Located northwest of Pretoria and one of South Africa's most talked about golfing destinations, The Legend Golf & Safari Resort has the dubious distinction of being the first course in the world to have 18 holes designed by 18 different signature players. Of course many of these players have never set foot on the property, but the holes 1 through 18 are nonetheless named after the following IMG represented professionals - Luke Donald, Camilo Villegas, Padraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie, Michael Campbell, K.J. Choi, Sergio Garcia, Trevor Immelman, Retief Goosen, Mike Weir, Raphael Jacquelin, Thomas Bjorn, Jim Furyk, Bernhard Langer, Justin Rose, Ian Woosnam, Robert Allenby and Vijay Singh.

The actual design work at Legend was first carried out by DDV Golf and was a disaster, almost the entire course had to be rebuilt during construction with European Golf Design/IMG Golf Course Services taking a more active role and local professional David Riddle supervising construction based on ideas supplied by IMG. The result is a pretty disjointed layout that disappoints primarily because the terrain is interesting and the property itself had considerable potential.

The resort itself at Legend is first-class, and its scenery is without compare in this part of the world, guests able to observe game in a glorious bushveld setting with the magical Hanglip Mountain as a backdrop. For golfers, however, the offering is slightly less appealing despite a handful of enjoyable holes. The best of these include Robert Allenby’s long par four 14^th with its expansive backdrop, and the teasing par five 9^th created with help from Justin Rose. Sadly the likes of Sergio Garcia’s short par four 16^th and KJ Choi’s par three 17^th didn’t quite turn out as first planned and as a result lack the sort of subtlety and charm these holes ought possess.

While aficionados might be unimpressed by the notion of a golf course ‘designed’ by 18 different touring professionals, the resort itself is beautiful and there is one undeniable golfing attraction that is sure to lure many here for years to come. The extreme 19^th hole is a crazed single-hole adventure that begins with a helicopter ride to the top of Hanglip Mountain followed by a massive plunging tee shot down to a green shaped like the African continent. Said to be the longest par three in the world, its green is situated more than 400 metres from the base of the mountain and more than 400 metres beneath the level of the tee box. The drive itself takes all of 20 seconds to land, and has to be one of the most thrilling shots in golf if pulled off properly.

While a gimmick hole like the Extreme 19^th would not ordinarily elevate a golf resort to must-play status, in this instance there is much to admire about Legend and so little quality golf in this part of the world that visitors to South Africa would do well to include this resort within their golfing itinerary.