Last month I found myself spending time in Namibia, landing in Walvis Bay and working in Swakopmund. It’s where the desert meets the sea, nothing but sand for as far as the eye can see on one side, until it hits the blue water on the other. I was last there a couple of years ago, as part of a group being introduced to The President Links Estate.

It is/was a golf course and lifestyle development, said to be designed by the renowned Peter Matkovich, with input from Major champion Louis Oosthuizen, and was billed as being able to match similar existing projects in the US and Middle East in terms of presentation. The locals say the development has stalled, with the assumption that funding and investment are lacking. That would not be unique to Namibia.

More than 50 golf courses have closed in South Africa since 2000 and while there is growth at the rate of about one new 18-hole course a year, you can see which way the numbers are trending.

In South Africa, the last golf census showed there were 414 golf courses in the country. That might seem a lot for a golf population of 140 000 (123 000 of them being males). Compare that to Australia, where there are 1 616 courses for 460 000 registered golfers. That means in South Africa there are 340 people for every golf course, while in  Australia it’s 285 and in the US it’s closer to 3 000.

Which brings us to a contentious subject for many. Does South Africa have too many golf courses? There’s nothing contentious about it. The answer is no. The benefits of golf courses from an economic, tourism, residential and lifestyle perspective far outweighs those who are ‘anti’ golf course growth, pointing to water usage and urban land better utilised for residential housing.

The figure that requires more attention, though, is not the 414 courses in the country, but the 140 000 registered golfers, with growth in the female playing sector required. There are 16 000 registered female golfers, a percentage of 11. Rounded down, only one in nine golfers in South Africa are female. Globally, that figure is closer to one in four.

It is fair to say, though, that more women are playing the game in South Africa than before, but there’s a lot of work to be done to increase that ratio.

A lot has to be done about perceptions and it’s undeniable that in many sectors the sport is seen as a ‘male-dominated game’. This applies right through the structures, but one does need to make mention of the fact that Augusta National first admitted members in 2012 and by 2018 had upped its female membership base to four, while Muirfield in Scotland voted in 2017 to allow female members. Even then, 80% voted ‘aye’.

How great was it then that our own Ashleigh Buhai had at least 20% (one in five) members spluttering into their whiskies when she putted out to win the AIG Women’s British Open in front of them in 2022.

Golf’s ecosystem is a delicate one. Is there an appetite for more golf courses and is that to be found more by targeting the luxury (rich) end of the market, and should those Municipality courses leasing their properties be able to buy them outright and attract investment? How does one assist the many that are under financial strain and joining the list of those who have closed their doors – one of the most recent being Germiston GC?

Many of these tidbits are sad, but some are salvageable and all have an applicable hashtag of #strongertogether.

And the thoughts all triggered by arriving in Namibia and asking what had happened to plans to create a golf course in the desert sand.

Gary Lemke