Akabeko Golf Course

How to play the course… a perspective/opinion of the designer/builder…

The Course layout.

No 1/10.. 380 yd par 4.

Starting off on the first, a climb up to an elevated tee with a view over the course.(looks a lot longer and the kikuyu fairways don’t run that well from that height)

Take your driver with, this 380 yd is deceiving, a wide fairway sloping left to right, with problems if you go too far right.

the second shot should be a short iron in to the green, don’t over shoot there is a lot of dam next to and behind the green, with a bunker right.

No 2 .. 390 yd. par 4. No 11 .. 425 yd. par 5.

The second hole is a par 4 first round and a par five second round.

Why the short par 5 second round? This hole has water. First time round most can carry the first dam, second time round not that many. Carry the dam .. don’t go too far there is a stream ahead. Be accurate with your tee shot, between the two big poplars is ideal, making the shot in to the green a little easier. But the green is surrounded by 3 dams, left behind and right, so it’s not an easy shot. This is stroke 1 and 2.

An ideal view for your second shot, this is the line…

No 3 ..  500 yd. par 5 .. No 12 .. 420 yd. par 4

If you can hit a long drive to clear the stream and be accurate this is not a difficult hole. if you have to lay up short of the stream it plays long.

Second time round a little easier to clear the stream.

Ones second shot is into an elevated, level green, so fire in high or face the consequences of the trees behind the green.

No 4 .. 205 yd. par 3. No 13 .. 230 yd. par 3.

If you can’t hit this very receptive green leak left rather than right… too many trees to the right.

No 5 .. 290 yd. par 4. No 14 .. 300 yd. par 4

Yep .. you can drive this green, it is up hill all the way, but this is a difficult green sloping from back to front, and I mean sloping, so play below the hole as stopping a ball from the back if you miss the cup its off the green. ‘Bunker protected to the right and a lot of trees if you leak left make the hole more difficult than it looks. (Who put that tree in the way?)

No 6 .. 320 yd. par 4. No 15 .. 290 yd. par 4.

Sounds short? There’s a catch, it’s a sharp dog leg left.

You need a 220 yd drive to reach the corner, too long and you’re either deep in trouble or behind trees. You can go for the green if you carry the corner with a slight draw, but there is then a bunker on line as well as one right. Don’t carry the corner? you’ve got a heap of problems. The green slopes slightly front to back, no longer sounds such an easy hole specially with “out of bounds” behind the green.

Ideally this should be the view for your second shot to the green.

No 7 .. 250 yd. par 4. No 16 290 yd. par 4.

This hole is uphill but many can drive the green. The green is a small two tier, bunker protected left, right and front, that looks a little like “smiley face” from the air. When the trees planted on both sides of the fairway are bigger, the slight curve to the right will make the hole a little more difficult. Risk and reward is the name of the game on this hole.

No 8 .. 350 yd. par 4. No 17 .. 450 yd. par 4.

This hole is down hill to the trout dam well hidden from view. A 300 yd. drive from the 8th tee box is required to clear the dam. A lay up leaving 120 to 160 yd. second is recommended. The green is big and receptively built. Playing short will leave a uphill short chip, long, and there’s trouble.

An ideal second shot should have a view like this….

No 9/18 .. 90 yd. par 3

This is no easy hole. A small green (with many slopes) from a high elevated tee, makes for a trick shot requirement, or the short game capabilities of a Derrick James.

There are a few movable hazards on the course..

This is a course that can be walked and most of the time we recommend it. The scenery and peacefulness makes for a relaxing game of golf. With the chance of meeting up with our impala or Sable, walking is better, but there are golf carts available for the not so fitness fanatics. The ups and downs make for wonderful exercise.

Come and play the course, all are welcome. The Owner, Mr. George Tait gave this instrinstruction,   “Those that play, must enjoy themselves, relax and have fun.”

Three little maidens from school are we…..

Many, many, maaaaannnnnyyyyy years ago, when in my first year at high school, I was shanghaied into playing a part in this Gilbert and Sullivan production of Mikado…. I was to play a maiden…

Now I have to thank my lucky stars that it was not a major part, but rather one of the young maiden chorus group… now stop that laughing… I may still need to visit a shrink in years to come…

When these three ducks or Cape teal came swimming around the corner the song came back to me as if it was yesterday…. Now I know I need psychologist….

Three little maids from school are we

Pert as a school-girl well can be

filled to the brim with girlish glee

Three little maids from school……………… hell I have a shiver going down my back….

Can you that know me, picture this body playing the part of a school girl ? Dressed in a pinafore reaching the ground…. and a bonnet six foot high (slight exaggeration) on my head and a forehead of curls that were made using curling irons ??  Didn’t think so… you don’t know how I prayed for the proverbial things to drop that my high voice would become a deep thunder……

But any way here is a few other photos of the Cape Teal…

A Swamphen Story….

I know this bird as the African Swamphen… but it has so many other names; African purple swamphen, purple moorhen, purple gallinule or purple coot and even others like; Pūkeko a common name, derived from the Māori language, for the purple swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) of New Zealand… also known as the sultana bird.

So call it what you will I had a great photo conversation with this bird…

Have a great weekend… get out there and enjoy the outdoors… take your camera and capture anything, it’s good for the soul….

Odd Spectators on the Golf Course…

Hermie and Koppie the Hammerkops…. with a head like that one wonders what knowledge he has of golf, yet these two sat on the bridge and watched the field pass by.

“Now that is a typical in-out swing, no wonder he pushes the ball.”

“Pretend we’re not looking, I wonder how many freshies he’s had today, does look embarrassed.”

“Stop laughing at the poor bloke, I don’t know how his wife lets him go to the course dressed like that. Those colours give me the itches.”

“I wonder why they keep shouting FORE!!! think it means something?”

“Ouch!! that must have hurt… look at him rolling around on the grass holding his head. Think that FORE might have something to do with it?”

“Now I wonder what’s going on over there? You know this watching golf is interfering with frog catching?”

Greater Striped Swallow.. unafraid of humans, so they say.

Greater Striped Swallow (Cecropis cucullata)

This swallow breeds in South Africa and in winter moves North to Angola, Tanzania and southern Zaire. I wonder if it needs a passport.??

This bird loves open grassland and mountainous areas, avoids more wooded areas. It is a common bird and they say it’s unafraid of humans… now I know why they tend to sit and pose for me.

The bird builds a bowl-shaped mud nest, with a tubular entrance on the underside. It’s softly lined and is reused quite often. Caves or overhangs of rocks even fallen trees are used for nesting sites, however they benefited from using buildings, bridges, culverts and similar man-made structures.

Glossy white eggs with a few brown spots 3 being a normal clutch. Incubation by the female for 17–20 days to hatch. Both parents feed the chicks. Fledging takes another 23–30 days.