The Houghton Golf Course

The Houghton Golf Course is one of South Africa's premier golf courses and is one of the Highveld's many mature golf courses with its original design dating back to 1926. The Houghton Golf Course is situated in Johannesburg in the suburb with the same name; Houghton. The course was originally designed by AM Copland the club's first professional who laid the course on a thickly treed tract of land featuring considerable undulation. The Houghton Golf Course is considered to be one of the best golf courses in the Johannesburg area.

The Houghton Golf Course is dotted with ponds and dams as well as an abundance of flowering shrubs which provides a great variety of color. The site of the course is also proclaimed a bird sanctuary with Egyptian geese, guinea fowl, dikkhops, plovers as well as a variety of waterfowl that are abundant on the course.

The Houghton Golf Course upgrade

Houghton Golf Course has been considered a test of golf and the qualities thereof have not been radically altered over the years although the course has undergone modernization to stay abreast with the latest developments in the game of golf. In 1993 the design firm of Peter Matkovich and Dale Hayes remodeled several of the holes and introduced water hazards that were position in such a way to plague the tee shot on several par four holes namely the 7th, 13 and14th holes and also redesigned the 15th and 18th holes.

For the Alfred Dunhill challenge, which is hosted at Houghton Golf Course and which is considered to be the Southern Hemisphere's answer to the Ryder Cup, upgrading of the bunkers on Houghton Golf Course was overseen by Gary Player Course Design. Lastly prior to the 1996 Alfred Dunhill PGA Championship, Matkovich and Hayes were again the overseers of changes to the Houghton Golf Course but this time for new fairway bunkers on the dog left for the par five 16th and the par four 17th. The design changes that were made to the Houghton Golf Course were changes to better an already good golf course.

Playing the Houghton Golf Course

The Houghton Golf Course has a high altitude of 6434 meters which should be taken into account and while the course is not the longest course in Johannesburg it still remains fairly challenging. The course is thickly treed with colorful Jacarandas as well as Blue gums.

The holes on this 18 hole course are long and require accuracy on the part of the golfer as the rough and semi-rough are thick on fairways that constantly rise and fall. The greens of the Houghton Golf Course are slick and fast with well positioned bunkers that will challenge any short iron shot. The Houghton Golf Course has many dams and water hazards and water therefore comes into play on half of the 18 holes on the course.

The signature hole of the Houghton Golf Course is the par three 6th where accuracy off the tee is vital as you are required to negotiate a raised green which is protected by two large bunkers on either sides and bushes behind. Another hole that is worthy of mentioning is the par four 7th which plays downhill from all of the several tees and features a raised green that is guarded in the front by a Willow tree.

Houghton Golf Course has been on the SA Open Roster since 1951 and has been offering golfers a championship golfing experience for years. Come and experience the golf at Houghton Golf Course one of South Africa's premier golf courses.