Independent from South Africa since 1990, Namibia is one of the most sparsely populated nations in the world. Considering a large proportion of the country is designated as desert, which explains why such a huge chunk of the southwest African continent should contain a relatively small number of people.

Namibia is blessed with an abundance of natural resources and is noted for its mineral mining of lead, zinc, silver and diamonds. It has also increased export capacity of uranium in recent years and the country seems destined to overtake Niger as the leading producer in Africa.

Golf does not play a large part in the sporting life of the two million Namibians who inhabit the country but there are over a dozen golf courses dotted around the land – a legacy from its former colonial past with Germany – and the best of these are Windhoek Golf & Country Club, the Bush Course of Tsumeb, Rössmund Country Club near Swakopmund and Bob Grimsdell's Oranjemund on the banks of the Orange River.

However, the Namibian golfing bar was raised in 2012 when Peter Matkovich's signature design at Omeya Golf Estate opened for play.

Our Namibia rankings were last updated in April 2019.