Modern makeover for Zini golf course
“BIG things are happening at Mtunzini Country Club,” says men’s golf captain Jeremy Kirkwood as he surveys the new greenside bunker at the closing hole of the town’s amazing golf course.
Consisting of only nine greens, but with 18 sets of tees, Mtunzini’s course is smaller than the 18-hole courses in the area at Empangeni and Richards Bay, but it gives away nothing in terms of charm and challenge to its bigger neighbours.
And now, with a major course upgrade starting to show initial results, it will give away nothing in quality either.
It was always Kirkwood's plan to improve the course from the moment he was voted in as the men’s captain, but – as with many ideas – finances were a problem.
“Not so much a problem,” he says with a wry smile, “more of a complete roadblock.”
Like many clubs, Mtunzini Country Club – which consists of tennis, squash and cycling sections as well as the golf - has been living a financially stressful existence for the past few years.
Luckily for Kirkwood – and Mtunzini – he was put in touch with John Botha, a former apprentice of Gary Player (one of only two people who can make that claim), a former TV pundit and probably best known for his thoughtful articles in monthly magazine “The Compleat Golfer”.
Having retired recently from being the general manager of the Blair Atholl Estate in Johannesburg, where the 2023 Investec SA Open has just been played, Botha had settled at the Eshowe Hills Golf and Eco Estate and was up to the challenge.
Between them, the two men drew up a plan to start by modernising three of the nine holes, and then set about organising the necessary finance.
“We scrounged what we could, borrowed what we could and haggled hard over what we had to pay for,” says Kirkwood.
Having recently signed a full-service contract for the supply of the club’s golf carts, they were able to raise some money by selling off the old ones, and this provided the initial impetus.
“Then we had a great deal of help from club members – Keagan Kruger and Marc Lindsay-Rae helped with the hollow tining, and Wayne Kriel, Jason Pennefather and Nathan Koepke supported our plans when there was considerable opposition from within the club.”
One of the club’s strongest drawcards is the spectacular view of the course, the
Umlalazi River and the Indian Ocean from the clubhouse deck.
Looking south, one overlooks the finishing green, which now sports a brandnew greenside bunker, designed, dug, filled and finished in two days, using the club’s existing labour. And already it looks as though it has been there since day one.
On the eastern side of the clubhouse, the opening hole now snakes its way down the slope to a green that has two new greenside bunkers, with clusters of other traps narrowing in the fairway left and right.
All the greens have, for the first time in many years, been hollow-tined to improve their putting surfaces, some of the older trees have been trimmed, where needed, and a few dozen new trees have been planted in strategic places.
Kirkwood estimates that the improvements made so far would have cost the better part of half-amillion rand had they been handed over to a specialist contractor, whereas the total bill so far is in the tens of
Covid was almost the club’s death knell and recovery has been long and slow
thousands.
After discussions with the course rating section of GolfRSA, the body that controls golf in South Africa, the course has done away with the old Red teeing grounds on each hole, resulting in an improved rating, and a reduction in maintenance costs.
The benefits of these upgrades have already started to produce results.
Mtunzini has been chosen as a base for the recently announced G.A.B.L.E. programme (“Golf and Business Learning Experience”), a two-day management education course which was previously offered as part of the Wits Business School’s Management Advancement Programme, and proved so successful it was upgraded to an elective on the school’s well-known MBA course.
“That’s quite a feather in our cap,” says Kirkwood, “Our conference centre was an essential component, but it was the golf course that finally won them over.”
Another project now that the course is being upgraded is a free monthly coaching clinic for children at the Mtunzini Junior School.
“Anyone who is interested in finding out more about the G.A.B.L.E. course or the kids’coaching sessions can call our club manager Jodi Niemann on (035) 3401779.
“And you could also ask her about our Easter Festival of Golf for 2024, a fiveday golf fest that we shall be announcing in the new year. We are determined to live up to our new slogan, ‘The jewel of the Zululand coast’.”