We present to you Zwartkop Country Club - a club that honours the tradition and history of the game of golf and a course which gives all golfers an unforgettable experience. Over the last few years the course has undergone extensive renovations and today boasts facilities to make your corporate golf day or social round of golf, a memorable one.
Zwartkop Country Club is one of the oldest and most prestigious clubs in the Pretoria area. The greatest names in golf have walked the fairways, from Sam Snead, Peter Thompson and Bobby Locke to Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros, Lee Trevino, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Nick Price and Retief Goosen. The club has hosted many significant professional events over the years, including the 1955 SA Open (the only one ever played in Pretoria), the ICL International, a regular tournament on the Sunshine Tour during the 80’s and a memorable exhibition game between Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player during the 60’s.
Dale Hayes
:Owner & Director
Qualification – PGA Master Professional & Honourary Member of the PGA (PGA Member for 43 years)
About Dale – The buck stops here! Dale is known as “Mr. Golf in South Africa”. He is extremely passionate and knowledgeable, and has abundant energy for all things golf - most especially for Zwartkop. He was a fine golfer who won 27 professional tournaments including the National Opens of South Africa, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland and Colombia. He also won the World Cup for South Africa and in 1975 won the European Tour Order of Merit. He has been inducted into both the SA Sports Hall of Fame and the SA Golf Hall of Fame. Today he is very involved in the day-to-day operations of Zwartkop, is involved in corporate golf days, works on SuperGolf for Supersport and commentates on the Sunshine Tour.
|
|
|
Brian Hayes
:Director
Qualification – Advanced Fellow PGA Professional - PGA member since 1973
About Brian – Brian has been a professional at Zwartkop for 44 years so he’s literally an institution at the Club. Between he and his father Otway they have spent 100 years at Zwartkop and during that time he has worked in every aspect of the business. He’s a whiz on general golf knowledge and is definitely your go-to man for everything and anything Zwartkop related. He’s now in semi-retirement but is in charge of Special Projects.
|
|
|
Ian Hayes
:Director of Golf
Qualification – PGA Professional since 2001
About Ian – Ian can sell ice to eskimo’s. He’s the golf shop’s product expert, so for anything and everything you need golf equipment wise, he’s your man. He’s also responsible for Corporate and Golf Membership sales and is very invested in keeping all our members happy. He has a wealth of knowledge ranging from custom fitting to golf lessons so make sure you pick his brain!
|
|
|
Joseph Phiri
:Head professional
Qualification – AA PGA Professional
About Joseph – Joseph has taken over the management of the golf shop and has ben a wonderful asset to both the staff and members. His management of our booking system has brought down no-shows by 30%. He’s very clued up on merchandising and keeping up with the latest trends. He’s a very good player and has overall knowledge of the rules and of competitions.
|
|
|
Elsabe Hefer
:Head Teaching Professional
Qualification – “Fellow” member of the PGA and previous Top 10 PGA Instructor
About Elsabe – Elsabe lives and breathes instruction. She oversees the junior academy and also teaches advanced juniors. Gauteng North’s last two junior foundation winners were her pupils. She also teaches The Golf School of Excellence students, some of who have ambitions to go to Tour school at the end of the year, so Elsabe is hoping she’ll be coaching a Tour Player soon. She also lectures the School of Excellence students on Golf Coaching. Don’t think you have to be an accomplished golfer to benefit from Elsabe’s teaching. She love’s teaching higher handicap players too because by just improving a few basics she gets to see great improvements in their handicaps.
|
|
|
Jacques Venter
:Teaching Assistant
Qualification – Second Year Apprentice with the PGA of South Africa
About Jacques – Jacques overseas the driving range operations and manages the Junior Academy. On most days of the week you will literally see him thronged by groups of children of all ages – he’s like the Pied Piper of Zwartkop! He loves teaching the littlies and making sure that they have fun while doing so. His aim is that they don’t want to go home at the end of a lesson and they definitely can’t wait to come back the following week.
|
|
|
Paul Kommer
:Golf Shop Assistant
About Paul – Paul is areal asset to Zwartkop. By his own admission he is the fun ambassador at Zwartkop. He’s hardworking and enthusiastic and eager to please – there’s no job too big or too small for Paul! By default he’s our on-site IT support and is very involved in the booking system. He also does all the scoring for golf days and club competitions. Paul is our starter, our course marshall and general assistant with corporate days. He’s also involved in club assembly and repairs so if you need some work done on some of your Clubs or you happened to have broken one, then Paul’s your guy.
|
|
|
Russel Franz
:Golf Shop Assistant
Qualification – PGA Diploma
About Russel – Russel is one of the most proficient players on our staff. He currently plays off a +4 handicap, so if you’re looking for a challenger, he’s your man! He knows golf and is able to assist you with clubfitting from your putter right through to your driver, so take advantage of his knowledge.
|
|
|
Adam Hayes
:Director
Qualification – PGA Professional since 2005
About Adam – Adam is our resident “nice guy”. He’s a great ambassador for the members as well as visiting golfers and corporates. He’s in charge of our social media correspondence so keeps our Facebook followers up to date on what’s happening at the club on a day-to-day basis. He’s also taken over some of the Master of Ceremony work for many of the charity or corporate golf days that are held at the Club. Adam is passionate about Zwartkop and will bend over backwards to help in anyway that he can.
|
|