Player brothers to set new environmental benchmark with Waterberg golf estate
Published online by Engineering News (www.engineeringnews.co.za)

The concept of combining golf with Africa’s untamed wilderness is the overarching theme of a multibillion-rand tourist development, on more than 5 000 ha of land, in the Waterberg region of Limpopo province.

Golf legend Gary Player will design the 18-hole signature golf course at the exclusive Waterberg estate, while his conservationist brother, Dr Ian Player, will assume responsibility for the wildlife and wilderness strategy.

Development Consortium director Tony Georgiou says that the project has taken time to put together, but that the collaboration of the Player brothers brings an added dimension to the development.

“The Waterberg will benefit directly from the passion and personal input of two of South Africa’s greatest brothers, whose partnership will redefine the environmental standard for development in Southern Africa,” notes Georgiou.

“By this time next year, I would have been responsible for designing for our company about 300 golf courses all over the world in unique places, from former communist countries to China, India and Bulgaria. One keeps on thinking that the next site is better than the other,” Gary Player told a press conference in Johannesburg last week, adding that he was excited to be working with his brother on a project.

“People often ask me what my ambition is for South Africa and I continually say it is for us to have 20-million tourists. Look at a country like Spain – it does not have infrastructure like ours, but has 40-million tourists a year. If we can get rid of crime, we will start getting 20-million tourists into this great country that is inundated with great beaches, wineries, incredible people and a great climate.

Twenty- million tourists will guarantee jobs and homes, and if everybody has a home, it makes a difference in people’s lives,” he said.

The Waterberg is most famous for the work of Eugene Marais, who wrote two phenomenal books, Soul of the White Ant and My Friends the Baboons.

“It is my hope that Gary and I will be able to honour the remarkable Waterbergwith a combined game reserve and golf course,” said Ian Player, indicating that the developers hope to set a new environmental benchmark, particularly as regards water consumption, given that golf courses are traditionally water intensive.

“We have chatted about the principle of designing and building a golf course that will use the minimum amount of water, and Gary is fully supportive of this principle. “He is currently experimenting in Colesberg, where he is building a course on his farm that uses very little water. As we all know, there are no great volumes of water in the Karoo,” concluded Ian Player.

For more information and to experience the sense of place offered by Waterberg, visit www.waterbergestate.com.