REBUILING OF IRENE COUNTRY CLUB

There are many beautiful trees on the golf course and many of them are indigenous, for example the White Stinkwood, Acacia Caffra, Vaderlandswildt Soetdoring and Blinkblaar or Buffalo Thorn; others have their origin in the Forestry Nursery, particularly the Planes, Deodars and Ashes; and some were planted by J. A. van der Byl, such as the Oaks, Poplars and Weeping Willows. Nellmapius’ manager in the early days lived in a cottage in the trees near where the fifteenth green now is, so this is one of the oldest houses in Irene; it was rebuilt by John Henry van der Byl in 1950. Also on the golf course which spreads over some seventy morgen is the Hennops River which is famed for its beauty. Two tributaries, one from Olifantsfontein and one from Rietvlei, unite at the point where the railway bridge crosses the river close to the site of the original Erasmus homestead. A fountain near the eighth green contributes a small flow of clear water soringing out of a fissure in the dolomite.