Luck of the Draw
Luck of the Draw
(14 days Cape Town & Winelands)
B = bed/breakfast L = lunch D = dinner G = golf
Day 1: Overnight Cape Town (LDB)
Upon arrival in Cape Town you will be met at the airport and accompanied to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Here you will enjoy a light finger lunch with some local wine, and run through of the itinerary for the next few days. After lunch you will have some time to explore the gardens before departing for the hotel. After checking in you can spend the afternoon relaxing after the long flight.
Dinner is a feast at Africa Café, so come hungry!
Day 2: Overnight Cape Town (BDB)
To ensure that your legs are ready for golf, you start the day with a walking city tour of Cape Town (approx 3.5 hrs). You will discover where it all began and how the indigenous peoples, colonists and slaves contributed to the establishing of Cape Town and ultimately South Africa. Lunch can be had in the city or at the V&A Waterfront at your leisure.
This afternoon you will explore township culture with a tour of the Langa, Nyanga and Guguletu townships. Dinner is included in this visit and you get to participate in drumming and dancing.
Day 3: Overnight Cape Town (BGB)
Your first round of golf is at the Westlake Golf Club. This parklands golf club is one with an environmental conscience. Their contribution to water conservation is using treated effluent water for course irrigation, rather than municipal drinking water. This easy to walk course is characterised by towering trees, which line many of its fairways. The course has a very interesting, yet user-friendly design and its fair share of doglegs. Established in 1932, and constantly improving, Westlake Golf Club has become a must-play course when in Cape Town.
All golf clubs in South Africa have a mandatory 15 minute half way stop, which gives you a chance to refuel before tackling the back nine. After your round you will return to the hotel where the evening will be at your leisure to enjoy some of the city’s many other culinary delights, or the vibrant nightlife of Long Street (a perfect example of inner city renewal).
Day 4: Overnight Cape Town (BDB)
Round 2 is at the Royal Cape Golf Club, which is the oldest golf club in South Africa, dating back to 1885. It is a true championship course, having hosted the South African Open eleven times and the South African Amateur Championships eight times. The course recently underwent a reconstruction programme of all eighteen greens, strictly adhering to USGA specifications. The course today is a fine test of your golf skills, especially when the South-Easter is blowing.
Upon your return to the city you will have some time to relax and freshen up before departing for the 5 Flies restaurant for dinner.
Day 5: Overnight Cape Town (BGB)
Your Peninsula day begins with a journey along the Atlantic seaboard through Clifton and Camps Bay, through the fishing village of Hout Bay and onto Chapman’s Peak drive, which is one of the top 10 coastal drives in the world. After a stop to take in the spectacular scenery, you head to the Cape of Good Hope Nature reserve. Before heading to the tip of the Peninsula, you will take a beach walk at Olifantsbos to the wreck of the Thomas T. Tucker (approx 1.5 hrs). In exchange for your ecological assistance on this walk, a reward awaits you upon your return to the vehicle.
You then head up to Cape Point where you will take a funicular ride on the “Flying Dutchman” up to the old lighthouse. From this vantage point you get a magnificent view of the Eastern and Western sides of the peninsula. After lunch at the cliff-hugging Two Oceans restaurant you head back to the city, with a stop at Boulders Beach for a viewing of the African penguin colony.
Tonight dinner will be at your leisure.
Day 6: Overnight Cape Town (BB)
Today is for R&R day to completely unwind. This is your day to do as you please: a trip up Table Mountain or a visit to Robben Island, a helicopter flight over the city or a shark-cage dive, a sky diving experience or an open vehicle safari, or simply a day at the beach. Please speak to your tour guide to make the necessary arrangements. Today is your day, enjoy it!
Day 7: Overnight in Stellenbosch (BGDB)
Today you start another back to back golf experience. Stellenbosch Golf Club is the venue for round 3. This championship course which has hosted, among other tournaments, the South African Masters and South African Open, will test your golf skills. The course is, compared to those in Cape Town and on the Cape Peninsula, well protected from the wind.
After checking in to your hotel and a refreshing shower you depart for dinner, which is a treat at Ernie Els’ ‘Big Easy’ restaurant in historic Dorp Street.
Day 8: Overnight Stellenbosch (BGB)
Round 4 finds you at the De Zalze Golf Estate, which was designed by Peter Matkovich who has made the most of the stunning setting and created a course that places a premium on accuracy. The De Zalze Golf Course has hosted a number of championship events and together with the Spier resort was the host venue for the 2006 World Amateur Team Championships (Eisenhower and Esporito Santo trophies) which attracted teams from approximately 80 countries. Dinner tonight will be at your leisure.
Day 9: Overnight Stellenbosch (BLDB)
Today you exchange your clubs for a glass or two (or three or four) of some of the best wine and brandy in the Cape. You begin with a cellar tour, tasting and light lunch at the Nederburg Wine Estate in the Paarl wine region. You then head to the picturesque village of Franschhoek for Sobrage and sparkling wine at Haute Cabriere. To ensure you cover all of the wine regions you end at the van Ryn’s brandy distillery. As an added treat you will get to witness the almost forgotten art of cooperage.
An early dinner after a full day finds you at the African themed Moyo restaurant on the Spier Wine Estate.
Day 10: Overnight Stellenbosch (BGDB)
This morning you head further afield to the sea side town of Kleinmond for round 5. The Arabella Golf Estate has been voted among the top 5 golf courses in South Africa by both Golf Digest and the Compleat Golfer Magazines. The Arabella Golf Club, home to the Nelson Mandela Invitational, stretches through rolling fairways, deceptive bunkers and challenging water traps.
This evening you will enjoy a traditional South African dinner at De Volkskombuis (The Peoples Kitchen) restaurant.
Day 11: Overnight Stellenbosch (BB)
You step back into history after breakfast with a walking tour of Stellenbosch. This is a 90 minute tour which will give you some insight into South Africa’s oldest town, dating back to 1679. Your local guide will paint a picture for you which adds to the rich tapestry that is South Africa.
After the tour you will have the rest of the day to explore this fascinating town and get some shopping done. From tomorrow onwards your programme is quite full, and this evening will be at leisure.
Day 12: Overnight Stellenbosch (BGDB)
You tee-off at the Erinvale Golf Estate for round 6, also a former host of the South African Open. With magnificent views into False Bay and the Hottentots Holland Mountains, you definitely don’t want to forget your camera for this one.
Designed by Gary Player, Erinvale’s beautifully manicured par 72 championship course boasts some of the country’s most challenging and spectacular holes. The greens at Erinvale are huge and well-shaped allowing for several different pin placements. Erinvale is also a real estate development where homes blend well into the landscape.
Dinner this evening will be enjoyed at Die Wijnhuis (wine house) restaurant.
Day 13: Overnight Stellenbosch (BGB)
Paarl Golf Club is the host of round 7 and situated on the Boschenmeer Estate. The course is a David Frost signature course and the first 27-hole layout in the Winelands. Backdrop to your back-swing is the majestic Paarl mountain range. The 27-hole layout lends itself to championship play, with more simultaneous rounds possible. Which means less time taken to reach the ‘19th‘.
Dinner this evening is at your leisure
Day 14: (BG)
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. You conclude your ‘Luck of the Draw’ experience with the jewel in the crown that is the Pearl Valley Golf Estate. The Jack Nicklaus signature designed course for round 8 will thrill, frustrate and bewitch you. Surrounded by the Simonsberg and Drakenstein Mountains you will have no choice but to agree that when God made South Africa He definitely took His time!
Jack Nicklaus has stayed true to his design principles by working closely with nature and has provided a golf course that fits in with the environment. This fairly flat and largely uninterrupted terrain enabled Nicklaus the freedom to develop hole strategies, making this a golf course the golfer has to think his/her way around.
After your round and a refreshing shower, you can enjoy an early dinner before heading for the airport. You’ll leave our beautiful country with wonderful memories and a yearning to return!
TOUR ENDS
May Your Drives Be Long and Your Putts Few!
