The Vodacom Red Golf Tour was the stuff of dreams for anyone who has ever teed up the white, dimpled ball.

Twelve Vodacom Red clients paired up with a mix of twelve celebs and Vodacom Super Rugby players to play two of South Africa’s most exclusive golf courses, Blair Atholl and Leopard Creek, over a three-day golf trip of a lifetime.  The lucky Red clients were all chosen randomly after registering for the Vodacom Red Golf Tour on www.vodacom.co.za/redrewards.

The list of celebrities on tour included the likes of Metro FM’s Thomas Msengana and Carte Blanche’s Derek Watts, who together with Vodacom Super Rugby legends Victor Matfield, AJ Venter and the Ndungane twins, Akona and Odwa, ensured that many a story from 'the good old days' were doing the rounds during the tour.

Representing the current crop of Vodacom Super Rugby players were Jano Vermaak from the DHL Stormers, the Cell C Sharks’ Stephan Lewies and John-Hubert Meyer and Vodacom Bulls’ stars Marnitz Boshoff and Boom Prinsloo.

On Day 1, each Vodacom guest was greeted early in the morning by a chauffeur-driven, personalised luxury car and taken to the Gary Player-designed Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Estate in Gauteng. The day started with a chilly morning tee off, before the guests hopped onto chartered planes in the afternoon to make their way to arguably the most exclusive golf course in South Africa, Leopard Creek, for the next two days.

The hype that surrounds Leopard Creek is not unfounded and in many ways it exceeds even the loftiest expectations. From the five-star accommodation and dedicated staff to the magnificence of the golf course, the golf estate does not seem to know the meaning of the word mediocrity. The Vodacom Red Golf Tour group got to experience this excellence in abundance with no expense being spared on ensuring the Vodacom Red clients were treated like royalty.

Playing host to the Alfred Dunhill Championship every December, the Leopard Creek course offers a tough, yet fair test of golf. Cleverly designed and immaculately maintained, Vodacom Red clients and celebrities alike savoured their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enjoy this world-class layout. Throw in sightings of elephant, buffalo, crocodile and numerous antelope, and you have the perfect bushveld golf experience.

As if this was not enough, players were also able to experience the newly built 9 hole Par 3 course. Each hole design is based on some of the most famous par 3 holes that can be found around the world and golfers are immediately transported to places like St Andrews in Scotland or Augusta National in Georgia, USA.

And what golf tour would be complete without the odd tour story? AJ Venter was the perfect host and was only eclipsed by John-Hubert Meyer’s impersonation of Hugh Bladen and Derek Watts’ yoga headstand pose.

After two days of highly enjoyable golf and storytelling at Leopard Creek, a tired but immensely satisfied Vodacom Red Golf Tour group once again boarded the chartered planes to head back to Lanseria Airport. At the airport, guests were again chauffeured back to their homes or to OR Tambo Airport to catch their connecting flights to their home cities.

As for the golfing performances, there were a few standouts. Blair Atholl’s competition was a Fourball Alliance and was won by Metro FM’s Thomas Msengana, DHL Stormers scrumhalf Jano Vermaak and Vodacom Red clients Charles Taute and Nikkie Nysschen.

The main competition on the Vodacom Red Golf Tour was the Betterball Stableford competition played over two days at Leopard Creek. Each Vodacom Red client was paired up with a celebrity or Vodacom Super Rugby player. Emerging victorious were Akona Ndungane and Danjoe Horn, followed by Jano Vermaak and Yasir Essack in second place and Victor Matfield and Werner Swanepoel in third.

The Vodacom Red Golf Tour was part of a series of once-in-a-lifetime experiences and forms part of Vodacom’s Super Rugby Red Rewards campaign that sees Vodacom rewarding its Red clients with a number of exclusive experiences throughout the rugby season.

The tour was a resounding success where attention to detail was the name of the game. The parting words of every guest who was lucky enough to experience the Vodacom Red Golf Tour was, 'We’ve got to do this again next year.'

Sign up for a Vodacom Red Reward Experience

Don’t miss out on other Vodacom Red Rewards. Visit www.vodacom.co.za/redrewards for more information.