Heading to Safari Golf Club? They’ve got a new entrance. Pull in at the zoo entrance and follow the green arrows. They’ve also got a new clubhouse, practice facility, and a few new holes. Above is the new number one hole at Safari Golf Club. As of today, they are still using a temporary green about 100 yards in front of the regular green. No. 1 is a downhill, 360 yard, slight dogleg to the left, par 4. Carved into the trees, no. 1 provides a narrow chute for your tee shot. It’s a great start to the course, but does it continue?
The starter said that there would be a bit of a stroll to no. 2 from the green at 1 – 300 yards was his estimate. I’m shooting for close to double that. The second hole is actually the former number 16. Safari eliminated the former no. 17 and converted that to a wildlife sanctuary. The former number 18 is now a 175 yard par 3.
No. 4 is the original no. 10. They removed no. 11, thank gawd. 11 used to be a short par 3 – a hole that seemed to have been an afterthought – perhaps after they realized they needed one more hole to make 18. No. 5 is the original par 5 no. 12. 6 is the former par 3, no. 13. 7 is the former par 4, no. 14. 8 is the former par 5, no. 15, and 9 is the former par 4, no. 7.
I just played the front nine. The first hole was very impressive especially once they begin using the permanent green. After that it was back to the same old Safari but in a jumbled order.
Here’s the green at the third hole – now a par 3. You may not be able to tell from this picture but Safari’s greens are tiny. Hopefully, there are plans in the future to update some of these greens. Walking the course is quite a bit tougher with the new layout. As I mentioned, they got rid of the former no. 11, so you have a bit of a hike from no. 4 to hole 5. As well as a bit of a hike from the eighth green to the ninth tee. It appears that they added a new 17th and 18th hole.
From looking at the scorecard for the back nine, it appears that the former par 4, no. 8 is now the par 3 tenth. Then there appears to be a huge journey to the tee at no. 11. 11 appears to be part of the original no. 9 but now it runs the opposite direction and is a dogleg right par 4.
It appears that Safari has added four new holes and significantly shortened two others. I’m not sure if these changes will make the original Safari experience that much different. It will be interesting to see what more they have in store for the former Riverview Golf Course.
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One reply on “Safari Golf Club – revamped for 2007”
You are correct, this course is not walker-friendly at all (although they have a bridge on #18 marked for “Foot traffic only”). You spotted all the problems on the front.
On the back, #11 (old #6), #13 (old #3), and #15 (old #1), you have to walk back up the fairway to get to the tee box. Also, #12 is the old #5, 14 the old #2, and 16 is the old #4 (par-3).
17 and 18 are very aesthetically pleasing holes, similar to #1. However, as with #1, they closed the greens because they were getting too patchy. Another issue (which may relate to the green problems) is while the holes look very nice, you get no air coming through there at all….both are surrounded by trees and it gets very hot and humid on those holes. Lastly, 18 is a little tricked up with a creek that bisects the fairway three times. It makes your landing choices off the tee very limited, and due to the notoriously dry fairways at Safari, even when you hit a good shot, you are often penalized, because the ball continues to roll until it hits the creek hazard.