Kimberley Golf Club

Overview: Kimberley Golf Club is a historic parkland course in the Northern Cape, where mature trees and broad inland fairways contrast with the mining-country landscape around the Diamond Fields. The current course is associated with Robert Grimsdell and is unusual in its use of Elliot grass from tee to green. That surface, together with the dry climate and open light, gives the course a very different playing texture from the lush coastal layouts of South Africa.

History: The club was founded on 3 July 1890, when Kimberley was still defined by the diamond rush and the rapid growth of the town around it. The earliest greens were sand putting browns, tees were mats and dynamite was reportedly used to break up the stony ground. The club later moved to a larger site, with the present parkland course developing around the work credited to Robert Grimsdell.

Did You Know? Kimberley’s early golf story is inseparable from the diamond fields. The club’s own history describes a time when the ground could be as much an opponent as the course design, with blue ground, stones and improvised surfaces shaping how the game was played.