Welcome to the Global Handicaps tour of Port St Johns Golf Club

The Port St Johns Golf Course lies in a natural amphitheatre formed by formed by densely forested sand dunes only 150 meters from where the mighty Umzimvubu River meets the Indian Ocean between the majestic Mount Sullivan and Mount Thessigers mountains. Separating the course from sea and river is a sand dune system on which the ruins of the once great Cape Hermes Hotel are situated. (Scheduled for demolishment from January 2008)

The Golf Course is a challenging course that was built by residents in 1952/3. It is a short course in today's standards, consisting of six par fours and three par threes. Overall just over 2 Km's long, (Longest hole 330 m, shortest 237m) it challenge all long drivers to go for the greens on most par fours, but will see you out of bounds for 20 meters of target! Or lying unplayable in thick bush! Twenty seven different "T" boxes see that the course can be played back to back with enough variety. Very undulating with never a level stance, it is the longest course in the smallest acreage in South Africa with shouts of "fore! reverberating on golf days! Keen competition and fun is our watchword during golf tournaments!

The views from the "T" boxes and greens are amazing over the rest of the course and the river mouth and ocean. Some are tucked into dense forests with abundant birdlife that includes the rarest of all, the highly endangered cape parrot, paradise flycatchers, nerina trogons and many more!

All round the Port St Johns Golf Club is a wonderful place to play a game of golf in beautiful surroundings, with birds serenading you and the sound of the waves lulling you into a tranquil state.
For peace, quiet and soul satisfying views, come and join us.

Recent History of Port St. Johns Golf Club

With independence coming to the Transkei in 1976, the traditional support for golf in the town was bought out and moved away from Port St Johns. This saw the Golf club and course slowly deteriorating until 1993, when the Cape Hermes Hotel, which traditionally contributed to the welfare of the club and course, finally closed its doors. This saw the club without the traditional golf playing clientele of the Cape Hermes and the facility became unkempt and unplayable. During this period local residents tried their best to preserve what they could, using personal finances. Various threats to the property itself were averted through their combined efforts, but the club remained eye-sore to both local residents and tourists. Port St Johns is an extremely poor community, income is restricted and money for luxuries is scarce.

The period after the 1994 elections in our country saw the gradual re-growth of tourism in this area. Government, Local Government and private investment increased dramatically, thereby creating new employment opportunities. Port St Johns is now en-route to becoming an economically independent town. There were, however, been no improvement to the country club and golf course. During February 2002 this situation prompted three local residents, Mr. Ken Matoti, Wella Pantswa and Dries van der Merwe, to have a planning session, resulting in requests to various organizations for the funding of a program regarding vital upgrading.

As a direct result of this effort the Port St Johns Municipality answered the call and funded the first stage of the upgrading process. The upgrading process implemented since July 2002 has involved the cleaning of underbrush and invading plants, bush and trees from the roughs and fairways. The purchase of basic and, due to financial restraints, mostly secondhand equipment; the total replanting of the putting greens and a basic tidying up of the clubhouse facility.

To become financially independent is however still some way off. This will only be achieved by the full recovery of this facility, by increasing our membership and, most of all, the successful marketing of Port St Johns as a tourism destination that also offers golf as one of its attractions.

To achieve our goals depend on our ability to turn the Golf course and clubhouse into an attractive, well-run and well maintained facility. Currently we have only two permanent employees, subsequently the majority of the work is being done by volunteers and, when funds permit, casual laborers.

Sporting and social facilities are scarce in this part of the world and the whole exercise gradually became more successful. The club also embarked on a youth development program, with the aim of establishing golf as a recreational and, hopefully, professional sport amongst our youth. Adult coaching is also done with the view of increasing our membership and income-base to achieve our final goal of financial independence. Currently we have 4 junior golfers with handicaps below 10! This is after being coached since July 2003, without their golf costing them one cent! At present it is really the creation of this opportunity for our youth that makes our efforts as volunteers worthwhile. It is heartwarming to see how the juniors make use of this facility, especially in Port St Johns, where sport and recreational activities are considered to be rather a novelty.

Since September 2006 when the participation of Global Handicaps kicked in, we received a steady income that is continuously growing. At this stage it is maintaining our club and course with our other income being sponsored golf days, green fees and functions and conferences hosted by the club.