About Us

The iconic Wild Coast Sun course remains one of the most exhilarating golfing experiences in South Africa. Built on rugged undulating terrain next to the Indian Ocean, it offers a combination of quirky and dramatic holes, and was one of the first in the country by an American course architect.

Owned by Sun International as part of their casino resort, the Wild Coast Sun followed in the footsteps of Sun City which had opened five years earlier. It’s a remote part of South Africa, 200 kilometres from King Shaka Airport – on an excellent highway – the beginning of a stretch of hundreds of kilometres of unspoiled and beautiful coastline known as the Wild Coast. The course can be quiet at times, which adds to the enjoyment and sense of isolation of a round.

Golf carts are compulsory today due to the hilly nature of the layout, but that wasn’t always the case. In the early years everyone walked. However, a funicular railway which took golfers up a steep hill from the 12th green to 13th tee no longer exists. Most fourballs usually employ a caddie or two, and the female Xhosa caddies are renowned for their friendly nature and ball-finding abilities.

Set in natural bush between the Umtamvuna and Mzamba rivers, Wild Coast Sun’s fairways rise and fall then twist and turn throughout its 6,400-yard length, presenting especially challenging holes at the six par three holes on the scorecard.

Virtually every hole is played in its own separate parcel of land, offering very little warning of the changing topography to come. Trent Jones has stretched his imagination to the full in sculpting a course from this rolling landscape. The layout is spread over such an extensive area that a golf cart seems advisable, even in a country where golfers prefer to walk.”

The par five 12th "Green Mamba" is rated one of the best 18 holes in South Africa, with the tee shot played from an elevated tee toward a cascading waterfall from where the fairway then cuts through a valley towards the kidney-shaped green and, when you’ve putted out, there’s a small funicular railway to transport you up the steep slope behind the green to the next tee! Many consider the 12th hole alone is worth the two-hour drive south from Durban to play Wild Coast. And if that's not enough, the book 500 world’s greatest golf holes by author George Peper and the editors of GOLF magazine features the 146-yard par three 13h at Wild Coast:

“The 1997 Wild Coast Challenge, a South African PGA event, saw how fickle winds can render this hole’s seemingly innocuous yardage meaningless. Players hit anything from punch five irons to three quarter wedges on this hole to adapt to the changing conditions, knowing that shots missing this green can land in all sorts of trouble. The ‘jungle’ is the most obvious hazard, but a rear bunker, giving way to another cluster of knotted vegetation, can be nearly as distressing.”