With touring being one of the great attractions of the game of golf, players flock to numerous golfing destinations in the world each year. There are few, though, that provide the balance of terrific golf courses, incredible scenery and off-course activities for the whole family.

The Garden Route, however, is one such place, and has long been the absolute jewel in South Africa’s golf tour crown. Our two-part journey starts with George, Mossel Bay and then inland to Oudtshoorn.

Each month we take great pride in featuring a variety of areas to visit from a golfing perspective. If we were pushed to declare one such place the major tour hub, though, it would simply have to be the Garden Route. Every golfer in South Africa eventually makes the pilgrimage here, a vast majority of whom return time and time again.

Fancourt can be the tour for eternity. What was originally a well-manicured 27-hole offering, pioneering the golf estate lifestyle in the area, is now a truly world-class golfing destination with four standalone course offerings.

Montagu: One of the absolute best championship courses in South Africa, it is a famed tournament layout. Across the tee options it offers so much to so many golfers’ experiences, and is also consistently one of the best-conditioned courses you can play.

Outeniqua: Somewhat less demanding as a golfing challenge than the Montagu course, Outeniqua is every bit as beautiful and enjoyable. As the name suggests, it is more defined by the looming mountains overlooking George, making it one of those courses with numerous picture-postcard moments.

The Links: Ranked as the best golf course in South Africa, The Links simply has to be played at some stage. Nothing can prepare you for the experience that lies ahead of you on the 1st tee. You do pay a premium for this, and will need to pack more balls than you usually do, but it’s the kind of course you will talk about for years afterwards.

The Links Experience: The newest of the Fancourt offerings, the Links experience is nine holes of pure joy. It can be played as a par-three course from the nine specially created tees, but the full experience, which consists of three par threes, five par fours and the solitary par-five finishing hole, is the best way to play this. It is a mix of all Fancourt’s best features, and with it being a nine-hole course, is easily something you can add to a trip.

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If this was the only course in George, a flight to the town would still be worth it. A true parkland gem, it’s one of golf’s nicest walks in SA, with towering trees framing some brilliant holes and views of the Outeniqua mountains doing the rest. A true members’ club where visitors are always most welcome, you can really feel at home here. Naturally, it sits in the shadow of Fancourt next door, but even their members are known to enjoy their time here, too.

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When Kingswood was opened in 2007, it had the difficult job of trying to provide something unique in an area that already had so many great golfing offerings. The Danie Obermeyer design did just that, though, as he created a course beautifully routed within the local terrain, with eye-catching bunkering and risk-and-reward defining holes. Even though some of that has been diluted by it becoming a thriving residential community within George, it very much still ranks as a standalone highlight in the area.

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Oubaai is another great example of the golfing diversity on the Garden Route. The vistas are balanced between sea views and the forest on the edge of the Gwaing River gorge. Like all Ernie Els-designed courses, you get a lot of enjoyable driving holes, but the approach shots are where the course becomes a challenge, especially on a windy day, as it is rather exposed on top of the headland. On a clear day, the views towards Mossel Bay are something to take in.

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Famous for being a layout where you can see the sea from every tee, it is the seaside town’s original course. It still very much embodies much of its original charm despite being upgraded in 1999 to the greater Mossel Bay Golf Estate development. Made famous for Louis Oosthuizen shooting 57 there as a 20-year-old, it’s relatively short, but when the breeze gets up, you will be in for a real challenge.

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This is Mossel Bay’s more modern estate course and South Africa’s answer to Pebble Beach in many ways. When Pinnacle Point opened in 2006, the original images were almost hard to fathom. Golfers flocked to the Peter Matkovich design to test themselves on holes that seemed impossibly close to the jagged coastline. An absolute brute to play in the wind, it offers truly breathtaking moments, along with one of the country’s most iconic clubhouses, overlooking the Indian Ocean.

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Though a little off the beaten track just over 60km from George, Oudtshoorn Golf Club is another small-town course originally designed by Bob Grimsdell. Like most of these kinds of courses in South Africa, getting to mix with the local members after a round is a big feature of the experience and makes the trip all the more worthwhile.

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TYRONE WINFIELD/CARL FOURIE/SUNSHINE TOUR/THINUS MARITZ/GOLFRSA/BERNARD DUPONT/SUPPLIED