Beginner-friendly golf courses in Johannesburg
New to the game or easing back into it? These Johannesburg courses are the friendly places to start: walkable, well priced and relaxed, with a welcoming feel rather than the pressure of a championship test.
What makes a course beginner-friendly? Layouts that are easy to walk, forgiving enough to keep a wayward round moving, and clubs that genuinely welcome newer players rather than rushing them. Huddle Park is a public, walk-on-friendly facility with plenty of room to learn. Parkview, Killarney and Wanderers are flat, compact parkland courses close to the city where a steady, shorter game works well. Further out, the likes of Ruimsig, Jackal Creek and Modderfontein keep things relaxed and affordable.
Green fees at these courses are also among the gentler in the city, and midweek or afternoon tee times are usually quieter, so you can take your time without a four-ball waiting on every shot.
Pick a course below to read more, then check live tee-time availability for a quieter slot to play your first few rounds.
Check live tee times
Huddle Park
Linksfield, Johannesburg
Huddle Park is a public golf and recreation park in Linksfield, set on wetland with three dams on the site of a onetime 54-hole complex.
Gauteng · #3418 holes
Jackal Creek
Northriding, Randburg
A public parkland course in Northriding, Randburg, Jackal Creek plays over rolling, elevated ground with water in play on several holes.
Gauteng · #3318 holesPar 72Douw van der Merwe
Killarney
Lower Houghton, Johannesburg
One of Johannesburg's oldest golf clubs, tracing its origins to 1903, and the only Robert Trent Jones design in South Africa.
Gauteng · #1918 holesPar 70
Kyalami
Midrand, Johannesburg
One of the region's older parkland courses, Kyalami opened in 1955 on gently undulating ground between Johannesburg and Pretoria, with unusually narrow, tree-lined fairways.
Gauteng · #1118 holesPar 72
Modderfontein
Modderfontein, Johannesburg
A parkland course laid out in 1935 on the grounds of the old Modderfontein Dynamite Factory, with a river running through its valley.
Gauteng · #1518 holesPar 72
Parkview
Parkview, Johannesburg
Founded in 1916, Parkview threads a narrow parkland corridor along the Braamfontein Spruit through the leafy suburbs of northern Johannesburg.
Gauteng · #918 holesPar 72Laurie Waters
Randpark Bushwillow
Randpark Ridge, Johannesburg
Bushwillow is Randpark's second eighteen, a shady Bob Grimsdell parkland course lined with mature trees and gentler than its Firethorn sibling.
Gauteng · #3618 holesPar 72
Ruimsig
Roodepoort, Johannesburg
Gary Player and Ron Kirby laid out Ruimsig on fairly open West Rand ground in the mid-1980s, giving it an almost inland-links character.
Gauteng · #2718 holesPar 72Gary Player
Wanderers
Illovo, Johannesburg
Dating to 1939, Wanderers is a compact, mature parkland course in Illovo whose original opening holes were later surrendered to the neighbouring cricket stadium.
Gauteng · #2118 holesPar 71