Why We Love Gary Player Courses: A Golf Safari Through His African Designs
Few golf courses on Earth let you watch elephants from the fairway. Four of the courses on our Southern African golf safaris share something even rarer: they were designed by Gary Player, South Africa's greatest golfer, and they sit inside the kind of wild country his older brother spent a lifetime protecting. Once you know that family story, you play these courses differently.
Who Is Gary Player? The Black Knight of Golf
Gary Player was born in Johannesburg in 1935 and won nine major championships: three Masters, three Open Championships, two PGA Championships and the 1965 US Open. That US Open win, at age 29, completed his career Grand Slam (Wikipedia).
He is one of only six men in history to win all four majors, alongside Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who joined the club at the 2025 Masters (PGA Tour).
His nickname, the Black Knight, comes from his habit of wearing black on the course, inspired by a television show he admired as a young man (Modern Athlete). Off the course, he has been a prolific architect, with more than 400 golf course design projects worldwide (PGA Tour).
Ian Player: The Man Who Saved the White Rhino
Gary's older brother, Ian Player, is a big part of the reason our guests can see white rhinos in the wild at all.
By the 1950s, the southern white rhino survived in essentially one place: the Umfolozi reserve in Zululand, with a population of just over 400 animals (International Rhino Foundation). Keeping a whole species in one reserve meant a single disaster could end it.
As warden of Umfolozi, Ian launched Operation Rhino. His team pioneered the methods and drugs needed to safely immobilise and move these huge animals, then relocated rhinos to national parks, game reserves and zoos across their former range and around the world (International Journal of Wilderness). By 1965, the plan had pulled the white rhino back from extinction (TimesLIVE).
You can still see the results from a game vehicle today. Kruger National Park had lost its white rhinos entirely. Its population was rebuilt from 351 animals relocated from Ian's reserve, and by 2013 it had grown to between 8,400 and 9,600 (SANParks). By the time of Ian's death in 2014, white rhino numbers had climbed to more than 20,000 (Save the Rhino).
As early as 1972, Sports Illustrated reported that the World Wildlife Fund had called Ian the saviour of the white rhino (Sports Illustrated Vault). He went on to found the Wilderness Leadership School and the World Wilderness Congress, first convened in 1977 (SAB).
Poaching has put that recovery under pressure again since 2012 (International Rhino Foundation). That is one reason park fees and conservation levies are included in every Savanna Greens golf safari.
Two Brothers, One Love of Wild Places
Is there a direct line between Ian's conservation work and Gary's golf courses? Rather than assume one, we went looking for Gary's own words.
When Ian died in 2014, Gary wrote that his brother had been a tremendous influence and a constant inspiration to him (BizNews). It was Ian who gave Gary a pair of secondhand weights before leaving for the Second World War, the start of Gary's famous commitment to fitness (Upscale Living).
When Gary talks about course design, Ian keeps coming up. In a 2009 Golf Digest interview, Gary argued that no golf course should use more than 85 acres of irrigation, and in the same conversation described his brother as the world's leading conservationist (Golf Digest). Asked about his design work on a 2020 broadcast, he described both himself and Ian as "tree-huggers" (Golf Magic).
Two brothers from Johannesburg: one made his name on the world's fairways, the other in the wilderness, and both cared deeply about wild land. On a Savanna Greens golf safari, you experience both legacies, often on the same day.
Four Gary Player Golf Courses on Our Golf Safaris
Gary Player Country Club, Sun City
Opened in 1979 and designed by Player with Ron Kirby, this championship course is built in an extinct volcanic crater (Sunshine Tour). It has hosted the Nedbank Golf Challenge, known as Africa's Major, since 1981 (Sun International).
Water is in play on each of the final three holes (DP World Tour), and the par-5 9th finishes at an island green (Today's Golfer). It is a strictly walking course, and Pilanesberg National Park, home to lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino, is right next door (Today's Golfer).
The 2026 Nedbank Golf Challenge runs December 3 to 6 and honours Gary Player, following a R50 million upgrade to the course (Mail & Guardian).
Play it on: Highveld Highlights, Best of Both and The Complete Round.
Lost City Golf Course, Sun City
Player returned to Sun City in 1993 with a brief to create a very different course. The result is a desert-style layout of rocky terrain and wide fairways with sweeping bushveld views (Sun International).
Its signature is the par-3 13th, played from a high tee to a green shaped like the African continent. Beside it lies a pond that is home to Nile crocodiles (Sun International).
Play it on: Highveld Highlights, Best of Both and The Complete Round.
Leopard Creek Country Club, Kruger National Park
Opened in 1996, Leopard Creek lies on the southern edge of Kruger National Park near Malelane, bordered by the Crocodile River (Planet Golf). Gary Player has often called it his greatest design feat (SouthAfrica.info). Golf Digest ranked it 47th in its 2022-23 list of the World's 100 Greatest Courses outside the United States (SA Top 100 Courses).
The par-5 13th is the hole everyone remembers. Its green sits about 100 feet above the river and looks straight into Kruger, where crocodiles, hippos, giraffes and elephants are regularly seen (GolfPass). Some of the white rhinos in Kruger today descend from Ian Player's Operation Rhino.
Play it (two rounds) on: Kruger Untamed, Best of Both, Beyond the Border and The Complete Round.
Elephant Hills Golf Course, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
First opened in 1974, Player's Elephant Hills course sits behind the Elephant Hills Hotel (Global Traveler), on the upper Zambezi River just 3 km from Victoria Falls. It is the only golf course in Victoria Falls, and play is often paused while buck, warthogs or elephants walk across the fairways (African Sun).
Play it on: Beyond the Border and The Complete Round.
Which Savanna Greens Golf Safaris Include Gary Player Courses?
Highveld Highlights (7 days): Gary Player Country Club and Lost City
Kruger Untamed (11 days): Leopard Creek (two rounds)
Beyond the Border (14 days): Leopard Creek (two rounds) and Elephant Hills
Best of Both (15 days): Gary Player Country Club, Lost City and Leopard Creek (two rounds)
The Complete Round (18 days): all four Gary Player courses
Every luxury golf safari is all-inclusive: five-star accommodation, internal flights and transfers, green fees, game drives, two dedicated guides, and park fees and conservation levies. Our sample itineraries are a starting point, and each tour is tailor-made around your group.
Plan Your Gary Player Golf Safari
Explore all of our golf safari packages, or read more about Savanna Greens. Whether you are planning your own round at Leopard Creek or arranging a golf safari for clients, get in touch with our team.
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