Ordinary golfers will soon be able to rub shoulders with the rich and famous as the Fancourt Golf Estate opens its lush courses to the public. The George course, where the likes of golfing greats such as Ernie Els have homes and where the prestigious Gary Player Invitational is to take place next weekend, has traditionally been the playground of celebrities.

Known as a so-called “stay and play” facility where use of the championship Montagu and Outeniqua golf courses was limited to hotel residents, home owners and their guests, Fancourt has now opened a limited number of annual memberships to the public.

Chief operating officer Niall O’Hagan yesterday said the reason behind the decision to open its doors to the public was the negative impact of the global recession on tourism and especially the golfing industry.

“We’ve had to think creatively about our product offering and respond to market conditions accordingly,” O’Hagan said.

“The opening of a limited number of annual member slots allows us to introduce new people to our club without in any way diminishing the availability of facilities for our residential members.”

O’Hagan said the golf club, which has a substantial infrastructure, is currently relatively under-used by its members.

Although Fancourt’s membership fees are more expensive than the average golf club fee, golf enthusiasts will also get to enjoy the resort’s magnificent golf and leisure facilities.

Depending on the club and facilities, memberships can range from R700 to R30000 a year.

“Individual and corporate applications for nominated persons within a company are available and should prove popular considering the distinct networking possibilities,” O’Hagan said. He said the only difference this new membership category had was that it had to be renewed annually at the discretion of the club.

“Annual members, however, will enjoy equivalent rights with those of standard residential members.”

Fancourt was voted Africa’s Leading Golf Resort at the 2009 World Travel Awards, and the Montagu and Outeniqua courses have also been consistently rated among the country’s top four courses, with the Montagu voted South Africa’s top course by Golf Digest SA.

Fancourt is a Fifa-accredited accommodation site for next year’s football World Cup and last week the president of the Japan Football Association, Motoaki Inukai, announced in Port Elizabeth after the Bafana match that the resort would be the team’s base camp during the tournament.

By Cathy Dippnall

Copyright Avusa Media Limited All rights reserved

                   

Previous page