We received the sad news of Jonathan's passing from golfing friend, Colin Forrest.  He sent us the following obituary that was written by the President of the Rondebosch Golf Club, Mike Heath:

Life member of Rondebosch Golf Club, Jonathan Hobday (1957S) passed away peacefully on Wednesday morning (11 November 2024) after a relatively short, heroic battle with Cancer surrounded by his family.

Jonathan was a Prentice member of RGC having joined as a 10 year old student at Diocesan College. He attended Rhodes University and represented them in the annual Inter-Varsity golf tournaments. In 1960 he represented the South African Universities Golf Team against Natal at Pietermaritzburg. Moving to Pretoria in the early 60’s to join The Pretoria News and start his long and distinguished journalistic career, he managed to find the time to represent Northern Transvaal from 1968 to 1972 where he also served on the Northern Transvaal Golf Association. So began his foray into the “civic” part of his long journey serving others not only in the golf world.

In the period 1968 to 1971 he represented Wingate Park in the scratch league and won their Club Championship in 1971. He then moved to Irene Country Club where he served as Captain of Irene Country Club in 1976/7. He then moved to Germiston Golf Club to play in the Transvaal Scratch League until 1984 when he moved to Durban. There he Captained and played for the Royal Durban Golf Club in the Natal Scratch League alongside players like Rory Sabbatini, Keith Horne, Warren Avery and Bradley Davidson, who all became prominent professionals.

His journalist career moved him back to Cape Town in 1991 where he became Editor of the Weekend Argus and Deputy Editor of the Cape Argus. Of course this meant he could re-join his beloved Rondebosch Golf Club. Since then he represented RGC in the Premier, Challenge, Mid-Amateur, Masters and Super Seniors Leagues. He was part of the team that won the Stephan Trophy (Premier League) in 1999. The Rondebosch Masters team won the league on a number of occasions with his outstanding play being a feature of these successes. He then moved on to a stellar career in the Senior Golf arena by representing Western Province in the Senior and Super Senior IPT annual events, winning the Super Senior event more than once. 

Using his considerable journalistic talents he served as a judge on the Golf Digest magazine’s panel, assessing and grading RSA courses, and from 1997 to 2013 he was editor of The South African Golfers Year Book, where he had the chance to interview many well-known and famous golfing personalities including Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Peter Matkovich. On returning to Cape Town in 1991 and buying a house in Rosebank he immediately joined the Rosebank and Mowbray Civic Association. He became Chairman in 1994 and served for 25 years before retiring in 2019 to “let a new generation take over”.

During that long period of Civic duty the association tackled many big projects under his guidance. His sense of civic duty drove him to serve on these bodies and he was a very dedicated servant of the local Rosebank and Mowbray community, building up a superb relationship with Council officials and the local SAPS Officers During 2010-2011 Jonathan served on the committee for the RGC Centenary celebrations and then joined the Greens Sub-Committee which he chaired until earlier this year. He also joined the main Exco during this time and used his experience with the “Friends of the Black and Vygieskraal River” organisation to engage with the City Council around our perennial river pollution problems.

Breaking his age is probably what most members may remember him for. At the age of 79 Jonathan’s HI was 6.0 and he had equalled or bettered his age 10 times in his previous 20 rounds. At the time, 25 of his last 43 rounds had been78 or better, the lowest being 73. A remarkable achievement to say the least!!! And in his case, it only got easier as he got older, helped no doubt by that old and very wellworn greens pin book that he developed over many years playing on his home from home!

Devoted Husband, Father and Gentleman, Jonathan will be sorely missed by his friends at Rondebosch and throughout the golfing world. His contribution to the Club and to golf in general was immeasurable and the fruits of his labours will be enjoyed by golfers for a long time to come. We are forever grateful that he chose to be part of our great club’s history.

Hambe kahle Jonathan

[With thanks to Mike Heath, President of the Rondebosch Golf Club.]

Dale Hayes on Jonathan:  When the Ball Hits Back...

The Hobday family are legendary in Southern Africa. The three brothers, Jonathan, Simon and Humphrey grew up in Zambia where their parents were vets. Both parents received what Simon referred to as “gongs” from the British Government for their contribution to veterinary service in Southern Africa.

All three brothers were excellent golfers with Simon achieving the most success, but both Humphrey and Jonathan played provincial golf.

Jonathan was the editor of the Pretoria News, Weekend Argus and the Sunday Tribune. He served on golf committees at Royal Durban, Irene and Rondebosch and broke his age too often to count. At 79 he was still a 6 handicap.

Jonathan joined his brothers last week, after a relatively short fight against cancer. My condolences go out to the family. What a loss.

RIP Jonathan, a journalist, golfer and above all a great gentleman.

Planned Memorial Service

By way of info, a memorial will likely be held at Rondebosch Golf Club in the week of 17 Feb 2025, to which school representatives and those who knew and remember him are most welcome to attend.

Details to follow.

Colin Forrest, on behalf of Jonathan and the family, reachable at 0828779900 and [email protected]