Hans Merensky has African golf stories to tell
The 16th hole is named “Leopard Kill.”
It was on this tee at Hans Merensky Golf Club, under a tall tree, that a golfer teed up her ball early one morning, and felt something warm drip onto her forehead. She looked up. On a branch above her was a leopard, making a meal of an impala.
Hans Merensky has probably the wildest golf course in all of South Africa.
“Your line is the giraffe,” the caddie, Thomas Mashatole, says to me on the approach to the 4th. The giraffe is quietly gazing at us from well behind the green. I know it’s out of my range, but still it feels strange to aim for the giraffe. Next to her is a baby giraffe.
“She’s not going anywhere,” the caddie says. “When she has a baby she stays close to humans, so they can keep safe from the lions,” the caddie says.
“The lions?” I ask.
The caddie smiles.
Hans Merensky Hotel and Spa is right next to Kruger National Park, one of the largest national parks in the world. The town of Phalaborwa is the only town that borders the park. At Hans Merensky, there’s only a fence separating the golf course from the park, where wild animals roam freely. Previously, the land of Hans Merensky was actually part of the national park, which is in northeastern South Africa, about 500 km from Johannesburg. The fence has not always been a proper defense.
In 1999 a German tourist was killed by an elephant at a greenside bunker. She had been taking a stroll in the dusk, taking flash photos of the elephants on the other side of the fence. An elephant cow protecting her baby stormed the fence, tore it down and trampled the woman to death.
There was talk then that the course would be closed permanently. But instead the fence was strengthened. All the caddies now have to attend safari training courses to ensure that they know what to do in dangerous situations.
Thomas describes one Hans Merensky golf tournament, when some water buffalo came out onto the fairways during play. “I ran and climbed a tree,” he says. “I was scared.”
I’m not so sure that the story is very reassuring. If you’re the nervous type and not particularly fond of animals, you may not score very well on Hans Merensky.
Thomas explains that he first began to play golf at the age of 15 through a free course at school. One day, while he was practicing, he could hear lions roar nearby. He went home and refused to come back. The pro had to call him and convince him that he should come back. Today, Thomas is both a caddie and a single figure player.
Warthog safari on Hans Merensky course
Most people who come to the Limpopo region and make their way to Hans Merensky Hotel and Spa for golf, seem to savor the experience and enjoy watching all of the animals. These include zebras, elephants, hippos, cheetahs, leopards, crocodiles, baboons, vervet monkeys, warthogs (who think they own the course), giraffes, guinea fowl, antelope and lizards.
Legendary South African golf players Ernie Els and Retief Goosen are both on record having lauded the course as an iconic African experience. Goosen used to love playing the Hans Merensky course as a junior, and remembers being scared when he saw lions on the other side of the fence.
Our Danish lodge, Nyati, about an hour’s drive away, organizes golf outings. But they do warn that course quality at the Hans Merensky golf club has suffered in recent years due to watering restrictions.
Perhaps of even more interest than the quality of the fairways, are reports of dangerous incidents. A few years ago, the course manager shut down the first nine holes for play to let a cheetah consume its prey, a pregnant impala, on the fairway of the 4th hole.
A routine bit of entertainment is to watch the vervet monkeys try to raid golf carts when the owners are elsewhere. It’s easy to laugh at stories about visitor who fall prey to the monkeys, such as one elderly guest who had his cash and his dentures stolen by a monkey. This story is very funny, right up until I realize that a monkey has made off with my hotel room key, which I will never see again.
“ask the ex-caddie who was going to pick up a ball on the edge of the water hazard on the 17th. Now he only has one arm.”
The week we visited, there was an episode of a different nature.
“One of the giraffes had a baby yesterday,” Thomas says with a big smile. He can’t guarantee we’ll get a glimpse of it, because the first few days the anxious mother shies away from danger, including humans. But Thomas thinks he knows where it’s sheltering. I understand his sheer enthusiasm for the newborn when he explains how sad he was last year, when a giraffe died after falling into the hotel’s swimming pool.
“You would think a giraffe would be tall enough to keep its head above water in a swimming pool,” I said.
“Unfortunately, it fell on its head,” said Thomas sadly.
At the bottom of the scorecard is the most important message: ”Play at your own risk.”
At the bottom of the scorecard is the most important message: ”Play at your own risk.”
When we get to the 16th, ‘Leopard Kill’, the seriousness of the fatality strike us all. Thomas says he was at the clubhouse and heard the elephant cow sound an alarming trumpeted warning – four times in all. Then she crashed over the fence.
“I will never forget that sound,” he says – obviously still shaken by what he experienced years ago. He and the other caddies ran to the woman’s aid, but by the time they got there it was too late.
As we play the hole, our group is silent. On the other side of the tall, fortified and electric fence, is the Krüger Park, out of bounds.
At the 17th hole we pass bathing hippos, the most lethal animals in Africa. At the edge of the water sits a crocodile. Or lies. With crocs, there’s not much difference between sitting and lying. It looks like a stuffed animal, inanimate, statue-like. It makes no sign of noticing when various golfers bring out their cameras and take photographs, edging closer and closer. Players pose in front of it, with and without golf clubs. The croc feigns paralysis.
Finally, one of the caddies throws a stick into the water in front of the crocodile. The reptile instantly breaks out of its hex, explodes into a leap and breathtaking snap of the jaws over the stick. Then it silently swims off, only its reptilian eyes visible above the water line.
This is Africa.
Info:
Hans Merensky Hotel and Spa in the Limpopo Province has a famous golf course set in a unique bushveld atmosphere. The 6200 meter 18-hole, par 72 course, designed by Bob Grimsdell, has been voted the best walking course in South Africa.
