Player vs Player

As the proliferation of golf course estates, defying all economic logic, continues almost unabated an interesting new project has been announced in the Waterberg.

The new golf course and wildlife domain will involve, for the first time, Gary Player alongside his elder brother Ian – a man who in his field of wildlife conservation is held in the same esteem as the master golfer.

The combination, containing the potential for a brother vs brother civil war, brings together the key elements of the arguments for, and against, golf estates.

Those who approve of them (especially the developers) believe they create employment and preserve tracts of land which otherwise would fall into disuse while those who abhor them say they are an unjustifiable drain on scarce water resources and that they do little more than damage the wilderness and wipe out many forms of wild life.

It is a battle that has always confronted developers and golf course architects and which has led to some nefarious dealings when it has come to the promulgation of new developments.

Now Player, the golfer, who has put his name to hundreds of golf courses across the globe, will go head-to-head with Player, the preservationist, whose natural instinct, one would assume, would almost certainly be to resist anything that involves scarring the land and the natural habitat he has fought so hard to protect.

A theme of the recent launch was the availability of sufficient water with the developers deciding that the new estate should carry the name of the range christened “the water mountains” by Voortrekkers who passed through or settled in the region.

The Waterberg has become a suddenly fashionable dominion for bush/golf developments following the establishment of Zebula and Elements. There are also Annika Sorenstam’s Euphoria, the ambitious Legends course and a substantial project which will carry the signature of Jack Nicklaus.

The collaboration of the Player brothers, it is hoped, will set a standard, and provide a model, for the integration of a golfing lifestyle with eco-sensitivity.

An amusing aspect of the launch was Dr Ian Player’s apprehension about what he was letting himself in for coupled to Gary Player’s typical enthusiasm and bent for hyperbole. As that irrepressible punk golfer (or should that be golf punker) Dan Nicholl dryly remarked, we should be taking notice because Player is about to design the best golf course on the best piece of land he had ever seen!

Construction of the multi-billion Rand development, which intends to be South Africa’s first genuinely green golf course, comprising in excess of 5,000 hectares is already underway according Tony Georgiou of the Waterberg development consortium.

*For more information visit www.waterbergestate.com.