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The BUZZard had a quick Q&A session with Kingswood greenkeeper Ivan van Heerden on the state of the golf course after recent extreme weather lashed George and many other parts of the Western Cape.
The Garden Route experienced multiple devastating storms that uprooted trees and caused widespread flooding, the most severe of these weather systems hitting the region on 5 and 6 May, followed by another destructive wind and rainstorm on 11 May. A subsequent major storm system hit during the first week of June.
These catastrophic weather events caused widespread mayhem across the district, including George, Knysna, Plett, and Mossel Bay. The BUZZard caught up with Ivan van Heerden on 17 June (i.e., rainfall stats provided up to mid-June) to find out more about the impact on the Kingswood course.
BUZZard: How much rain was measured during the worst days?
Ivan: I recorded 416mm during May and June: 226mm in May and 190mm after the last rainfall in June. The course was extremely wet. Conditions are better now, but there were a few days when the use of golf carts was not allowed, and even some when games had to be cancelled. The dams are full, so we are no longer trying to conserve water – excess water is flowing into the river. Larger or additional dams would have helped, as we didn’t have the capacity to store any extra water. As we speak, all the dams are overflowing.
BUZZard: Were dozens of trees uprooted at Kingswood, as was the case at neighbouring George Golf Club and throughout the town?
Ivan: We lost 25 trees on the course. We are trying to save some of them, but we’ll only know after winter whether they will survive. Both the course and estate were affected. The main challenge was the clean-up operation. Most of the fallen trees, branches, and debris have now been removed – we had several trucks assisting with this task. There has also been some settlement around the dams, where we had to deal with a few issues after the most recent rain.
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BUZZard: Were burst pipes a problem, as reported in previous cases of heavy rain?
Ivan: Not really. We used a great deal of irrigation over the past few months, but the system has not been working hard recently because of the dry months [2025 was the driest year since Ivan took over the greenkeeping reins] that led up to the recent rain.
BUZZard: Was there an upside, or did the downpours only bring destruction?
Ivan: Rain is always welcome. A farmer might say: ‘It’s okay, you can stop now for a while.’ But I’ll take as much rain as I can get. It’s not ideal for golf operations, because you lose revenue when the course is too wet.
The upside is that now, after stressing about water for 11 months, we can breathe again. But we’ll definitely need more rain during spring and summer, so our dams’ irrigation capacity will outlast the warmer, drier months. For now, the course is beautifully green, and I would rather deal with clean-up work than the stress of water shortages. I believe the whole town of George is happy about this as well.
