President Brand Mashie

Welkom occupies a peculiar place in South African geography — a planned city dropped onto the flat Free State highveld in the late 1940s to house the workers of the Witwatersrand gold mining boom. Unlike most South African towns that grew organically, Welkom was laid out on a grid with no traffic lights, a quirk its residents still note with pride. Golf arrived here as part of that planned civic life, and President Brand — the area's full club — takes its name from the old Orange Free State president Johannes Brand, a reminder of the Boer Republic history woven through this region.

The Mashie designation marks this as the shorter, more compact layout sitting alongside the main President Brand course, designed for quicker rounds and accessible play rather than championship ambitions. On the highveld at roughly 1,400 meters above sea level, the thin air means the ball travels noticeably farther than it would at sea level — a pleasant surprise for visiting golfers.

The Free State's flat, open terrain gives courses here a links-adjacent feel in terms of exposure: wind is rarely absent, and it shapes play far more than any architectural feature. Expect firm, fast conditions for much of the year, with the dry winter months demanding accurate approaches to hold greens baked by the highveld sun.