Your client wants golf. Their partner wants lions. Here is the good news: on a South African golf safari, nobody has to lose that argument. South Africa has courses on the border of the Kruger National Park, inside the park itself and next door to malaria-free game reserves, so a morning round followed by an afternoon game drive is a normal day out.
This guide covers the courses we send golf safari clients to most often, how each one fits with a safari stay and how to plan a route that keeps your clients on the tee box rather than in the transfer vehicle.
Golf Around the Kruger National Park
Many golf safaris begin in the Lowveld, where the courses sit close to the park and its private lodges.
Leopard Creek is a Gary Player design in Malelane, on the border of the Kruger National Park with the Crocodile River running alongside. It is home to the Alfred Dunhill Championship and was ranked fifth in South Africa in the Golf Digest South Africa 2026 Top 100. Leopard Creek is a private members’ club, so visitors play by staying at one of its approved partner lodges. We book clients into Lukimbi Safari Lodge in the southern Kruger, one of those partner lodges, so access is sorted before your client packs a single tee.
Want your clients to play inside the park itself? Skukuza is a nine-hole course with 18 tees on the outskirts of Skukuza Rest Camp. Park staff built it in 1972, and today it is open to all visitors. The course has no fences, so impala, warthog and the occasional elephant may wander across the fairways. It has no sand bunkers either. The trees take care of that job.
Kambaku Golf Club in Komatipoort is a Peter Matkovich design with nine holes and 18 tee positions on the southern bank of the Crocodile River. The signature 4th, which doubles as the 13th, runs alongside the river with the Kruger on the opposite bank, and hippos often watch from the water. In Hazyview, Sabi River Sun Golf Club offers 18 holes and a par of 71, with the Sabi River coming into play on the 4th.
For clients who would like a malaria-free safari, Sun City in the North West province sits next to the Pilanesberg National Park.
The Gary Player Country Club is home to the Nedbank Golf Challenge and returned to the top ten in the Golf Digest South Africa 2026 Top 100. It is an 18-hole, par-72 layout designed by Gary Player himself. Gary Player also designed the Lost City Golf Course, which opened in 1993. The hole everyone talks about is the par-3 13th, where the green is shaped like the African continent and Nile crocodiles live in the water hazard. It might be the only hole in golf where a lost ball is the least of your worries.
Legend Golf and Safari Resort in the Waterberg
In the malaria-free Waterberg region of Limpopo, every hole on Legend’s 18 Signatures Course was designed by a different Major champion or Tour winner. Then there is the Extreme 19th, where players fly by helicopter to the top of Hanglip Mountain and tee off about 400 metres down to a green shaped like Africa. The Big Five Entabeni reserve borders the resort, so no transfer day is needed. Places on the Extreme 19th are limited each year, and Ascot Tours has already secured tickets for 2027.
How to Plan a Golf Safari Route
Many golf safaris combine two regions. Our Sun City Golf and Kruger Safari itinerary spends three nights at The Palace of the Lost City and three nights near the Kruger, with rounds at Sun City and Leopard Creek. On longer trips, Ascot Air charter flights connect the regions.
Winter is the dry season in the Lowveld and the Waterberg, a good time for game viewing and comfortable rounds of golf.
Book Your Clients’ South African Golf Safari
Ascot Tours was named Africa’s Best Golf Tour Operator at the 2026 World Golf Awards, and we have been building golf tours in South Africa for 30 years. We work exclusively with travel agents, offering competitive rates and agent commission, and we handle tee times, lodges, transfers and flights from arrival to departure.
Ready to send your clients on a South African golf safari? Contact the Ascot Tours team today and we will put together an itinerary for you to quote.