Elements Private Golf Reserve

Elements Private Golf Reserve opened in 2005 in the Waterberg region of Limpopo Province, 20 kilometers from Bela-Bela and about 90 minutes north of Pretoria. The reserve sits on 495 hectares of rugged bushveld terrain — red cliffs, open grass plains, perennial streams, and indigenous vegetation — in a malaria-free zone. The course was designed by Peter Matkovich, whose career includes Worcester Golf Club, Blair Atholl, and a number of other top-ranked South African layouts.

The 18-hole championship course plays to par 72. From the back tees it measures 6,927 yards; from the championship markers it stretches to 7,575 yards. Course rating is 75.7 and slope is 147 — numbers that put it in the same bracket as the country’s most demanding parkland layouts. Bent grass greens are an unusual choice for a course at this latitude and in this climate, and they account for much of the reputation the course carries among golfers who have played it.

Course Overview

Matkovich designed the routing to work with the natural contours of the Waterberg valley rather than imposing a layout on top of them. Elevated tees looking down through indigenous bush, doglegs that follow the terrain rather than cut across it, and holes that require strategy over length are consistent features across both nines. Wildlife roams freely across the property — it is part of a private game reserve — and rounds here have a different character from courses that are surrounded by walls and estate housing. The two nines both return to the same large lake, which anchors the most memorable holes on the course.

The par-3 ninth is played from an elevated tee box down to a double green shared with the 18th, with water protecting the front and bunkers guarding long. Club selection matters more than on most par 3s because being short or long each carry a different kind of penalty. The par-5 18th, which plays downhill, asks for a tee shot that avoids a bunker complex on the right to set up the layup position, then a precise approach to the shared double green — the entire left side of which is protected by the lake. Where2Golf describes it plainly: the closing hole is where the round either holds together or comes apart.

The elevated two-storey clubhouse has panoramic views across the course and the surrounding bushveld. No caddies are available; non-metal spikes only. Accommodation on the reserve includes four-bedroom home units and two-bedroom lodges, making it a genuine stay-and-play destination rather than a day-trip course. Elements was ranked 13th in South Africa by SA Top 100 Courses in 2024, and was placed in the country’s top 10 at the time of opening.

For golfers planning a South Africa golf trip that extends north of Johannesburg and Pretoria, Elements Private Golf Reserve sits on its own as the standout course in Limpopo’s Waterberg — a combination of genuine course quality, wildlife setting, and remote bushveld character that very few layouts in the country can match.