Why Cape Town should preserve King David Mowbray Golf Club

Cape Town is bracing for its busiest, most lucrative season of the year, the festive season. As the days stretch longer and the city fills with visitors chasing sun, wine and world-class scenery, one of our quieter economic engines kicks into gear: golf.

Nowhere is that truer than at King David Mowbray Golf Club (KDM), a site whose value runs deeper than its fairways. Yet, even as KDM prepares for its busiest months, the City of Cape Town is still weighing a plan that could flatten the entire site for high-density residential, industrial and commercial development.

Golf tourism's economic value

The global golf tourism market is on a steep upward trajectory, and South Africa, particularly the Western Cape, is positioned to be a major beneficiary. Golf tourists from Germany, the UK, the US and Switzerland already rate our courses highly.

At KDM alone, on top of the course's 1,500 local members, around 25,000 rounds a year are played by visiting golfers. These are high-value travellers. They tend to stay longer and bring their families along for the trip.

Golf travellers spend around 120% more per day than an average tourist, and South African Tourism knows it, as it has been actively promoting the country's courses as a flagship of destination marketing. The multiplier effect of tourist spending ripples well beyond the club's gates.

A 2026 Investec study found that the South African golf industry is estimated to generate around R49 billion annually and support approximately 40,000 jobs across the value chain.

A historic course like KDM, with its unique proximity to the city centre, scenic views of Table Mountain and 116-year history, sits at the heart of this industry.

KDM contributes to the broader Cape Town economy. Even the City of Cape Town's Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, James Vos, has said it plainly: “golf is worth its weight in gold for Cape Town’s economy”.

More than just a golf course

It is easy to dismiss golf courses as enclaves of the privileged, but they function as much more than economic assets. They also serve as valued recreational spaces, green lungs for surrounding communities and much-needed natural flood barriers.

Fundamentally, though, KDM has built a history as an inclusive golf community, with one of the most diverse memberships in the country, serving communities from the city centre, the western parts of the Cape Flats and the southern suburbs. It brings people together.

KDM is also unique in that the South African Disabled Golf Association relies on the club as its base. The association has stated that if KDM disappears, it would lose its home altogether, as relocating and adapting an alternative course to meet the needs of disabled players would be prohibitively expensive.

One example of what would be lost is the South African G4D Open, the biggest event on the national golf calendar for golfers with disabilities, which KDM will host from 15 to 17 November. It will welcome world-class competition, bringing together golfers from across South Africa and many international players.

Interestingly, this event is sponsored by the City of Cape Town, which, at least in this instance, recognises its value.

Plans to open up the club to the community

This month, KDM also unveiled plans that would make it an even more significant public asset: a new walking and running trail network through the club's fairways.

It will include four routes, from a gentle 1.41km loop to a 4.05km figure-eight linking the upper and lower courses. Each will replace the old informal dirt tracks with a properly surfaced, safe pathway measuring 2 to 2.4 metres wide.

The trails will be dog-friendly and open to the surrounding community through an affordable walking membership.

The first scenic loop, nearest the proposed pedestrian entrance on Links Drive, opens in early 2027, with the rest to follow.

Questions over the City's development plans

The City has put forward plans to replace the entire KDM precinct with 6,700 high-density housing units alongside industrial and commercial spaces.

This is proposed even though anyone driving through the city can see other, more suitable land lying vacant and unused.

Nobody is denying the need for more housing in Cape Town, but we must not sacrifice hard-working public assets on the way to achieving our goals.

The City has not yet said how many submissions it received during the comment period on its draft development concept, which closed on 7 August.

As the summer rush of golfing visitors returns to our fairways over the next few months, one hopes the City looks again at KDM's value. All the submissions made during the comment period should be weighed rationally, and the course must be seen not just as a parcel of developable land, but as what it has been for over a century: a hard-working, inclusive community asset.

Mike Flax is the chairperson of King David Mowbray Golf