Green Fees in Sun City and the North West: What Golf Costs in 2026
Two hours from Johannesburg, the bushveld resort that staged four decades of the Nedbank Golf Challenge sells its stage to anyone. In 2026, R2,250, roughly 120 dollars, plays you the Gary Player Country Club with lunch included; R1,750 plays the Lost City course, cart, lunch and resident crocodiles included. Sleep on the resort and both rounds get cheaper. Here is the full rate card.
Photograph: the Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, via Google
How Sun City pricing works
Sun City runs on one published rate card, valid from December 1, 2025 to November 30, 2026, and it has a single big lever: where you sleep. A visitor walking in from outside pays R2,250 at the Gary Player Country Club and R1,750 at Lost City; a guest of any Sun City hotel pays R1,550 and R1,250 for the same tee times. Both fees include the halfway house lunch, a properly South African touch, and both courses are Gary Player designs, the Country Club from the resort's 1979 beginnings and the desert style Lost City from 1993.
The two rounds are run differently and the difference matters to your budget. The Gary Player Country Club, host of the Nedbank Golf Challenge since 1981, is strictly walking with no carts available, so add R400 for the caddie, foundation fee and halfway package and tip on top. Lost City makes carts compulsory and folds a shared one into the green fee. Plan around the weekly closures, Mondays at the Country Club and Tuesdays at Lost City, and around hollow tining in late August and early September 2026.
Sun City green fees, line by line
| Round | What it is | Indicative 2026 fee |
|---|---|---|
| Gary Player CC, visitor | Gary Player's 1979 bushveld brute, home of the Nedbank Golf Challenge since 1981; walking only, par 72 | R2,250 per person, 18 holes, halfway house lunch included; groups of 21 plus from R2,450 |
| Gary Player CC, hotel resident | The same tee sheet for anyone sleeping at a Sun City hotel, Cabanas through the Palace | R1,550 per person; resident groups from R1,450 |
| Lost City, visitor | Player's 1993 desert style sibling beside the Palace of the Lost City, water on 12 holes and crocodiles at the 13th | R1,750 per person including compulsory shared cart and halfway house lunch |
| Lost City, hotel resident | The resident rate on the same course | R1,250 per person including cart and lunch |
| Nine hole rounds | Late day option on either course | R750 at Gary Player CC, R600 at Lost City with cart; no lunch included |
| Caddie and extras | Caddie, foundation fee and halfway at the walking only Country Club; hire clubs at both | R400 caddie package; club hire R400 for 18 holes; tip in cash on top |
Fees are indicative, per player, from the December 2025 to November 2026 rate card and subject to change. We do not quote our own pricing; always confirm directly before booking. Check tee time availability.
Where the value hides
Sleep on the resort, play both
The arithmetic is blunt: staying at Sun City saves R700 a round at the Country Club and R500 at Lost City, before you touch Sun International's 2 night and 5 night golf packages that bundle rooms with rounds on both courses. A buddies four ball playing each course once recovers a meaningful slice of the room cost in green fee savings alone, and the resort fills the non golf hours with the Valley of the Waves, the casino and Pilanesberg game drives twenty minutes away. The wider trip math lives on our South Africa golf holidays page.
Time it like a tournament pro
Book mornings. Summer storms build most afternoons from November to February, and winter mornings, May to August, are crisp, dry and windless, the best golf weather in the country. Avoid the Nedbank window in tournament season when the Country Club closes to the public, and the hollow tining weeks, August 24 to 28 at the Gary Player course and September 7 to 11 at Lost City in 2026. On the drive up from Johannesburg, Jack Nicklaus's Pecanwood on Hartbeespoort Dam makes a logical warm up round; see how the region fits a longer route in our South Africa destination guide and the national pecking order in the best courses in South Africa ranking. Coastal value hunters should compare the Garden Route fee table before committing, and our recommended Sun City stays cover the room side.
Plan your Sun City golf trip
Tell us your dates and group, and one concierge sequences both Player courses, the packages, the safari add on and the Johannesburg logistics, costed to the head. No obligation.
Sun City green fee questions
How much does it cost to play the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City?
On the rate card valid from December 2025 to November 2026, an individual visitor pays R2,250 for 18 holes, including the halfway house lunch, while a Sun City hotel resident pays R1,550. The course is walking only with no carts, and a caddie with foundation fee and halfway runs R400. It is closed Mondays for maintenance. Rates are indicative and subject to change; always confirm directly before booking.
Is the Lost City Golf Course cheaper than the Gary Player course?
Yes. On the 2026 rate card a visitor pays R1,750 at Lost City against R2,250 at the Gary Player Country Club, and the Lost City fee includes a compulsory shared golf cart plus the halfway house lunch. Hotel residents pay R1,250. Lost City closes on Tuesdays for maintenance. All rates indicative; confirm directly before booking.
Do I save money by staying at Sun City Resort?
Substantially. Hotel residents save R700 per round at the Gary Player Country Club and R500 at Lost City on the 2026 card, and Sun International sells 2 night and 5 night golf packages that bundle accommodation with rounds on both courses. For a group playing both layouts, sleeping on the resort usually beats day visiting from Johannesburg on cost alone. Confirm package pricing with the resort.
When should I avoid playing Sun City?
Three windows. The Gary Player course closes to the public around the Nedbank Golf Challenge in tournament season, the course shuts for hollow tining from August 24 to 28, 2026, and Lost City shuts for the same treatment from September 7 to 11, 2026. Note the weekly maintenance closures too: Gary Player on Mondays, Lost City on Tuesdays. Summer afternoons, November to February, bring serious heat and thunderstorms, so book morning tee times.
Related
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Tee time windows, course access changes and the trips worth taking. Every other week.
Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Fees verified June 2026 against Sun International's published rate card for December 2025 to November 2026. Last reviewed June 2026.