the game of golf and starting a club for the same". Thus the Cape Golf Club, the first in South Africa, was born.

The layout of the course is not known and it is certain that playing conditions, at their best, were rough and ready.

The first medal competition was held in August 1886 at Wynberg and a photograph of this historic occasion, showing General Torrens driving off, has survived and hangs in the Clubhouse. The General went on to win with a gross 94.

With increasing numbers of civilians taking up the game, it was decided to leave the Wynberg course to the military and in 1891 the Club moved to its second home on the Rondebosch Common. A new era in the history of the Cape Golf Club had begun. From this time the history of golf, not only at the Cape Club but throughout the Peninsula, was one of continual and rapid growth.

Many illustrious names in the early history of South African golf, and of Royal Cape in particular, began to appear on the membership list, including no less than four SA Amateur champions - Denholm Walker, winner of the first national championship played at Kimberley in 1892, Bob Law, Elbert Steyn and Gordon Stewart.

In 1893 the Club employed its first professional, Walter Day, whose responsibilities included the upkeep of the course. Much improvement was shown and bogey for the course, which had been over 100, was gradually reduced to 88.

Notwithstanding Day's efforts with the course, the Rondebosch Common was glebe land open to the public for recreation. To maintain the course in any sort of condition with horses galloping across the greens and football being played on the fairways was well-nigh impossible. It had become essential that the Club find premises of its own.

And so a third, and dare we say final, home for the Club was found and in 1905 the move was made to the site which the Club occupies to this day. The official opening took place in 1906. By modern standards the course was pretty rugged, the spiky reeds in the rough being particularly fearsome, but with proper care it improved in leaps and bounds and in 1910 played host to the SA Open and Amateur Championships for the first time. It was in this same year that the title "Royal" was conferred on the Cape Golf Club by H M King George V in commemoration of the visit of H R H The Duke of Connaught who represented the King at the opening of the first Union of South Africa parliament.

The layout then was very different to what it is today and three holes were situated on the far side of the railway line that now forms the eastern boundary of the property. Later, however, following the acquisition of more land, this unpopular feature was eliminated and the course was redesigned very much to the layout we know today. The "new" course was opened in 1929.

Since then many improvements have been made without changing the essential nature of the course and the Club has remained on the roster of major championship venues. The South African Open has been hosted ten times, the first in 1910 as mentioned and the most recent in 1996 when Ernie Els birdied the last three holes to win by one shot. Gary Player won in 1965 when he became the first player to break 70 in all four rounds. His four-round total of 273 (69 68 67 69) was also a record for the event.