Glendower Golf Club

Overview: Glendower Golf Club occupies a mature, tree-lined site in Bedfordview, east of Johannesburg, where the parkland setting is central to the course’s identity. The layout asks for disciplined positioning through plantations, with bunkers, ponds and extended water hazards shaping the preferred route to the greens. Its surface looks tranquil from the clubhouse, but the combination of narrow corridors and strategic water makes the course a serious examination of direction and distance control.

History: Ten businessmen bought the Glendower farm in 1935 with the intention of creating a country club. English architect Charles Hugh Alison planned the course, while South African professional A.F. Tomsett directed construction. The 18-hole course opened on 7 March 1937 and hosted its first major tournament, the Transvaal Open, only two years later. All 18 greens were reshaped during major work in the 1980s, and the club later hosted a sustained run of South African Opens from 2013 through 2018.

Did You Know? Glendower was proclaimed a nature reserve in 1973 to protect the birdlife living among its mature trees. The club’s early tournament history is also notable: Bobby Locke won the 1939 Transvaal Open there with a reported 265, a score the club describes as a world record at the time.