Noodsberg Country Club History

Noodsberg Country Club was first established in the late 1960’s with the construction of a cricket field and a small thatched cricket pavilion. The first game played by a Noodsberg XI was on the 5th of September 1969.

In 1976 with the help of local farmers, the Noodsberg Sugar Mill and some of its employees, construction commenced with the building of a golf course which initially consisted of 4 holes. Today these 4 holes play as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 9th. Soon thereafter, with the help of course designer Jack Straw the remaining 5 holes were built.

During 1978, construction commenced on a clubhouse, which would host the cricket, golf and polo sections. The clubhouse was opened to its members the 23rd of august 1978.

Initially the golf course was very open with only a few indigenous trees around the course. Soon after construction was complete, pine and gum trees were planted to provide some form of defence. During these early days, Noodsbergs’ greens were planted with Bayview grass (cynoden dactylon) and the fairways were predominantly Buffalo grass.

Many of the tee boxes were built with railway sleepers – however these were subsequently all removed after one of the clubs longstanding golfer’s happened to hit one of these slightly protruding sleepers and do himself a painful injury in a rather sensitive area.

The golf section of the club was formed shortly after the course was completed in 1977 and the first playing of the Club Championships was in 1978.

During the late 1980’s a tenth hole was constructed which plays as the par three 12th hole. At that time the 4th hole was also redesigned, it was lengthened some 50 metres and a water hazard was brought into play behind the green.

In 1993 most of the gum trees were removed and a number of indigenous trees were planted alongside the fairways and greens of the 1st,2nd,5th,6th,7th,8th and 9th holes. This not only added colour and variation to the course’s appearance but also boosted its’ defences. During 1993 it was also decided to dig up the buffalo grass fairways and replace them with kikuyu to provide a better playing surface.

Over the course of the next 15 years ongoing improvements and modifications were implemented, most notably the construction of the 5th tee box which created one of the signature par 5’s.

In 2010 a major decision was taken amongst the members to reconstruct and re-grass all the greens. This was to be an 18 month project and a vital aspect to the decision was the grass variety to be planted. It was decided that Royal Blue (A strain of Cynoden) would be implemented and it has proven to be very successful to date.

Over the last 30 years or so Noodsberg Country Club has also been host to a hockey and a bowls section which were both disbanded in the late 1990’s. In 2004 the Noodsberg Rugby Club was established. Over the last decade they have had continued success and home matches on a Friday evening are always well attended.