SA

Ciarán and Donal Ryan, two sports-crazy brothers from Athlone in Ireland, came to South Africa in 2005 to fly helicopters. They soon grew to love the lifestyle of the KwaZulu-Natal province (KZN) on the east coast of South Africa and have now made themselves at home in Umhlanga Rocks, 30 minutes north of Durban.

The idea for Heligolf came about after their first trip to San Lameer Country Club, which took them over 2 hours by road on a hot summer's day - not what you'd call an enjoyable journey! On their second visit they decided to travel by helicopter which took less than 40 minutes - and a lot less stress! Accordingly, Heligolf SA was born.

Ciarán and Donal have since teamed up with local businessman and Umhlanga Rocks’ only other Irish resident, Gordie Jestin. Gordie, originally from Co. Laois, has been resident in South Africa for 14 years where he spends his time running Umhlanga Rocks’ busiest pub.

Heligolf SA, being based in Durban, concentrates primarily on the courses on offer KZN (click here for map). Here are some of the many reasons why Durban is an ideal base for your golfing holiday:

KZN boasts a sub-tropical climate (average 320 days of sunshine per year) and is home to almost 100 golf courses.
Almost 20 of KZN's courses feature in Golf Digest's Top 100 Courses in South Africa 2007.
In KZN you can experience a vast contrast in golf courses - you can enjoy a leisurely round in the foothills of the majestic Drakensberg Mountains or tee off by the pristine beaches of the Indian Ocean.

Heligolf SA now wish to share this amazing golfing experience with as many of their compatriots as possible. Heligolf SA has been successfully operating since early 2006 and the pre-bookings for late 2007 and 2008 show that more and more Irish are keen to explore the sporting adventures of the 'Dark Continent'.

Heligolf SA also caters for sports teams and larger groups and can organise any holiday adventures from fishing to sight seeing to extreme sports.