22 Gleneagles Rd, Bunkers Hill,
East London, Eastern Cape 5210
Office
+27 (0)43 735 1356Pro shop
+27 (0)43 735 1357Fax
+27 (0)43 735 1390Website
Visit websiteThe Course:
18 holes. Tree-lined & open parkland. Undulating terrain - several slopes to climb.
Surroundings:
Woodland.
Designer:
Current design by English course architect Col. Stafford Vere Hotchkin (1928).
-32.996175
27.936033
3 km N of East London
From East London airport and/or town centre, follow the R72 (North-East expressway), and take the Gleneagles Road turn-off. Continue along Gleneagles Road to golf.
East London
East London Golf Club: Although a long drive into the Eastern Cape, the reward for making the journey is one of South Africa's oldest and most challenging oceanside golf courses. Located between the city and the sea, East London Golf Club meanders through the continually undulating (sometimes roller-coaster) terrain of the coastal dunes. Your golfing journey here will bring you through dense coastal fynbos, and alternately into slightly more open areas. The opening par-5 hole does an excellent job in setting the scene, taking you from more open terrain towards a green surrounded on three sides by the small trees and bushes of the fynbos. The excellent par-3 2nd, known as "the Drop", for obvious reasons, is played to a green menacingly encircled by six good-sized bunkers. The Indian Ocean is revealed on a few occasions from the course's higher elevations, but for much of the time you will probably be thankful that the fynbos-lined holes are getting some protection from the wind, which is often in attendance. There are several attractive and gently sweeping dog-leg holes, usually of sufficient width to encourage the use of the driver from the tee. With an absence of water to worry about, your main objective will be to keep it straight, avoid the bushes, and hit the relatively small and well-bunkered greens. Although not on everyone's Cape golfing itinerary, East London is home to a rather special golf course, that's well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome on weekdays and weekends.
Must book in advance. Handicap required
Credit cards accepted. Contact club for full details, SA affiliated and other discounts, packages, etc. [Last updated: 2018].
Walking permitted and caddies available at all times.
Good
East London GC has hosted many top-level tournaments including the South African Open and Africa Open (see our Tournaments section >by Venue >East London). Among the impressive list of SA Open winners here, you will find the names of such golfing greats as Gary Player, Bobby Locke, Mark McNulty and Sid Brews. Although no longer on the SA Open roster (due to its distance from South Africa's largest population centres), the course still hosts South African Sunshine Tour events (often co-sanctioned with the European Tour) and major national amateur events.
2018 South Africa Golf Digest rating: 10th best course in South Africa.
Quartzite Drive, off Pearce Street, The Quarry, East London
+27 (0)43 707 5400
Visit websiteLocated in a quiet suburb of East London, Quarry Lake Inn is a 4-star graded guest house overlooking a rehabilitated quarry. Indigenous trees and plants were introduced to maintain a natural environment that supports an abundance of bird and animal life.
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East London
No
15 Turnberry Avenue, Bunker's Hill, East London 5241
+27 (0)43 704 1400
Visit websiteLocated alongside the 14th green of the East London Golf Club, this upmarket 10-room guest house is an ideal place to stay for your golfing or business visit to East London.
East London (next door)
No
No
Tournaments:
Women’s major championships: the month of June sees two women’s majors: the US Women’s Open (June 3-6), with A Lim Kim defending, and the Women’s PGA Championship (June 24-27), with Sei Young Kim defending.
Senior PGA Championship: the revered Southern Hills in Oklahoma hosts the 81st staging of this event (May 27-30); Ken Tanigawa holds the title from its last playing in 2019.
Who's Who:
Phil Mickelson: in winning the 2021 PGA Championship, the world’s most famous “leftie” became the oldest winner of a golf major championship.
Hideki Matsuyama: became the first Japanese professional to win a men’s major championship, when he triumphed in this year’s Masters Tournament.
New 27-hole golf complex to be built in southern Belgium
A new golf complex in southern Belgium, close to the border with Luxembourg, will start construction in June 2021.
American Dunes opens for play following Nicklaus transformation
Nicklaus Design has transformed the former Grand Haven Golf Club in Michigan into the American Dunes Golf Club, a new public course that is now open for play
New course opens for play at Barnbougle
Bill Coore designs 14-hole layout with “sporty” holes on dune ridge above Lost Farm (golf carts allowed).
Gamble Sands opens short course:
David McLay Kidd’s 14-hole QuickSands short course has opened for play at Gamble Sands in Brewster, Washington.
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