Monday, 26 February 2018
Every two years Golf Digest produces a listing of their top 100 golf courses in South Africa. These rankings were established in 1998. Twenty years on and the 2018 rankings have been released.
I am delighted to inform you that we have climbed the rankings from position 25 to 19. Only one other course managed to improve their positioning by as many places. It is through the tireless dedication and hard work of all our staff at Erinvale that has enabled us to move up the rankings. Well Done to all!
How Does Golf Digest Rank the Courses?
The rankings are based on course evaluations by a volunteer panel of members from throughout South Africa. They score courses on seven criteria. Shot Values are worth 20 points and the other six categories are each worth 10.
Shot Values
How well does the course pose risks and rewards and equally test length, accuracy and finesse?
Playability
How well does the course challenge low-handicaps while providing enjoyable options for high-handicaps?
Resistance to Scoring
How difficult, while still being fair, is the course for a scratch player from the back tees?
Aesthetics
How well do the scenic values of the course (including landscaping, vegetation, water features and backdrops) add to the pleasure of a round?
Design Variety
How varied are the golf course’s holes in differing lengths, configurations, hazards placements, green shapes and green contours?
Memorability
How well do the design features (tees, fairways, greens, hazards, vegetation and terrain) provide individuality to each hole, yet a collective continuity to the entire 18?
Conditioning
How would you rate the quality of tees, fairways and greens?
Clubhouses and their facilities are not considered for rating purposes. It is all about the golf course and not service levels.
As previously mentioned it is vital to obtain feedback so that we can improve our offerings and how we provide services. We will be starting to use “Survey Monkey” who are the market leaders in the field of easily analysed customised surveys.
Over the next few days you will receive a short survey on the New Year’s Event that we hosted. The results will allow us to create a better event in 2018.
Over the coming months we will send you various surveys to gain your thoughts on various topics. Some will be fundamentally important to the running of the Club and some will be operationally based to rather focus on the experience at the Club. Please look out for the first one, we will appreciate your support in this regard.
Following our annual government budget speech, it was announced that VAT will be increased from 14.5% to 15%. Duties on certain foods and liquor will also come in to effect, April 2018.
The suppliers themselves usually take this opportunity to also increase their pricing. Again we are expecting an average increase of around 8% on most food & liquor items.
It should also be noted that many food items have increased more than the usual CPI % (Consumer Price Index). This index tracks the rate of change in the prices of goods and services purchased by consumers. Below are just a few of items that have increased over the last 6 months.
Eggs: +85%
Butter: +35%
Shell Fish: +28%
Lamb: +22%
To ensure we are receiving the best pricing from our suppliers, we compare pricing from more than one supplier on every item. Rest assure that we will continue to do everything we can so that the effects of these increases are kept to a minimum.
Thank you to all that has given us positive feedback on the changes we have made to the wine list. We will continue to source great quality wines at affordable prices for you. Following on from this we are excited to imminently introduce “Bin End Wines” to our members. This will be where we bring you two or three wines at reduced prices. Your usual members discount will also be applicable. Stocks of each wine will obviously be limited. Look out for the table talkers on member days.
Our Head Chef, Pierre Fourie was involved in a car accident with a stray cow on the road home recently. He sustained quite a few injuries in the accident; the worst being with his hands, which obviously is rather debilitating for a chef…I am sure you will join me in wishing him a speedy recovery and return to duties at Erinvale.
With our new website coming on line shortly we are looking forward to uplifting Erinvale’s digital footprint on the world wide web. We hope you will like it.
Yours in Golf
Blyth Reid
General ManagerDirector of Golf
I am delighted to inform you that we have climbed the rankings from position 25 to 19. Only one other course managed to improve their positioning by as many places. It is through the tireless dedication and hard work of all our staff at Erinvale that has enabled us to move up the rankings. Well Done to all!
How Does Golf Digest Rank the Courses?
The rankings are based on course evaluations by a volunteer panel of members from throughout South Africa. They score courses on seven criteria. Shot Values are worth 20 points and the other six categories are each worth 10.
Shot Values
How well does the course pose risks and rewards and equally test length, accuracy and finesse?
Playability
How well does the course challenge low-handicaps while providing enjoyable options for high-handicaps?
Resistance to Scoring
How difficult, while still being fair, is the course for a scratch player from the back tees?
Aesthetics
How well do the scenic values of the course (including landscaping, vegetation, water features and backdrops) add to the pleasure of a round?
Design Variety
How varied are the golf course’s holes in differing lengths, configurations, hazards placements, green shapes and green contours?
Memorability
How well do the design features (tees, fairways, greens, hazards, vegetation and terrain) provide individuality to each hole, yet a collective continuity to the entire 18?
Conditioning
How would you rate the quality of tees, fairways and greens?
Clubhouses and their facilities are not considered for rating purposes. It is all about the golf course and not service levels.
As previously mentioned it is vital to obtain feedback so that we can improve our offerings and how we provide services. We will be starting to use “Survey Monkey” who are the market leaders in the field of easily analysed customised surveys.
Over the next few days you will receive a short survey on the New Year’s Event that we hosted. The results will allow us to create a better event in 2018.
Over the coming months we will send you various surveys to gain your thoughts on various topics. Some will be fundamentally important to the running of the Club and some will be operationally based to rather focus on the experience at the Club. Please look out for the first one, we will appreciate your support in this regard.
Following our annual government budget speech, it was announced that VAT will be increased from 14.5% to 15%. Duties on certain foods and liquor will also come in to effect, April 2018.
The suppliers themselves usually take this opportunity to also increase their pricing. Again we are expecting an average increase of around 8% on most food & liquor items.
It should also be noted that many food items have increased more than the usual CPI % (Consumer Price Index). This index tracks the rate of change in the prices of goods and services purchased by consumers. Below are just a few of items that have increased over the last 6 months.
Eggs: +85%
Butter: +35%
Shell Fish: +28%
Lamb: +22%
To ensure we are receiving the best pricing from our suppliers, we compare pricing from more than one supplier on every item. Rest assure that we will continue to do everything we can so that the effects of these increases are kept to a minimum.
Thank you to all that has given us positive feedback on the changes we have made to the wine list. We will continue to source great quality wines at affordable prices for you. Following on from this we are excited to imminently introduce “Bin End Wines” to our members. This will be where we bring you two or three wines at reduced prices. Your usual members discount will also be applicable. Stocks of each wine will obviously be limited. Look out for the table talkers on member days.
Our Head Chef, Pierre Fourie was involved in a car accident with a stray cow on the road home recently. He sustained quite a few injuries in the accident; the worst being with his hands, which obviously is rather debilitating for a chef…I am sure you will join me in wishing him a speedy recovery and return to duties at Erinvale.
With our new website coming on line shortly we are looking forward to uplifting Erinvale’s digital footprint on the world wide web. We hope you will like it.
Yours in Golf
Blyth Reid
General ManagerDirector of Golf
