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Name: Beachwood Course (Durban Country Club)
Type of Club: Country Club
Golf Digest Ranking: 20
Sport & Safaris Rating: Gold
Location: KwaZulu-Natal
Region: Durban
Sub Region: Central Durban
The Course:
Type of Course: Parkland (Links elements)
Designers: Sid Brews (Gary Player group upgrade)
No of Holes: 18
Clubhouse and other Facilities:
Beachwood is the second course of Durban Country Club having been acquired by the famous club in the early 1990s. Apart from the awesome facilities that are available at Country Club (see Durban Country Club) which is a few kilometers south, Beachwood itself has all the amenities required of a top course including a classic Natal colonial styled clubhouse with a great bar, halfway house and restaurant with views over the Par 3 18th. There are also Putting and Chipping greens and a driving range.
The Course:
Beachwood is built on a narrow strip of land that lies immediately adjacent to Virginia Beach. The course has a unique charm, its split into an outward 10 and inward 8, the outward 10 loops through a swamp land; that adds a new dimension to an already tough course, whilst on the back 8 you have to be weary of Airplanes coming into land at the nearby Virginia Airport (a small commercial airport mainly used for small propped planes)!! The slender fairways follow the natural flow of the land, with sweeping hills and hallows guarded by the endemic tropical bush being the feature of the course, the narrow landing areas are also protected by well placed bunkers and the natural waterways. The wind that picks up off the nearby Indian Ocean adds extra bite to the course, especially considering that 17 of the fairways are routed parallel to each other in opposing bearings meaning that one has to fight the winds in differing directions. The featured hole and probably one of the hardest par 4’s that you will find is the 6th. The hole that measures 410 metres from the back tee is played from high up in a dune, to a dogleg fairway below you that’s protected by a bank of bush on the left and out of bounds on the right, the green which is ‘blind’ from the tee, has water front and mangrove swamp back, a truly great hole.
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