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:
European Tour: 2021 marks the 50th and last season of the world renowned European Tour, launched in April 1972 at the Spanish Open. From 2022 the Tour will be sponsored by Dubai-based global supply chain and ports operator DP World, and will be known as the DP World Tour.
South African Open: December 2021 events in South Africa have again been impacted by the Covid pandemic. The South African Open (Dec 2-5) will no longer be played as a DP World Tour event, and the Alfred Dunhill Championship (Dec 9-12) has been cancelled.
Who's Who:
Bernhard Langer: at age 64, Langer collected a record sixth Charles Schwab Cup, the only player to have won the season-long points chase more than twice. He also topped the PGA Tour Champions money-list for the 11th time out of a possible 13 since 2008.
Carlota Ciganda: the five-time Solheim Cup star was delighted to record a fourth Ladies European Tour win in her home national championship, the Ladies Spanish Open.
Lee Elder: Trailblazer, Ryder Cup player, four-time PGA Tour winner and eight-time Senior PGA Tour winner, Lee Elder died on November 28, aged 87. In 1975 he became the first African American golfer to play in the Masters tournament, and in so doing provided one of the pivotal moments in the history of professional golf.
Golf World Top 100: Best Golf Courses in Europe. From France to Spain to the Netherlands and Norway, the Golf World Top 100 panel reveals the places you have to play (published 20 October 2021).
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.
Marco Simone Golf & Country Club "makes its tournament debut with the hosting of the Italian Open on the European Tour" by Richard Humphreys
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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