About Us

Blair Atholl encompasses The Blair Atholl Golf Course which is a Gary Player design. The Golf Club is a private facility which has achieved high accolades in a short space of time since opening in April 2007.

Situated on Gary Player’s original farm, Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Estate is a natural oasis just a short distance from Johannesburg. With the Crocodile River running through the middle of this lushly treed estate, Blair Atholl offers thousands of acres of common open ground where children can play and adults can enjoy the natural surroundings.

Player remains passionate about the estate, and the championship course he designed was inspired by his love for Augusta National. It might be his last in South Africa, and a wonderful legacy to leave. Player’s love for thoroughbred horses saw the establishment of an equestrian centre.

Fittingly for Player, who won 13 SA Opens, Blair Atholl hosted the 2022 SA Open, won by Thriston Lawrence on a 16-under-par total of 272, and 2023 SA Open, won by Dean Burmester on 277.

The spacious layout – surrounding farmland was also acquired – undulates through tranquil rolling countryside and indigenous bush – there are 250 000 trees on the property. Like Augusta National, there are a surprising amount of elevation changes, and the fairways are invitingly wide. On the opening par 5 the clubhouse quickly disappears from view as the fairway falls steeply downhill to a green adjoining a large water hazard.

The beauty of the layout is that it ambles far into the countryside, rather than looping back to the clubhouse, and has just the one starting tee. The halfway house comes after the eighth, an idyllic setting on a wooden deck under the trees overlooking the Crocodile River. The clubhouse is briefly seen at the 12th green before a final loop of six strong finishing holes, including South Africa’s most challenging par 4, 512 metres from the back tees and playing uphill. And it is six metres shorter than the par-4 15th! At least that plays downhill.

There are two unusual aspects to the course layout. Firstly, there are 5 par 5s and 5 par 3s – similar to Simola and Oubaai in the Garden Route, designed respectively by Jack Nicklaus and Ernie Els. Blair Atholl and Simola, coincidentally, begin and end with par 5 holes. Secondly, the back nine from the gold tees measures 4034 metres, just 545 metres fewer than the shortest 18-hole course in the South Africa, the Red tees at Wild Coast Sun.

It’s a long walk, and golfers have the option of taking a golf cart, a caddie, or both.

Blair Atholl is three kilometres from Lanseria Airport, a gateway airport to Sun City, 140 kilometres away. The Cradle of Humankind is close.