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Designer Extraordinaire
Text and photos: Mark Sampson. Article from the March 2013 issue of Compleat Golfer Magazine.
Traditionalist, father, golfer, course sculptor, nature lover and above all a promoter of South Africa and its people – Mark Sampson speaks to Peter Matkovich.
As a playing professional, Peter Matkovich was at best a solid player. He spent a few years in Europe, played in two Open Championships and gave the Sunshine Tour a good go, but Matkovich’s real calling was only to be discovered after his touring days were over. His second coming as a golf course designer unearthed a talent that thousands of players across the country appreciate every day. The man behind the acclaimed layouts of Arabella, Prince’s Grant, Zebula and Pinnacle Point, among numerous others, is recognised as one of the country’s finest golf course architects.
Matkovich’s career change came about when he was stationed as the professional at Umhlali Golf Club in KwaZulu-Natal. In those days the pro had many roles, and he was acting as club pro, touring pro and course superintendent all at once. When the call went out for someone to design and build a second nine for the North Coast course, Matko put his hand up. The new course opened in 1975 and sparked a passion that has spanned over three decades.
In 1994, Matko joined forces with Dale Hayes. Hayes was a long-term friend and had a successful career on the European Tour, making him a well-known personality in the golf industry. Having a strong bond and respect for each other, as well as complementing each other’s skills, a natural symbiosis of promoting each other in the industry led to the formation of Matkovich & Hayes. In 2006, WBHO bought shares in Matkovich & Hayes and is now a controlling shareholder.
Matko resides on Simbithi Eco-Estate in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal, and although the global economic downturn may have slowed down the building of new courses, he is still very much involved in the company and the design and maintenance of golf courses in different parts of the world. Which is just as well, because golf simply wouldn’t be the same without him.
Mark Sampson Growing up in what was then southern Rhodesia, other than golf, what sports did you play?
Peter Matkovich I played a lot of rugby, which at that stage was my first love. I was fortunate enough to play for Rhodesia, but the problem with rugby is the injuries. The more I got injured, the more golf I ended up playing. I also played golf for Rhodesia against France and Mexico in the 1960s and in an exhibition match with Gary Player, who was suitably impressed and suggested I turn pro. But it was not due to him that I did; it was just a natural transition.
MS What are your main memories from that period of your life?
PM I wouldn’t say it was frustrating, but challenging. I started with a big hoo-ha, believing I was going to beat the world. I went down the wrong road and chose the wrong direction, which ultimately led to my demise.
MS In what sense did you take the wrong direction?
PM Today, all the pros have a swing coach, nutritionist and psychologist, but in those days we were left to our own devices. I was of the opinion I could practise until I found perfection. If you ask Simon Hobday or Muss Gammon, they’ll tell you I beat balls like you have no idea.
MS And all the practice didn’t work?
PM Initially, yes, but I was stubborn and was told I had some technical issues, but I believed I could iron them out with practice. They all told me I was on the wrong road, but I just carried on and all I was doing was actually getting worse by ingraining the wrong techniques.
MS What were you doing wrong?
PM I was trying to be someone I wasn’t, and it was very difficult for me. I couldn’t see it, but if I think back now, how simple it could have been. I really believe today a youngster with ability and the right guidance can’t miss. Just start with golf clubs – in those days we used to look at a driver and say the shaft is stiff and new and we would use it. Nowadays they are measured and fitted perfectly.
MS Do you agree with all the technical fitting that goes on?
PM I can’t say I don’t, but in those days it was a lot simpler, and I probably prefer that. We didn’t have yardages and all the details. You played by feel.
MS Based on that, would you say you are more of a traditionalist?
PM I would say yes, but these days a traditionalist and a bit of an extremist, which means a bit of a pain in the behind, I mean, look at the golfers of today: your average handicapper doesn’t understand what it means to play by eye like we did. He has a distance marker, yardage book and GPS – it’s bordering on ridiculous. They even pace the two steps from the tee marker to the ball, and they do it because they see the pros do it.
“They all told me I was on the wrong road, but I just carried on…”
MS Moving on to golf course design – how did you transition from golf to design? Was it because you realised you weren’t going to make it on tour?
PM Yes, I realised I was not going to make it. Slowly things changed when I realised I was taking more notice of the bush and the golf course than the actual game. I grew up in the bush and have a huge love for nature. I also stopped playing because of personal commitments.
MS And that allowed you more time to pursue golf course design?
PM Well, I was lucky because the course I was a member at had no greenkeeper at the time. So I went from playing to greenkeeping and then to design, which essentially is what happened in the old days – like with Old Tom Morris (designer of St Andrews). It wasn’t like these days when you have to go study to qualify and then be an apprentice for years.
MS Do you believe having a playing background has been beneficial and influential on your design?
PM Yes, I have been very fortunate to have played at a serious level and understand what it’s like to hit a 2-iron from a downhill lie to a raised green. Those kinds of things make a difference; to be a good designer, you have to understand that part of the game.
MS Moving from a small-level designer to the world-renowned Matkovich & Hayes, how did that relationship come about?
PM Dale and I were always friends and had been in business with Rhythm Sportswear. You can always judge a man’s character by his behaviour when under stress and having known Dale through some difficult times, I liked what I saw. It started when a job came up at Silver Lakes and Matkovich was not known then, so we used Dale’s name to represent us and they accepted it. That was our first job and how it started.
MS Looking at current times, is there a problem with course design in terms of trying to design the same course for an amateur and a professional?
PM Design gets caught up in fads.The current one is building a course with wide fairways, big greens and extreme lengths so everyone can play it – how unbelievable! We should go back to what golf was originally – a links course with a huge variety of holes. Narrow holes, wide holes and small greens – that’s all changed.
MS What other fads come to mind?
PM Signature holes. Designers come in and try to make a picture-perfect hole and put a bunker or hazard in a particular spot to make it look pretty, yet it has nothing to do with payability. Put the hazard where the ball is going to land and not where it looks good, and ultimately bring golf back into golf design.
MS So how do you design an authentically good course?
PM Design it for who is going to play it the most – the members and the average golfer. Make it enjoyable and challenging, because I believe the challenge makes it memorable. Challenges must be fair and obvious to see. Like water; some people complain about it, but if used properly, you give a golfer options to choose from, and if they go for the difficult option and fail then they must be penalised.
MS Has modern equipment overpowered some of the traditional courses?
PM Yes, the ball is going further and that makes it easier, so courses have to upgrade and adjust.
MS Have you noticed your personal game changing because of the equipment?
PM Not as much as I’d like (laughs). I travel every year to Scotland with my wife and those courses stand the test of time regardless of how far I hit it. That’s what I mean about design; the course retains its challenge and that is what designers must strive for.
MS Do you use your overseas trips as a mechanism for new ideas and concepts in terms of design back home?
PM I don’t take photographs or notes on a trip as I believe you have to be original, so copying is not an option. That’s where I fell down in my golf game, so avoiding that has helped enormously in design.Today it is too easy as you have huge budgets and machinery, which lends itself to becoming too extravagant. A real designer is a person who has an average piece of land and a small budget, who can produce a strategically challenging course.
MS Do you ever wish for the ideal piece of land to do with as you please in terms of designing a course?
PM Sure, those are dreams, absolute dreams and it would be a links course. The only one I have done close to that is Leopard Rock in Zimbabwe, where we had no plans and it had no houses, we just cut it out of the bush.
“My biggest hurt in South Africa is we don’t promote golf…”
MS For you, how important has the environmental aspect become during the design process?
PM I love the environment, so for me it’s an obvious aspect. If you don’t think of the environment then you shouldn’t be in design. I have at times been quoted as being critical of environmentalists, but those are the extremists. It’s wrong to be an extremist. We have to work together and designers are seen as the enemy, but we have the environment’s best interests at heart. For me it’s not a job, it’s a passion and the environment is part of that passion.
MS Do you think the pros are getting paid too much?
PM They have earned it. If you think it’s easy to practise for those hours and hole the putts under that pressure, consider that in the world there are millions of golfers and they are the top of the industry, they are entertainers – pay them, they deserve it.
MS Slow play has become a big problem, hasn’t it?
PM TV has changed golf. People see what the pros do and now everyone does it. Excessive slow play needs to be stopped, but the courses are longer so they will take longer to play.
MS South African golf is in a very strong position right now – how do you feel about having so many (six) co-sanctioned events on the Sunshine Tour?
My biggest hurt in South Africa is we don’t promote golf, so the co-sanctioned events are a step in the right direction. We have the most beautiful country with the most beautiful people; we have the best weather and the best golf courses, but we need to promote it instead of hide it.
Peter Matkovich’s Courses
UmhlaliCC 1975
Leopard Park 1992
Silver Lakes 1993
SanLameer 1994
Prince’s Grant 1994
Centurion CC 1997
Borrowdale Brook (Zimbabwe) 1998
Steenberg 1998
Arabella 1999
Woodhill CC 1999
Leopard Rock (Zimbabwe) 1999
DeZalze 2000
Zebula 2004
Golf du Chateaux (Mauritius) 2005
Elements 2005
Cotswold Downs 2006
Pinnacle Point 2006
Simbithi 2006
Hermanus 2007
Ebotse 2008
Dunblane 2009
Kranspoort GC 2009
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