An extra special club champs set for Beachwood
THIS weekend marks an annual ritual of much importance on many golf courses around KZN, with many local clubs hosting their club championships.
The honour of being the champion golfer at one’s home track, in whatever division, is one that holds pride of place for many golfers, and there will be plenty of nerves across the province, as regular weekly golfers feel the pressure that seasoned pros feel on a daily basis.
One of the more significant club championships is that of Durban Country Club, given its vast membership, and its standing as the premier golf course in the city. What makes this year’s event at ‘DCC’ more significant is the fact that their second course, the much-discussed Beachwood course, is almost certainly playing host to its final championship in this guise.
“It’s a significant occasion, and the members have responded very well. We have a very full field, on both courses,” Director of Golf at Durban Country Club, Don Gammon, explained.
“It has not been an easy year at the club, with much speculation over the future of Beachwood, a fantastic course in its own right,” Gammon added.
Certainly, there has been a lot of discussion on golfing circles about the future of Beachwood, with rumours of the club becoming anything from a holiday resort, a property development, or possibly a nine-hole course within a hotel complex.
Gammon, a renowned instructor and a former Tour player in his own right, has inherited a lot of historic issues since taking over at the club. While the decision is yet to be finalised, bids have been taken for the course, and a formal announcement is imminent. As such, the 2017 championships have been tweaked somewhat, with tomorrow’s final day to be played on the testing layout.
Many players actually prefer the rugged Beachwood set-up to the tradition of ‘Country Club’, and it remains one of the province’s most compelling match-play courses.
Fittingly, the club champion of 2017 will stroke their final putt on the par-3 18th at Beachwood, instead of the driveable 18th up the M4 at Country Club.
“We wanted to make this one really special, and I think it will be a very special moment for the golfer who secures the club champs at Beachwood,” Gammon enthused.
“The reaction from our elite players has been fantastic, and we have some of the country’s top amateurs who are members here. They will be making the trip down, so it will be extremely competitive,” Gammon added.
Though there remains some uncertainty about what will happen to Beachwood in the not too distant future, what is certain is that it will this weekend bear witness to one of the hardest fought club championship in years, which is fitting for a course that has always encouraged the golfer who dares.
•Herman Loubser won the Sunshine Tour Final Stage Qualifying School with a 20-under-par 360 at Randpark Golf Club in Johannesburg to earn his playing privileges and lead 34 players onto the main professional golf circuit in Southern Africa, reports SunshineTour.com
A three-under-par final round on the final day took him two strokes clear of the chasing Martin Rohwer who came to Randpark via his win at Killarney Country Club in the first stage.