Ruimsig Country Club

Overview: Ruimsig Country Club lays across rolling ground as an 18-hole inland links-style course in Roodepoort, designed across rolling ground with broad views and large, undulating greens. Gary Player and Ron Kirby created a layout that uses movement in the land, water features, and changing approach angles to keep the round varied. The greens were later upgraded with Bent grass, while the fairways and natural contours retain the open, wind-affected character that distinguishes Ruimsig from a heavily wooded parkland course.

History: Construction began in 1984 and the course opened in April 1986. The club’s history records the involvement of Gary Player and Ron Kirby, while later upgrades included improvements to the greens. Ruimsig also hosted skins events in the early 1990s, and its early non-white PGA Championship in 1986 has a particular place in South African golf history.

Did You Know? Ruimsig was the venue for a non-white PGA Championship in 1986, the year the course opened. That detail matters because it connects the physical development of the course with a period of change in South African golf. The event is part of the site’s history, not a claim that the modern course is unchanged from its first season.