Estate Living Digital Publication Issue 1 January 2015 | Page 20

WHAT'S
PUTTING
A fortune is spent
annually around the
globe on golf events
and at the very top of
this food chain are
the professional golf
tours’ tournaments
which fill our TV screens
every week.
The biggest of these in Africa (at
$1,250 000 the tournament still
offers the largest first prize in pro
golf) is the Nedbank Golf Challenge
at Sun City which takes place in the
first week of December each year
.
My first visit to what has now become
known as the Nedbank Challenge
was to the inaugural event in 1981
in the tournament’s then guise as
‘The Million Dollar’ after which I was
based in Southbroom in KZN as the
Club’s golf professional from 1983
to 1988. I only next ‘got up’ to the
Million Dollar in 1987, which started
an unbroken run of attendance up to
1999.
This included a period where, through
my involvement with the Ballantines
Whisky sponsorship at hole number
14 and SABC’s radio coverage, I
‘lived’ at Sun City for the week of the
event. As it had been fifteen years
since I had last been to a Nedbank
Challenge, I was very curious to see
what changes had taken place. On

16

Friday morning I drove out from
Hartbeespoort and, having made
a smooth transition through the
security at the main gate, I found
parking (no mean feat that!) at a
very full complex. Having checked
in at the very well run media centre,
I stepped out into the tournament
area and the changes and additions
were soon pretty evident. Extended
merchandising, more grandstands
and bigger corporate hospitality
around the course, as opposed to it
being ‘centralised’ in and or around
the clubhouse area, were some of the
more noticeable changes. The most
significant non structural differences
were in the number of people on the
course on a Friday and the improved
experience offered to the general
public i.e. those not being hosted as
a sponsor’s guest.
The numbers seemed to be up in
attendance terms. Although I have
no statistical data to support this
feeling, everywhere I looked seemed
to be busier rather like it used to be on
,
a weekend in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
The expanded corporate facilities
might account for my sense of there
being more people, but perhaps the
increase is also due to the event
becoming more spectator friendly.
The improvement in the general
facilities was particularly noticeable.
No longer a case of a gazillion Rand
for a hot dog and a warm cold drink

and a lucklustre customer service.
Instead; air-conditioned F&B areas,
clearly defined walkways, extended
entertainment after the golf has
finished for the day, lots of toilets,
polite course marshals and complex
security all combine to make the day
visitor feel like a valued and integral
part of the event, as opposed to an
‘extra’ of little value and only to be
tolerated while the real business was
conducted elsewhere.
Inside, the Nedbank Challenge has
transitioned from being a fun golf
event into a serious tournament with
an expanded field, lots more money,
order of merit points at stake and
the official sanction of the European
Tour In the process the event’s
.
attractions have developed into
those associated with Wimbledon or
a Henley Regatta, where knowledge
of the finer points of either tennis or
rowing, are sublimated by the much
more important factor of being ‘seen’
at a major sport / social occasion.
When you combine the Nedbank
Challenge’s early December date,
with South Africa’s summer and the
major annual holiday season, the
tournament has obvious appeal.
The tournament offers an ideal
opportunity for companies to unwind
at year end with their staff, guests
and suppliers.