Westville Boys High School Golf Festival

Sun City supports high school golf tournaments in South Africa

High school golf tournaments in South Africa were few and far between, up until three years ago, that is. Pieter Hoeksma and Hardy Botha, who have been running tennis and netball challenges and clinics at Sun City since 2000, decided that golf events needed to be added to the list. Pieter says, “The idea of adding amateur golf to our list of tournaments has been running through my head for some years. The world-famous Gary Player and Lost City golf courses at Sun City are some of the top golf courses in South Africa. Playing these courses are on the bucket list for many a golfer.”

Opportunities for high school golf tournaments in South Africa

Pieter took action in 2015 and began inviting high schools to participate in the first junior golf tournament. Three schools entered, however two teams withdrew a few days before the event. Undeterred, Pieter and Hardy forged ahead. “Cancelling the tournament was no option, we had to go through with it,” says Pieter. “I arranged for some of my friends to come and play against the Boksburg team and, despite the disappointment of only one team arriving at the tournament, the kids had a blast.”

Determined to see high school golf tournaments in South Africa grow, Pieter and Hardy planned the second of their youth golf tournaments the following year. Six teams arrived, with pupils from Boksburg High, Merensky High School, Westville Boys’ High School, Glenwood High School and two teams from Southdowns College participating. After the tournament, Pam Hayward from Westville Boys’ High School approached Pieter and Hardy, offering to act as the host school for junior golf tournaments such as this.

A vision for an amateur golf tournament

This tournament gave birth to a new vision: to create a golf tournament that would provide up-and-coming young golfers the opportunity to play at the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City. The intention was that by creating high school golf tournaments such as this, it would inspire young golfers to excel at the sport, as well as give them a chance to walk the fairways in the footsteps of prominent golfers such as Retief Goosen and Ernie Els.

By sending the invitations a year in advance, the golf festival started receiving a great deal of interest from top golf schools in South Africa. Two Zimbabwean schools also expressed interest. “I thought if we could have 16 teams for the 2017 event, I would be very happy,” says Pieter. “In the end, we had 21 teams from 18 schools, including two teams from Zimbabwe. All these teams have shown interest in coming back for the 2018 event.”

What does the future hold for high school golf tournaments in South Africa?

The 2018 golf festival will be taking place at Sun City from 24-27 April. Hardy and Pieter have begun preparations for what has evolved into one of the top high school golf tournaments in South Africa. Local schools have already entered and the organisers are sending invitations to international schools in the UK and USA. “For the past three years, we’ve been working hard to promote high school golf tournaments in South Africa and to arrange the event at Sun City,” says Pieter. “We now have a really good field together.”