The golf course is a genuine seaside links, with wide and undulating fairways, fast greens and thick coastal bush. A round is a must for any golfer visiting the ‘Friendly City’ of Gqeberha.
The Humewood golf course is best described as:
All are invited to enjoy a round on our championship links course and, whilst you’re soaking up an almost old-fashioned atmosphere, watch out for that wind!
The prevailing south-easterly and westerly winds will demand all your golfing skills.
And you better hope that gale force conditions are not the order of the day!
The Humewood Golf course has been designed with wide and undulating fairways, fast greens and thick coastal bush. A round is a must for any golfer visiting the ‘Friendly City’ of Port Elizabeth.
Today, Humewood is still one of only a few genuine seaside links courses found outside of Britain.
The Humewood Links course is ranked 13th of South Africa’s top golf courses and has hosted a number of major South African tournaments.
The Humewood course was opened for play in October 1931 and hosted both the SA Amateur and SA Open in 1934.
Humewood Golf Club went on to host the SA Amateur 10 times, the last being in 2017.
After opening in October 1931, Humewood Golf Club hosted the first of many SA Amateur and SA Opens in 1934.
Many of the greats who have played it acknowledge its iconic layout and testing terrain moulded from the coastal Eastern Cape terrain. Colonel SV Hotchkin (1876-1953) was approached in 1929 to design a new course to accommodate the insatiable appetite for golf at the turn of the century in the area.
A mere two years later and with army-like precision, a stunning links layout arose from low-lying coastal scrub over meandering windy terrain beside Algoa Bay. Little did they know at the time it would become one of South Africa’s most famous courses and one of the few genuine links courses in the country. They could not have been in better hands as the Colonel – who started as an army sign-up and ultimately achieved Major while serving in Palestine and Mesopotamia during World War I – knew what he was doing.
It was on his first trip to South Africa to avoid the European winter in 1927-28 that he was commissioned. Thereafter he was involved with many of South Africa’s courses including East London, Durban Country Club, Royal Port Alfred and King David, Mowbray. Incredible pedigree, indeed.
As is the norm with most links courses in Europe, they straddle the coast where you can expect wind of varying strength and ever-changing conditions. Hotchkin took the prevailing easterly or westerly into account during his design with many of the holes with, or against, the wind. The great Bobby Locke, who won five British Open tournaments, was quoted as saying Humewood was the finest golf course in South Africa. Although this was back in the ’40s with many courses mushrooming up since, Humewood consistently manages to maintain her ranking in South Africa’s top 10.