Irene Country Club

Tucked away just far enough from the madding crowds, this Gauteng course offers an everyday escape to the country (club). Ben Karpinski

When you think of Irene just outside Pretoria, you think of the famous dairy farm, the family homestead of the late General Jan Smuts, and of course Irene Country Club.

Irene Country Club has been an icon of the area since 1911, back when Smuts was a member of the founding committee. A visit there today reveals this celebrated history, while also providing the most accommodating of contemporary country club experiences. It is the definition of a “home away from home”, and a place that continues to move with the times to cement itself as a standout club.

In part resembling a golfing housing estate, in others that of a gentle parkland meander, Irene is in essence a terrific country retreat without being too far away from the neighbouring metros.

Its quaint nature aside, the Irene layout holds favour with touring pros as much as it does with the everyday golfer. It has a proud history of hosting local tournaments, with its current place on the Sunshine Tour being with the KitKat Cash & Carry Pro-Am.

Measuring at 6 216m on the highveld, Irene is seen as traditional in nature when it comes to a golfing test. Where it doesn’t necessarily challenge the modern golfer with distance, it makes up for it with a higher premium on accuracy and shot-making abilities. This can largely be attributed to Phil Jacobs, who in 2007 redesigned the course to make it what it is today.

It is centred around smartly contoured greens, holes turning around established treelines, and of course the Hennops River being an integral feature on key holes. With all this going on, you won’t be surprised to find that each hole at Irene does feel unique, with a fitting nickname given to each one.

SPOTLIGHT ON...

General Manager Gary Marais talks taming rivers and increasing playability

Though slightly off the beaten track, Irene Country Club boasts in the vicinity of 50 000 rounds played per annum. Gary Marais naturally wants this to be a working number for the club to comfortably maintain. In doing so and catering for the demand, he has had to address various things in recent times.

The ups and downs of the Hennops River

When the Irene Country Club course was created, the idea was for it to be defined by the most beautiful river in the region – the Hennops River, which enters the course at the 9th tee box and meanders its way north-west towards its end point at the Hartbeespoort Dam.

In the summer rainy season the river poses a few problems for the club, with occasional flooding leading to closures, which is problematic. Though Mother Nature is not something you can always control, Marais and his team endeavour to find ways to limit the impact of this flooding.

“We’ve noticed in recent years that when the river gets to these flood levels, it alters its natural route and takes a shortcut through our course. Every time this happens a great deal of silt is washed on to the affected holes which, without ongoing work, can turn areas to marshland. Great efforts, in partnership with local authorities, have been made to cut the river bank back where possible, and allow for the river to better hold its course through improved drainage efforts,” says Marais, who sees the river maintenance issue as a full-time concern.

“These efforts have seen us making some small changes to riverside holes. For example, down the left of the par-five 2nd we have removed the two fairway bunkers that have been heaviest hit in recent floods. So now rather than rebuilding and recovering the bunkers, we can focus those efforts elsewhere – improving the banks and run-offs, and take this approach to other key holes.”

Clearing back the general scrub areas on the bank has also benefited the course. And though the river will swell again in future, the club is confident it will significantly reduce closure periods.

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The front nine is the longer of the two, with a stretch of tricky holes from the 3rd to the 8th. All these holes are in the single-digit stroke rating except for the short 7th hole. From there the more accommodating par-five 9th is a welcome sight as you turn for the clubhouse and a bit of respite.

The back nine is certainly by no means the “easier” half, but it brings the real charm of the course into play.

The par-three 13th presents a delightful tee box to stand on, with the dairy farm behind you, the river away to your right, and a green up ahead framed by the striking Irene stone walls.

The stretch of holes from here back to the clubhouse will make just about any social game or competitive match come alive. The 18th wraps things up with a straightforward par four that is there for the taking at only 313m. Guarded only by a couple of bunkers on either side of the green on entry, it is the ideal hole to finish with a flourish.

With your golf done, as you make your way to the clubhouse, Irene as a country club facility opens up to you. Though golf is the major drawcard, it also has a lovely village cricket oval, and lawn bowls is still alive and well here, as is tennis and squash. With the ever-growing demand for padel, the four floodlit courts are very much a part of the club.

But if a round of golf is enough for you for the day, a visit to the clubhouse and the adjoining Cursive Lifestyle Eatery restaurant is a more than suitable way to spend the rest of your stay here.

SIGNATURE HOLE

The upgraded par-three 7th.

Aptly nicknamed “Pulpit”, Irene’s the signature hole has a significantly raised teeing area, and depending on the wind (or your abilities), it may even evoke a little prayer in order to find the putting surface.

It represents a great deal of what makes the course unique, but like a few other holes on the course, it was suffering from degrading tee areas. The smaller boxes on the course simply couldn’t get necessary recovery time from wear and tear.

So through a significant upgrade and enlarging to the teeing area, the playing conditions are improved, and also provide greater variety in tee locations thanks to the broader areas.

This has also resulted in improving visibility down towards the hole, making it even more scenic and enjoyable to play.

Outside these improvements, it is still the same famed short hole from there – requiring a well-measured short-iron to a relatively shallow green guarded with bunkers on the short right side, and a substantial slope running away from the hill over the back.

Regardless of how you fare on the hole, it’s a particularly special part of the property to enjoy.