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Gary Player Dominates South African Golf Course Rankings

Mar 1, 2011 | Filed Under: General NewsGolf Course Design   Share

Golf Digest has just released its yearly Top 100 courses and Gary Player designed courses have been recognized as the best of the best in South Africa.  The Links at Fancourt in George took home top honors, Leopard Creek was rated #2 and three other courses made the Top 10 (Gary Player Country Club #4, Blair Atholl #6 and Montague at Fancourt #7). 
“Having one course recognised as the best course in South Africa is a great honour; having 5 of the top 10 is absolutely fantastic.”  said Gary Player.

“I have been given many opportunities to create designs that reflect the true nature of my home country and I am very proud of the courses we have designed.  South Africa is a wonderful country with a diverse landscape and incredible natural beauty; it makes course designing a lot of fun and has enabled us to create some truly unique designs.  Seeing giraffes walking across the course at Leopard Creek is something you cannot find in other countries.  I love working in countries all over the world and each brings a different design challenge, but there is always something special about working at home.”  he added.
The strong showing in the South African rankings comes on the heels of a successful 2010 where BlackSeaRama in Bulgaria was named International Development of the Year by Golf Inc. and Poland’s Modry Las received the best course in Poland honors.

“The recognition we are receiving for our designs from all over of the world is really gratifying.”  said Marc Player, CEO of Black Knight International.  “We pride ourselves on designing courses that take advantage of the natural characteristics of the land and to be considered in such high regard by publications in South Africa, Asia, The Middle East, Europe and the USA exemplifies the global nature of our business.  I am also pleased that we are being recognized for our commitment to sustainable design and using organic materials in every course we design.”  he added.
In addition to the Golf Digest Rankings six Player designed courses have received a 5-Star Rating from South Africa’s Compleat Golfer (Gary Player Country Club, Blair Atholl, Zimbali Lakes Resort, Leopard Creek, Fancourt Resort, and Erinvale Estate Hotel & Spa).

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