Golf
Landrover and headed to our first stop, the official entrance of the complex; the Gatehouse and Welcome Centre. The architecture has been inspired by buildings from the Old Kingdom of Monomatapa, a medieval African dynasty that covered a huge area that is known today as Zimbabwe, Kalahari, Mozambique and parts of South Africa. This area houses the reception, shops, restaurant, administration offices, security services and includes an outdoor amphitheatre for musical and cultural events. Having completed our tour of the centre, I
jumped back into the Landrover for the short trip to the helicopter hangar. Here I was introduced to Julian Moller, Legend’s resident pilot and a former South African Army flyer, who was taking me on a six
minute flight around the course and up to the Extreme 19th. This was my first ever helicopter flight and it was truly exhilarating as we flew low across the course and up Hanglip mountain, passing the clubhouse and several villas. This was a great opportunity to see the scope and scale of the course, set as it is in fifteen square kilometres of archetypal African bushveld. Ignoring my plea for a ‘gentle’ ride, Julian
swooped up to a small plateau on the side of Hanglip and obligingly stood the helicopter on its nose in order that I could get a photograph of the 19th tee with its Africa- shaped green some 430 metres below. The Extreme 19th is the longest par 3 in
the world, has received worldwide publicity and is worthy of that overused word ‘unique’, because there is just no other golf
hole like it, anywhere. Standing on the tee, you look down at the green, which has been constructed in the shape of the African continent, complete with the island of Madagascar sitting in a huge area of sand. The 3,500 rand (about £150) helicopter ride to the tee includes six balls and a group of spotters on the ground to find any wayward balls.
The green is approximately 400 metres
laterally from the tee and requires a good drive of around 280 metres before physics takes hold and the ball descends in a parabolic curve towards the green. It takes an amazing twenty-five seconds for the ball to reach the ground. The average golfer will probably hit a drive of around 180 metres, which will just about be good enough to reach a 70 metre long sloping fairway, which
The golf course design concept, featuring input from eighteen of the world’s top tour pros, was directly attributable to Cilliers, who wanted the world’s best golfers to design the world’s best golf course. Using this ‘multiple signature’ concept, there could only be one name for the resort - Legends
” PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016 I 41
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