South African golf Professionals

I am a professional golfer, and have been playing tournament golf for the last 13 years, mostly on the South African sunshine tour. I think the world should take serious note of the upcoming players from here! Guys like Jaco van Zyl, George Coetzee, Thomas Aiken, JB Kruger just to name a few! Our professionals are raised to win and compete on the big scene! Louis at the Open and Charl at the Masters has just again showed where we are on our way to! The top!

Big respect to you guys. Like the great GP you fly the nest and earn your corn on the major tours, without the luxury of being at home. Looks like great times for SA.

RSA certainly has a disproportionate number of players on the Euro and PGA tours.  This is clear evidence of the quality of your field and teaching programs.

Quesrion: how much direct influence have the previous generations (Player, Els, etc.) had on your country's golf programs?  I know they are inspirational, but have they directly contributed to the development of golf in RSA?

Hi There,

You will see over the next few years that these numbers will grow even more and the Quality of players will be even better! To answer your Question...

Gary has a " school of excellence" in Fourways in Johannesburg, that teaches his ways and means of the game and spends time there himself to oversee the Quality of the tuition. Ernie has his golf school at Fancourt in George of which LOUIS and CHARL are prodigies, Ernie often hosts clinics there himself too. Ernie also started a BIG EASY TOUR, as a mini tour for our country! Golf here has developed so much and are growing at such a pace that we need a mini tour to keep everybody playing and developing correctly.

Further we have some of the best coaches in the world, we have guys like Gavin Levinson, a Europen tour winner. We have Dale Hayes, a European order of Merritt winner, all promoting the game all the time and they are all very approachable people. When i won the Zambia Open two years running, i got phone calls from Gary Player cheering me on and offering support where possible!

We have a very healthy golfing family in South Africa, and I agree, Plenty more can still be done to further improve the game here. We must realize though, as much as Ernie, Retief, Charl, Gary, Louis, Rory and Tim want to do for golf in South Africa they still have playing careers to keep in shape themselves.

They are our idols, and they know where they are from.

Wow!  That's great that so much time and efort is spent by the touring pros to help the next generation.  Its so hyper-competitive in the US that I think its more of the sink-or-swim attitude here.  Of course, that is only my perception.  I know that lots of the pros here help the kids get started, but you don't really hear about them encouraging future stars.

BTW, congrats on your Zambia win.  Hope to see you on the golf channel playing a European tour event.

Hey guys,

I'll be coming to South Africa in late March to introduce AimPoint Green Reading. Currently looking for hosts and venues to get things started.

Contact me if you are interested or someone that is.

Thanks,

JG

Not only does South Africa have some great players...their golf courses are superb! I just returned after escorting 16 golfers for two weeks there with courses such as Arabella, Erinvale, DeZalze, Leopard Creek and Gary Player Country club....and others!

A great time with great golf venues...and reasonable prices

I would recommend it ....it should be on your bucket list