Gary Player on the lure of a new links

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GEORGE NEWS AND VIDEO - Fancourt members will soon be able to experience another beautifully crafted Gary Player-designed links course.

On Tuesday 28 January, invited guests joined the nine-time Major winner Gary Player to a round at the new links in overcast conditions with occasional rain.

The afternoon began with a short introduction from Fancourt's sport and recreation director Ryan Reid, who then introduced Player.

After a typically entertaining speech from the golfing legend, he wowed the gathered crowd with the official opening drive off the first tee.

The Links Experience is already open to Fancourt members and will be open to guests at Easter time.

Reid explained the story behind Fancourt's latest addition.

In 2022, following a meeting between Reid and Fancourt owner Hasso Plattner, Plattner requested that the old Bramble golf course be turned into a nine-hole experience.

The first call was to Gary Player, who has been integral in the design and upgrades to all of Fancourt's courses.

Two years later, the course was officially opened. Uniquely, it's a par 34 and has one par 5, three par 3s, and five par 4s.

It also features dedicated par 3 tee-boxes, giving the option of playing either a par 3 experience or a par 34 experience. Both courses are on the handicap network.

VIDEO: Gary Player launches new links golf course at Fancourt

Gary Player

In classic links spirit, each hole is thoughtfully named, and the layout gets more spectacular as you move further onto the course.

Player himself is delighted with the course. "It's a beautiful layout, lots of soft grasses and coloured bunkers, something very different," he says.

"I designed this to give people pleasure, particularly elderly people, and it's very versatile with the fact that you can choose par 3, 4 or 5 or play strictly as a par 3. It's a thing of beauty that gives everyone a challenge, young and old."

Another attractive aspect that Player highlighted was the lack of housing on the course, which is unusual for Fancourt.

"I no longer want to be known for being a champion golfer, but as a man who has now dedicated his life to changing the lives of those less fortunate, and another new links course is a step in the direction of more job creation in our beautiful country." - Gary Player

Dominique Jacobs (Fancourt's director of golf), Ryan Reid (Fancourt sport and recreation director), Gary Player, and Gerhard van Rooyen (head groundsman) at the opening of the Links Experience.