It was commonplace in the last century for remote African farms to have rough-hewn landing strips on which farmers could land their single-engine high-wing planes. On one such landing field one would have found divot-like scuff marks and the odd well-worn golf ball. Later you might have made out something resembling a tiny golf course.

It was in the 1970s. This strip was in the district of Centenary in the Mashonaland Central province of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, some 150 kilometres to the north of Salisbury (now Harare). The golf balls belonged to Mark McNulty, and the so-called course was his to play on. The man who would go on to be the most prolific winner on the Sunshine Tour in the modern era laid the foundations for his clockwork swing amid tobacco and maize fields.

McNulty lost his father in a shooting accident when he was just one year old. Later his mother Moira married Vernon Price, a local farmer, and young Mark learnt to play golf by tagging along with his mom and stepdad. When Vernon could no longer fly he converted the airstrip into a three-hole 'course'. It was here that the golf bug bit for McNulty. He started to win amateur tournaments and came into contact with and became part of a cluster of exceptional golfers to emerge from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia).

Denis Hutchinson, who moved to South Africa because he wanted to earn Springbok colours; Simon Hobday, who hailed from Mazabuka in Zambia (Northern Rhodesia), although he was born in Mafikeng in South Africa; and Don 'Muss' Gammon, were the first of the 'Rhodies' to move south, but the next Zimbabwe tsunami was exceptional.

It would include Major winner Nick Price, McNulty, Teddy Webber, George Harvey, Denis Watson and Tony Johnstone. Some time later came Brendon de Jonge. David Leadbetter became one of the world's leading coaches and Peter Matkovich a top designer and builder of courses.

They were products of an outstanding junior development organisation and the keen competition among them honed their abilities to a higher level. When they turned professional it was to play on the Sunshine Tour; hence the proclivity for members of the SA PGA and supporters alike to view them as 'family'.

Price was the break-out player on the international stage but on the Sunshine Tour McNulty's years of domination were as impressive as that of Locke and Player.

'They were products of an outstanding junior development organisation and the keen competition among them honed their abilities to a higher level'

From the 1980/81 Tour to 2000/01 McNulty won the Sid Brews Trophy (Order of Merit) nine times. With each triumphant tour McNulty set one record after another, sometimes winning as much as 10 percent of the total prize money.

In 1987 he was second to Ian Woosnam on the European Tour Order of Merit.

McNulty scored seven wins on the '86/87 circuit and he played the last round of these tournaments in 65.7 strokes. He won 11 tournaments in a two-year spell from 1986 to 1987. Overall, he notched 61 professional victories, including a Senior Major, the German Open four times, 33 times on the Sunshine Tour and later the SA Senior Open after the age of 60 in 2017 and 2018.

Price, the youngest of the band, was born in Durban but grew up in Harare after his parents emigrated and he learnt his golf at the Warren Hills Golf Club. Johnstone came from Bulawayo in Matabeleland in the south and started out at a course, now no longer, linked to the railways called Harry Allen.

Watson was also from Harare and a fellow member, although two years older, with Price at Warren Hills. Webber was from the same place as Hutchinson, the eastern border town of Umtali (now Mutare) linking Bulawayo to Beira to Mozambique, and Harvey was from Bulawayo.

Harvey, who lost an eye after contracting an infection as a child, was an outstanding amateur, considered by his contemporaries to be the best of the 'Zimbos'. However, although he turned professional, he did not take to the pro game and settled into a teaching career, including a spell with the Ernie Els Foundation.

Harvey won the SA Amateur strokeplay title twice (emulated by his son Jared); Webber became the first player to retain the SA Amateur matchplay championship, beating Richter van Niekerk in 1977 and Etienne Groenewald in 1978; and McNulty won the SA Amateur matchplay title in 1977 and earned Springbok colours.

Watson, who came within the turn of a ball of winning the US Open, won three times in the PGA Tour in 1984 and in 2007 claimed a senior Major with victory in the Senior PGA Championship. Johnston was a prolific winner with 25 professional titles to his name, including completing the South African 'trifecta' of the SA Open, the PGA and the Masters twice.

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