Welcome to the Third Edition of the Ascot Golf Newsletter.
Thank you very much for the feed back from a lot of you with
regards the first two newsletters. It seems like these newsletters
are keenly looked forward to each month. As always any suggestions
or ideas are always welcome.
This second edition covers the following topics:
1) Heard on the golf courses around the country
2) Links Courses in South Africa
3) Barry writes a regular column
4) Familiarization trip dates set and filling
fast
5) Scheduled Tours to be released by mid June
6) Pro Specials and March Madness
7) World Cup 2010 and what it means to us
8) Ascot Golf Tours website
9) Well be taking a break
1. Heard on the golf courses around the country 
In the last two newsletters I have spoken about the new golf
courses that are springing up all around the country but especially
in the Western Cape and Garden Route Regions. Well it seems
that a few well established golf courses are going to suffer
due to this golf course explosion.
Plettenberg bay Golf Course has been given notice that it
will loose its lease on its land in two years time. The local
council has decided to use the land for other purposes. The
golf course is currently fighting this decision but they are
facing a long hard battle. On the back of this news we have
been informed that both Mowbray Golf Course and Hermanus Golf
Course have been given the same notices although they both
have 6 years left on their leases.
In my opinion this could be good news for golf tourism in
this country as clubs will now have to look at running as
professional businesses in order to be able to pay all their
rates and taxes and keep the local councils happy or face
the risk of also being served with these letters. Certain
clubs (especially the estate courses) own the land and are
not at risk but many of the well established courses are going
to be watching the mail closely.
One city council that is helping a golf course is Durban
and they have agreed to assist Durban Country Club in installing
a storm water drain on the western boundary of the course
to handle the heavy rains. This has meant moving the par-3
15th green 14 meters left, away from the road and course architect
Phil Jacobs has designed a much fatter and raised green.
The Montague Golf Course at Fancourt has been closed for re-designing
and is scheduled for re-opening in December 2004 while the
Gary Player Golf Course greens are well on their way to recovery
and will be back to their excellent shape by the start of
the season.
2. Links Golf In South Africa
I have been asked a number of times about this subject and
here is a breakdown of ‘Links Golf’ which is available
in South Africa.
Humewood GC in Port Elizabeth is regarded as South Africa’s
only classic links course because it contains most of the
essential ingredients: firm and fast conditioning, uneven
ground, punishing rough, constant wind. Other courses which
fit the links profile are The Links at Fancourt, an artificial
creation, and an ancient Eastern Cape Course, Royal Port Alfred
that has remained unchanged for almost a century. In the Western
Cape, Milnerton was regarded as a semi links before developers
moved in and it has now last that attribute thanks to a housing
estate, water hazards, absence of rough and flat terrain.
Atlantic Beach, with its undulating holes, is more of a links,
although the inability to play out the rough, with its protected
fynbos, plus houses, disqualifies it.
The Kwazulu Natal Course that perhaps most has a touch of
links about it today is Prince’s Grant, but only in
places.
3. Barry writes a regular column
Barry’s comparison on golf in Thailand vs. South Africa
attracted a lot of interest and he has just returned from
Australia and will be putting together a comparison on golf
in Oz vs. Golf In SA for the next newsletter.
4. Familiarization Trip
The dates for the September Fam Trip have been set and the
trip starts on Saturday 4 September and ends on Sunday 12
September. This means that you only miss one week form the
office.
This year the trip will concentrate on the Cape Town and
Garden Route region ending on Safari at Shamwari Game Reserve
in the Eastern Cape.
The trip is open to everyone that sells SA as a golf destination
and as you would have read in my last two newsletters, this
region is going to become the golf haven (if it isn’t
already) with all the new golf course developments.
Included in the trip is all accommodation, 5 rounds of golf,
breakfast and dinner, transportation, sight-seeing and four
game drives while on safari. For this the cost will be R1500
per person which we will refund you against your first booking
on your return. The only other expense will be your flights
which will need to land in Cape Town and which will depart
from Port Elizabeth.
I have had a number of requests for places on this trip already
and we only have 12 places so if you would like to come or
you would like to send one of your staff, please register
your interest with me ASAP. I will send out a full itinerary
within the week and preference will be on a first come first
serve basis and your place will be confirmed on receipt of
your R1500.
5. Scheduled Tours
The dates and rates for the scheduled tours have been delayed
slightly due to our contracting with the hotels and the transport
companies not releasing their rates for 2005 yet.
We have decided to offer two basic routes. 1) a four and
a five star option (alternate dates) covering the Cape Town
and Garden Route region and 2) a golf in the wild option offering
golf all around the Kruger park area.
As soon as these dates and prices are confirmed I will be
e-mailing them out to you all.
6. March Madness and Pro-Specials
It seems each year we target the professionals internationally
we have been too late and so this year we have got together
with Fancourt to bring your March Madness (which you would
have received by now). This is a fantastic price for Golf
Professionals and Golf Managers to bring groups out to Fancourt
and play unlimited golf and have access to the world class
training facilities. We will also contribute R300 per person
to the professionals travel costs for each group he brings
to Fancourt.
The only two catches are that there needs to be 8 in the
group and it is only valid for March Month.
7. World Cup 2010 and what it means to us
I was staying at the Western Cape Hotel and Spa watching
Sepp Blatter announce that South Africa would be hosting the
2010 World Cup. After jumping off my chair I ran down the
passage to see what the rest of the hotel guests reactions
would be. I found that I was not the only one madly excited
about the announcement but it spread from the other guests
all the way to the cleaners who broke out in a celebratory
song while cleaning the reception area.
What this means to South Africa is un-measurable at this
stage. In terms of foreign investment it opens us up to huge
interest due to the confidence that has been put in us by
FIFA and in terms of Tourism we will be riding on the back
of the attention that the event will bring our country both
leading up to and after the event. During the event images
will be shown around the world on a constant basis and those
who have not discovered South Africa yet will be shown what
they are missing out on. It is an exciting time for this country.
8. Ascot Tours Website
Our fantastic new website is almost ready to go live. It
has been delayed to allow us to add a couple of extra features
including galleries of each golf course and hotel as well
as course layouts. The website will be a great source of information
for your and your clients and keeping with our practice of
not going to the punters direct, we will be putting prices
on the site at 20-40% higher than what we will be offering
you, our tour operators.
We will not be printing a new brochure this year and will
instead put the website onto a CD which will allow you to
load it onto your computer and have access to all the info
at the touch of a button. It will also be more cost effective
for you to brand these CD’s with your company details
and send them to clients and as soon as we have the first
copies available I will give you a price on what it will cost
per copy to brand the CD’s as your own.
9. We’ll be taking a break
Angie will be off to Thailand for her annual break from the
2nd to the 27th of June and Scott will be off to Australia
from the 1st to the 19th of July. The competent crew at Ascot
will carry on working full steam ahead and getting your quotes
out as per normal.
That’s the end of the third newsletter for 2004. Please
forward us a list of all the e-mail addresses in your office
that you would like us to send this to so that we can keep
you informed of all the developments within golf tourism in
South Africa and any news from Ascot Golf.
Yours in Golf
The Ascot Golf Team.
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