Leopard Creek still cream of the crop

Every year, South Africa's version of Golf Digest magazine go to great lengths to determine - as they put it - this country's 100 greatest golf courses.

To achieve this objective, 100 panelists must play as many courses as they can manage in any 12-month period, carefully rating them in terms of shot value, playability, resistance to scoring, design variety (of the holes), aesthetics, memorability and conditioning.

I happen to be a member of that panel and what I have learnt over the years is that any course cracking the top 100 is a pretty good course. And anyone who has played Germiston Country Club, for instance, will agree with me because it comes in at No.100 and it's exactly that - a pretty good track.

Is the process completely objective? Well, hopefully yes. But the panelists are only human and probably there is some individual bias, although one could argue that if 30 or 40 individuals play a particular course the overall rating will be a fair one. Having said that, how high your own golf course is ranked can be quite an emotional issue. Many of us are proud of our own clubs and think they should be ranked higher than they are.

I'm no exception. As a member at Randpark, I'm disappointed we only came in at 44th this time, down 10 places from last year even though in my opinion, the course is looking better than ever. Well, that's my view, but others obviously think differently.

South Africa has many fine courses and to be in the top 10 they really have to be world-class - like the exclusive Leopard Creek which retains the No.1 spot ahead of Gary Player CC at Sun City, Fancourt Links, Arabella, Pearl Valley and that traditional beauty, Durban CC.

Only four Johannesburg courses - Royal East (7th), Glendower (12th), River Club (14th) and Country Club Johannesburg (Woodmead) (22nd) make the top 30, which I find quite surprising given the high quality of courses in the city. Then again, it's the majority vote so I shouldn't have reason to argue.

If you want the top 100 you'll need to buy the magazine, but to whet the appetite, here are the top 30, with visitors' green fees in brackets (and you'll notice golf isn't cheap, although it is said that South Africa still offers better value for the golfer than many overseas countries where the game is prohibitively expensive):

FIRST 10

1 Leopard Creek (green fee R1 850), 2 Gary Player CC (R720), 3 Fancourt Links (R1 500), 4 Arabella (R625), 5 Pearl Valley (R1 095), 6 Durban CC (R450), 7 Royal Johannesburg & Kensington East (R290/R390), 8 Fancourt Montagu (R895), 9 St Francis Links (R510), 10 Elements (R270/R330).

SECOND 10

11 Wild Coast (R265), 12 Glendower (R290/R380), 13 Pinnacle Point (R680), 14 River Club (private), 15 Simola (R650), 16 East London (R286), 17 Pecanwood (R430/R480), 18 Fancourt Outeniqua (R795), 19 George (R270), 20 Prince's Grant (R231).

THIRD 10

21 Lost City (R720), 22 CCJ Woodmead (R270/R320), 23 Erinvale (R395), 24 Beachwood (R380), 25 Sishen (R140), 26 De Zalze (R351), 27 Pezula (R675), 28 Zimbali (R280/R360), 29 Oubaai (R425), 20 Fish River Sun (R195).

Humewood and Krugersdorp were not considered for the latest rankings because of major changes to their green complexes in the second half of last year.

If the above prices scare you, remember that as members of a club you pay a lot less and there also are some special deals out there, for instance:

Durban CC/Beachwood: R200 - Mon-Tues-Wed before 8.30am.

Ebotse: R100 on Tuesdays.

Blue Valley: R110 Tuesday to Friday before 8am.

Orkney: R65 (great value for an excellent course) on Fridays.

Wanderers: R157 - Tuesday to Friday mornings.

Pretoria CC: R91 - first and last Wednesday of month.

Wingate Park: R110 - before 8am on Fridays.

Oppenheimer Park: R85 on Sundays.

Bushman Sands: R145 including a meal - Monday to Fridays.

Reading: R50 for pensioners before 8.30am weekdays. Really good deal, this.

Bloemfontein GC: R55 on Mondays.