I was also immensely proud of South Africa for staging so successfully the world’s biggest sporting event – the Fifa World Cup – last year. Although my schedule did not allow me to be part of it, the championship portrayed the country at its very best.

It is sporting events like this that have helped to show just how far my country has come in a short period of time.

Sport can be a catalyst for all kinds of change. Never in my wildest dreams, as I strode the fairways of Germiston as a young boy, did I think that 30 years later I would be standing here with 60 international titles to my name, including three major championships, and all the trappings of wealth that such success affords. I feel very privileged, too, to have been able to travel the world playing the game I love. The one big negative has been that it has left me with so little time to visit my beloved South Africa.

Before my children went to school, my wife Liezl and I used every chance to fly back from our new home in Florida, sometimes even for a few days. Now it takes a bit more planning. My son Ben was diagnosed with autism

a few years ago and his condition was the main reason for our decision to move to West Palm Beach , where we have been able to secure a more intensive therapy for him. Liezl and I are private people, but we are also very much in the public eye and this gives us a platform to help raise funds and awareness for autism.

We established our Els for Autism Foundation in 2009 and it is going from strength to strength. Years from now, people may remember me as a golfer and a major champion but I’d like to be remembered, too, as someone who took the issue of autism and achieved something with it.

As a child, I was fortunate that my parents took us on holidays all around South Africa, contributing to my sense of adventure – which I hope I have passed on to Ben and my daughter Samantha. All through South Africa’s turbulent history, what has never changed is how much South Africa offers the visitor.

Whether you are enjoying fine wine and good food, playing golf, exploring some of the world’s finest game parks or just watching the most unforgettable African sunset over the Kalahari Desert, be assured that a visit to my homeland will be a life-enriching experience.

There are so many places to see wildlife in South Africa, it’s a playground for anyone who likes the great outdoors. You can probably guess where you find the Kalahari lion, and you can spot all the big five in numerous game parks up and down the country.

Although I grew up in Johannesburg, I must admit Cape Town has become a fantastic city and boasts a unique position. Away from the cities, the winelands of Stellenbosch are an area of real natural beauty, with stunning mountains leading down to the coast and wonderful beaches, while the Hermanus area offers panoramic vistas and unmatched opportunities to see southern right whales, dolphins, seals, penguins and great white sharks.

This diversity in tourism is more than matched by the range of golf on offer. I am biased, of course, but I have always felt there is something special about golf in South Africa. It’s not just the weather and the great African landscapes, but the fact that you can play golf all year round and on all types of course – from coastal links to parkland. And the game is also opening up. Most clubs used to be found on private estates but many are now open to the public and the sport is growing, with more than 500 courses across the country. Several players, including me, have foundations which promote the game among the less privileged. The current Open champion, Louis Oosthuizen , is the most famous graduate from my foundation at Fancourt , near George .

I have had some great experiences playing golf here, from the bright lights of Sun City and the mountain backdrop of Pearl Valley to the heart of the bush, with courses such as the new Legend resort in Limpopo Province and Leopard Creek in the Kruger National Park.

I have one hazy memory of floating down Crocodile River (which was so named for a reason) with Des Terblanche , a fellow tour professional I’ve know since high school who shares my love of nature and the wild, with a beer in hand after a tournament here. It was probably not the best idea, but my friend and fellow golfer Nick Price was perhaps right when he said, “Ernie is so laid-back he is almost horizontal”.

It has seemed a natural progression for me to move into golf design and I have taken my inspiration from Jack Nicklaus. My philosophy is to ensure golfers have to think carefully about their second shot because of good bunkering, slopes and angles. But you might be relieved to hear that it is important to give people a big fairway to play to. I also try to create attractive destinations that adhere to the principles of sustainable development and sound environmental practice.

My international courses range from Mission Hills Golf Club in China and the wonderfully named Whiskey Creek course in Maryland in the US to the Hoakalei Country Club in Hawaii and Anahita in Mauritius. However, it is the ones I have designed in South Africa that feel particularly special to me, none more so than Gardener Ross, which was built on the family farm near Pretoria where my grandfather grew up.

My other passion is wine. I got into the wine industry through friends who owned a vineyard in the Stellenbosch area, a great red wine region and perhaps the best place for visitors to get a taste of our fine wines. Stellenbosch is located 40 minutes from Cape Town, in the Western Cape, and is blessed with a Mediterranean climate and soils with oak leaf, clay and granite. These bring warm fruit flavours to the wine, while the cool Atlantic breezes extend the summer ripening period. I’ve learned a lot from the award-winning winemaker Louis Strydom about my favourite variety, Bordeaux.

There are many good South African wines – those from Waterford Estate , Rupert  & Rothschild and Schalk Burger & Sons appeal to my taste – and I am obviously partial to all of ours. They are so good, in fact, that if you crack open a bottle at the 19th hole under a big South African sky, that short putt you missed on the last will feel like a distant memory.

• Africa Travel (020 7843 3586, africatravel.co.uk) arranges tailor-made travel to South Africa. A golfing break, staying four nights at The Palace of the Lost City in Sun City and three at Fancourt costs from £2,095 per person, with return flights and car hire.
• Ernie Els offers wine and golf safaris to some of South Africa’s finest wine estates and golf courses, bookable through Africa Travel. Virgin Atlantic (0844 209 4700 , virgin-atlantic.com) flies direct from Heathrow to Johannesburg year-round and to Cape Town in winter. A return to Johannesburg in economy costs from £718, in premium economy from £1,240, and in first class from £3,342, with taxes.

Ernie Els's big five

Oubaai Golf Club

Oubaai in Herolds Bay is the first course I designed in South Africa – a traditional links layout set on the Western Cape, with nine holes out and nine back which can be a real test when the wind picks up. A lucky few may even spot a whale.
oubaai.co.za

DURBAN COUNTRY CLUB

Host to some 16 South African Opens, this is one of those very special courses that tests every club. A combination of lush vegetation, sweeping views of the ocean and massive undulations in the fairways (courtesy of the sand dunes on which it was built) make the Durban Country Club unique.
dcclub.co.za

LEOPARD CREEK COUNTRY CLUB

A wild drive takes on a new meaning at Leopard Creek in Malelane . Designed by Gary Player, it has water hazards that are home to hippos and crocodiles while antelope, buffalo, wild boar and elephant amble alongside several holes.
leopardcreek.co.za

HANS MERENSKY

Designed by Robert Grimsdell , this is another course that brings you closer to nature. Bordered by the Kruger Park, it winds through the Valley of the Elephants with the bushveld as a backdrop to holes.
hansmerensky.com

FANCOURT

Designed by Gary Player, this award-winning course is located in George , fast becoming one of South Africa’s best golfing destinations. Played out beneath the imposing Outeniqua Mountains , this contoured layout, inspired by Scotland’s famous links courses, was once an old airfield.
fancourt.co.za