Southern Africa Golf Specialist
Nigel
Burch
Twenty-two years arranging golf in Africa. He has played Leopard Creek 34 times and knows every hole by name.
312
Courses played
18
Countries visited
22
Years in the trade
1,100+
Holidays arranged
The Story
He grew up at Royal Cape. He never really left Africa.
Nigel Burch grew up in Cape Town, learnt to play at Royal Cape Golf Club, and spent his twenties on every great course from the Highveld to the Garden Route. When he moved to London in 2001, he discovered that nobody in the UK really understood what they were missing — and that he was uniquely qualified to fix that.
Twenty-two years later he has arranged more South Africa golf holidays than any specialist in Britain. He has played Leopard Creek 34 times, knows the keeper of the green at Pinnacle Point personally, and holds the amateur course record on the ninth hole at Fancourt Links. He goes back every year, not because his clients expect it, but because he cannot stay away.
Nigel hosts Dormie's South Africa departures personally. When he says the hippos on the 13th at Leopard Creek were particularly active in October, he means last October.
"
The first time you play Leopard Creek you spend the round watching the wildlife. The second time, you actually play golf. The third time, you understand why people come back every year. I am on my thirty-fourth visit.
— Nigel Burch
Speak with Nigel directly
Nigel takes calls Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. He spends six weeks per year in South Africa scouting new properties.
The hippo on the 13th
It was 2019, and we had a group of eight — two couples from Surrey, a father and son from Glasgow, and a retired surgeon from Edinburgh who'd wanted to play Leopard Creek for forty years. He'd waited because he couldn't find anyone he trusted to book it right.
On the 13th hole — a short par three where the green backs directly onto the Crocodile River, with the Kruger Park bush on the far bank — a pod of hippos decided to come ashore and graze thirty metres from the tee. The surgeon put down his iron, watched for three minutes without speaking, then said: 'Right. I should have done this thirty years ago.'
That's why I still do this.
Nigel recommends
Six courses you need to play
South Africa
Leopard Creek
"The world's most dramatic golf course. Hippos on the 13th. Lions on the course the night before. You will not forget it."
South Africa
Pinnacle Point
"Clifftop holes over the Indian Ocean. The 6th looks like a CGI rendering. I have played it in sunshine, rain, and a gale. All three were extraordinary."
South Africa
Fancourt Links
"Three world-class courses in the Garden Route. The Links is the one that keeps serious golfers coming back. I hold the amateur course record on the 9th."
South Africa
Mossel Bay GC
"Cape coastal golf with no pretension. £40 green fees, views of the bay, and a 19th hole that serves the best line fish in the Western Cape."
Mauritius
Constance Belle Mare
"The best Indian Ocean resort in the world, attached to a genuinely excellent golf course. The Links course is the one. The bar overlooking the lagoon is the other reason."
South Africa
Royal Cape Golf Club
"I learned to play here. South Africa's oldest club, Table Mountain as backdrop, history in every bunker. If you are going to Cape Town, this is non-negotiable."
Start with South Africa.
Nigel hosts two Dormie South Africa departures per year — October and February. Twelve players maximum. He plays every round. Tell us when you want to go.