THE keys to success when developing a golf estate in an overtraded market are said to be location, location and location. In the case of Pezula Estate on the Garden Route outside Knysna, make that timing, timing and timing.

Location is not an issue Pezula is on 630ha of prime land overlooking the ocean from the cliffs to the east of the famous Knysna heads. A local businessman recently paid R14m for a 9000m² plot, and total sales exceeded R200m last month. Pezula is, by all accounts, poised to be a roaring financial success, and should give the celebrated Fancourt development near George a decent run for its money as SA's premier secure golf estate.

Trouble is the Western Cape government has just launched an official investigation into the proliferation of coastal golf estates in the province after an outcry by environmentalists over their sustainability. There are at least 40 golf courses either in existence or proposed for the area between Stilbaai and Plettenberg Bay alone. The biggest concern, in addition to the impact that clearing vast swathes of indigenous fynbos to lay down fairways will have on threatened plant species, is whether there is enough water available to supply them all.

Pezula seems to be relatively safe from official interference at this late stage, having been given local authority and environmental planning approval in May last year. Work on the site is well advanced, including re-establishment of rare coastal fynbos species and the eradication of vast tracts of alien trees.

So far, so good, but that's where the issue of timing comes in. Hardly had the government investigation been launched than there was heavy rain in the area, and the Noetsie River, which borders Pezula, became choked with mud.

Pezula management made half-hearted attempts to deny responsibility, but a determined member of the Knysna Water Forum, a local conservation group, took the trouble to hike upstream and produce photographic evidence that Pezula was the source of the silt, which threatens to bury a host of sensitive aquatic species and ruin the ecology of the river. Not the greatest timing from Pezula's point of view, but arguably an act of god. Not so the water issue.

When permission was sought originally to proceed with the development (then called Sparrebosch), much was made of the fact that recycled sewage water would be used to water the golf course's fairways and greens. Now application has been made to the water affairs and forestry department to pump millions of litres a day from the Noetsie River.