Vineyard golf on a 1682 wine farm, with an island green and a 76-metre putting surface.
Steenberg Golf Club lies on one of the oldest farms in the Cape, dated to 1682 on the estate’s crest and first farmed by Catharina Ras, a widow from Lübeck whose life the club’s own history page tells with relish. Today the estate combines a working vineyard, a five-star hotel, homes and an 18-hole course by Peter Matkovich, set under Silvermine Mountain on the edge of Tokai. Its bent-grass greens are what golfers tend to mention first.
Visitors book on the club’s online tee sheet (MyClubAccount), linked from the Visitors page, which takes bookings up to three months ahead for 9 or 18 holes. A booking is final only once it is paid. The club uses dynamic pricing, so green fees move by the hour with demand, availability and weather. Expect a higher price on popular summer mornings than in a quiet midweek slot. The club’s 2025 rules name members and their guests and Steenberg Hotel guests as the course’s users, with everyone else admitted at the management committee’s discretion, so book as soon as your dates are fixed. Tour operators can also arrange times, and the golf office answers on +27 21 713 2233.
Matkovich laid Steenberg out in the mid-1990s, working with the vineyards, a pine plantation and a stream created to carry run-off from the mountain. The club credits the design to Matkovich and Hayes. The greens are bent grass and the fairways kikuyu, and the club describes a hybrid plan in which the rough around the greens lets you play the bump-and-run, which it calls a rare shot in South African golf. The 7th is the signature: a 140-metre par three to an island green set in sand and water, with Devil’s Peak behind. The 8th is a 452-metre par five crossed by the stream about 250 metres from the tee. The 11th is a driveable 302-metre par four beside a chain of dams. The 14th is a long par three to what the club calls the largest green in Africa, 76 metres from front to back.
Steenberg keeps a strict rhythm. Be on the tee 10 minutes before your time. There is a compulsory 10-minute halfway-house stop, and each nine must take no more than 2 hours 10 minutes. Every player carries a sandbag for divots, and clubs may not be shared from one bag. Shirts must be tucked in unless tailored to the waist, socks must be visible, cargo shorts are banned and shoes must be soft-spiked. Phones are forbidden on the course and the range and allowed only in marked areas of the clubhouse.
Cape Town International (CPT) is roughly 30 km away by the M5 and the M3, or about half an hour outside rush hour. The club is on Tokai Road, below Ou Kaapse Weg, the pass over to Noordhoek and the Atlantic side of the peninsula. Most visitors drive or use a transfer, since public transport does not serve the estate well.
Nearby: 1. Royal Cape Golf Club (8 km) · 2. De Zalze Golf Club (40 km) · 3. Pearl Valley Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course (59 km) · 4. Arabella Golf Club (71 km) · Compare all Cape Town & the Winelands tee times
The Steenberg Hotel & Spa is on the estate and its guests have access to the course, which matters on busy days. It offers villa suites, premier rooms with terraces and classic rooms, plus a spa. The rest of the Constantia valley has a cluster of wine-farm hotels and guesthouses within a short drive. For a beach base, Muizenberg and Kalk Bay on False Bay are about 15 minutes away; for city restaurants, the V&A Waterfront is around 30 minutes north.
Royal Cape is in Wynberg, about 15 minutes north, and is a natural second round with a very different, flat and tree-lined feel. Westlake and Clovelly are both close by in the southern peninsula. Out east, De Zalze and Pearl Valley in the Winelands make a day trip. Off the course, Steenberg Vineyards and its Bistro Sixteen82 are on the estate, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is in neighbouring Newlands, and the drive over Ou Kaapse Weg leads towards Chapman’s Peak and Cape Point.
These packages have a confirmed round at Steenberg Golf Club in the itinerary, with the other courses, nights and hotels listed so you can compare like with like.
8 nights, 4 rounds plus safari
Rounds: Steenberg · Royal Cape · Pearl Valley · Leopard Creek
Stay: 5 nights B&B at the Queen Victoria Hotel, Cape Town; 3 full board at Jock Safari Lodge, Kruger
Three Cape Town rounds with a hire car, then three nights on safari with daily game drives and a round at Leopard Creek.
10 nights, 5 rounds plus safari
Rounds: Steenberg · Royal Cape · Arabella · Pearl Valley · Leopard Creek
Stay: Queen Victoria Hotel, Arabella Hotel & Spa, Lanzerac Wine Estate and Jock Safari Lodge
Cape Town, Hermanus and the Winelands before Kruger: five rounds, transfers included, and daily game drives at Jock Safari Lodge.
Prices are Golfbreaks’ published per-person guide prices in US dollars, checked November 2026; your quote depends on dates and group size. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. How we work
Cape Town has a Mediterranean climate: most rain falls from May to August, while summer from November to March is dry and warm, with the south-easterly Cape Doctor blowing hard on many afternoons. The club says carts and caddies are arranged weather permitting, so expect restrictions after heavy winter rain. The rate card for October 2026 to September 2027 is already published.
Explore golf by monthSteenberg does not publish a fixed visitor green fee. It uses dynamic pricing, so the rate changes hour by hour with demand and weather, and you see it on the online tee sheet when you pick a time. Add the published extras for 18 holes: R800 for a cart, R1,100 for hire clubs and R440 for an electric trolley, plus the caddie fee.
Yes, for a four-ball. The 2025 club rules make it a condition of play that every four-ball not playing with a member engages at least one registered caddie, and the online tee sheet repeats it. The course rules page words it more softly, as encouraged. Only caddies carrying a Steenberg identity document may work on the course.
Yes. The club takes visitors through its online tee sheet and through tour operators, but members and Steenberg Hotel guests are its core users. Book the moment your dates are certain, especially for summer weekend mornings.
The 14th is a long par three to a green the club measures at 76 metres from front to back, which it calls the largest green in Africa. Indigenous shrubs guard it, and the mounding behind was shaped to echo the mountain range beyond.
Last checked 10 November 2026. This is an independent planning guide, not a first-hand review or a booking service. Check live availability, access, fees and travel details with the operator before booking. Airport suggestions are starting points for route planning.
How we research our guidesPhoto credits and licencesMountain-framed golf at the heart of a Garden Route escape.
Nicklaus fairways under the Simonsberg, a short hop from Franschhoek.
Matkovich fairways along the Bot River Lagoon, ninety minutes from Cape Town.
Destination imagery
