Dale Hayes

Dale Hayes one of SA's greatest ever golfers, had played professionally and very successfully in Europe and America and quickly became a well-known and respected golfing personality in South Africa, both on and off the course. In the early ‘90s he teamed up with his long-time friend Peter Matkovich to help promote Peter's design business. With Dale's communication and marketing skills and Peter's design and construction skills they were an ideal association and thus formed Matkovich & Hayes. Dale has, until now, not been involved in the design process, preferring to remain involved on the marketing side as he gained experience of golf course design through his extensive travels throughout South Africa and around the world.

He has strong design beliefs that include that a course should be a beautiful walk, there should a minimum walk between greens and tees, there should be no blind shots, all the clubs in the bag should be tested and that the course should be enjoyable for all calibers of golfers. The condition of the course is paramount and the fairways should be undulating with a minimum of uphill holes.

The Bay Golf Estate will be his first, long-awaited co-signature design, an opportunity that he is looking forward to with relish.

Peter Matkovich

Peter Matkovich is one of South Africa's most experienced and most celebrated golf-course designers, having created some of the best layouts in modern times.

In 1973 he and his family moved to South Africa from Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and settled at Circle Golf Club, Pinetown. Soon thereafter he moved to Umhlali Country Club where he fulfilled the role of club professional, playing professional and course superintendent. Playing all three roles was fairly normal for the times, unlike today. Umhlali was then only a 9-hole course and the club was set to add another 9 holes and complete Umhlali as a full 18-hole course. With extensive experience gained from playing the tour locally and abroad Peter took on the job of designing and building the new holes and at the same time redesigning many of the existing holes. The new course opened in 1975 and was Peter's first foray into designing and building golf courses and an experience that was to 'open many doors' in the future.

A few years later Peter was appointed course architect in the designing and building of Worcester Golf Course in the Western Cape. Peter's grounding, as a player and course superintendent, and his passion for the game were natural ingredients in his evolution to a course architect and designer. His portfolio of designs has since grown to include some of the most celebrated golf courses in South Africa and his extensive knowledge and experience ensures maximum quality and playability in his new design projects.