Pearl Valley Golf Estates

Overview: Pearl Valley Golf Estates is a Jack Nicklaus Signature course in the Paarl-Franschhoek Valley, with the Simonsberg mountains, fynbos, lakes and the Berg River landscape shaping the round. Nicklaus's par-72 routing is built for championship play but offers several tee positions, and its strategy comes from the relationship between broad fairways, water features and carefully placed bunkers. Nicklaus Design's routing uses the open valley to create long views, then brings the player back to detailed decisions near the greens. The result is a polished estate course with a strong sense of its Winelands setting.

History: Pearl Valley opened in November 2003, with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player involved in the opening ceremony. The course became the centrepiece of a large residential and conservation estate and soon hosted the South African Open for three consecutive years from 2007 through 2009. Its mountain setting and conditioning helped it become one of the most recognisable modern courses in South Africa, while the official course material continues to identify the layout as a Jack Nicklaus Signature design.

Did You Know? Pearl Valley's par threes and par fives were oriented in different directions to respond to the prevailing seasonal winds. That means the course changes its weather-facing character across the card instead of presenting every long hole from the same angle.