Wild Coast Sun Country Club

Few courses in South Africa carry the atmospheric charge of Wild Coast Sun Country Club, perched on the subtropical Eastern Cape coastline where the Mzamba River meets the Indian Ocean. The layout was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and opened in the early 1980s alongside the Wild Coast Sun resort — a destination that became one of southern Africa's most celebrated casino and leisure complexes during the Boscorporation era. The course earned genuine international attention when it hosted the Million Dollar Challenge, drawing some of the world's best players to this remote, dramatic stretch of the former Transkei.

The terrain does most of the talking. The Indian Ocean is a near-constant presence, with coastal winds shifting in character throughout a round and several holes playing along clifftops or through the dense indigenous bush that defines this corner of the Eastern Cape. It is demanding golf in a setting that feels genuinely wild rather than manicured into submission.

Access is tied to the resort and its membership structure, meaning most visitors experience the course as hotel guests. That relative exclusivity has helped preserve its character — this remains a course shaped by its landscape rather than softened for convenience.