Humewood Golf Club

Overview: Humewood Golf Club occupies low coastal ground beside Algoa Bay in Gqeberha, where Major S.V. Hotchkin’s design works with sand, wind and native seaside brush rather than trying to tame them. The wide, undulating fairways can look inviting from the tee, but the prevailing wind constantly changes the best angle into greens that are known for their pace and exposed positions. Deep bunkers protect their sand from the coastal gusts, while the two nines send the ball in different directions often enough to make the same piece of land play like two contrasting courses.

History: Port Elizabeth Golf Club commissioned Hotchkin in 1929 to create a second course for the area’s growing golfing population. Humewood opened for play in October 1931 and hosted its first South African Amateur and South African Open championships in 1934. It remained part of Port Elizabeth Golf Club until 1952, when it became an independent club. The links has since staged a long sequence of national events, including the South African Open in 2006, and its original Hotchkin drawings were later rediscovered in the clubhouse during renovation work.

Did You Know? Humewood’s club emblem is a plover, a fitting choice for a course beside Algoa Bay with abundant birdlife. The club also records two remarkable 62s: Daniel Greene set one in the 2010 Vodacom Origins event, and Jaco Prinsloo matched it in the 2023 Nelson Mandela Bay Championship. Both rounds underline how quickly scoring can change when the coastal air turns quiet.