The Riviera on Vaal Country Club is one of the finest clubs of its kind in the country. Until 1938 Vereeniging’s golfers who did not belong to Maccauvlei Golf Club played on a nine-hole veld course, the greens consisting of circles of Kimberley blue sand.
In 1936 The Vereeniging Estate, Limited, of which Mr. Louis Marks and Mr. Teddy Marks were chairman and deputy chairman respectively, decided to lay out a championship course on the Transvaal bank of the Vaal River. Mr. Hugh Allison, a British golf course architect, was engaged for the job. The Vereeniging Country Club was formed on the 20th of September 1937. The club’s first committee was elected and in March 1938, the total membership was 142. A year later the total membership had reached 356. The first ladies committee was elected on 13th February 1940. The legendary Bobby Locke played the course regularly and included the signature 14th hole in his personal "perfect" golf course.
Riviera on Vaal takes over the Country Club
The Riviera on Vaal Country Club was officially taken over by the Zorgvliet Group of Companies on 7 February 2005. The Riviera on Vaal Country Club (originally known as the Vereeniging Country Club) dates back to 1937 and has had an eventful and colourful history, having developed from the home of a millionaire into one of the finest clubs of its kind in the country. It was originally intended that the course should be one of the amenities of the then Riviera Hotel, but this idea had to be abandoned because of the restrictions imposed by the liquor laws of the land.
It was decided instead to form a club, and on 20 September 1937, the Vereeniging Estates Limited, convened a meeting of interested and representative people who were told that it had been decided to place Vereeniging House and the new golf course at the disposal of the new club. The offer was enthusiastically accepted, and at this historic meeting the club's first committee was elected. The chairman "played in" the course on Saturday 5th March 1938. The Riviera on Vaal Country Club has a strong foundation of sportsmanship and esprit-de-corps, two qualities the present management intend to uphold in this long tradition. The excellence of the greens and their incomparable setting have left indelible impressions on those who have played here. Value for money has always been a vital component in the success of the club and this holds true today too.
