172 - Somerset West

Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Rating: 7.3

Somerset West was one of the last 2 courses I have yet to play in Cape Town and very pleased I made the journey across to the Eastern part of the city to go and play it.

The course is an interesting blend of (I think) 9 parkland holes and then 9 links holes but they’re dispersed on both the 9s that you play. The routing is such that you start on the parkland side and then weave back and forth under the train tracks. The links style holes are quite unique for Cape Town and some sort of funnel towards the green with high dunes on either side of the fairway which is pretty cool to play in.

The quality of the course could be better, the greens weren’t that well kept and the fairways could potentially be lusher but nothing really to complain about.

My favourite hole was the 14th, a par 5 that is relatively straight but has plenty of intrigue. High dunes pretty the periphery of the fairways and the hole narrows towards the green which is long and straight, 2 good shots and you can get on in two but anything errand and you’ll end up on the other side of the dune and scrambling to get your ball back in play.

Pace of play was relatively good, we had a bit of a wait on the back 9 but nothing terrible and I think it’s decent value for R450 a round. They do have a driving range there, it is weirdly wedged between two holes that could easily end up with players hitting their shots on the range and there’s a decent putting green in front of the club house. Overall a very pleasant experience and a great community feel about the club.