Golf in Kenya – Journeys in Time

Nairobi (Kenya) – January 19, 2012 – For years Kenya has rested on its laurels as the world’s favourite safari destination. With the most captivating and prolific wildlife on Earth, some of its most stunning beaches, its oldest pastoralist cultures, and a delightfully warm welcome from its 42 tribes, the country has never had to look beyond its natural attributes to lure visitors to its shores. Its 42 golf courses, meanwhile, have remained something of a well-kept secret.

But slowly, steadily, the story is getting out. In recent years, a number of impressive new developments have pointed to Kenya as the ‘awakening giant’ of international golf tourism. Several new world-class courses have opened in spectacular locations, with masterful designs, meticulous landscaping and artful hazards offering golfers a rich variety of shot-making challenges amid some of the widest and wildest views on Earth.

With the latest David Jones championship course on Kenya’s beautiful north coast drawing praise from golfers such as Ian Woosnam, several other new courses are now taking shape at the coast. The country has also been busy lifting its profile on the international competition circuit, with fast-growing numbers of professional players and five new Kenyan tournaments offering World Ranking points in 2011. A new UK-based golf academy run by former tour players, Tour Master Classes, is planning its first trips to Kenya in 2012.

A Royal Pedigree
With long days, consistent sunshine, and evening rains to nourish its courses, Kenya has always offered the perfect golfing escape from the northern hemisphere. When the first Europeans settled here in the late 19th century, it was commonly said that each community should have a church, a club and a golf course – although not necessarily in that order…

In 1906, just seven years after the East African Railway arrived in the swampy Maasai country known as Enkare Nyrobi, Kenya’s first golf course opened in what is now Upper Hill. The Nairobi Golf Club – which would become the Royal Nairobi Golf Club – opened the floodgates for an intrepid band of golf-course architects, who went on to build dozens of courses from the lush central highlands to the panoramic slopes of the Great Rift Valley, and on to the sparkling Indian Ocean coast.

Kenya has 42 courses, at least eight of which have hosted major tournaments and are considered to be of international standard. A variety of smaller courses offer unique geographical quirks for the connoisseur: from “Kenya’s only uphill course” on the slopes of Nakuru’s extinct Menengai volcano; to Mount Kenya Safari Club, where the Equator and a rich variety of wildlife cross the fairways; to one of the unlikeliest courses you’ll ever come across on the salt-encrusted shores of Lake Magadi.

And then there is Kenya’s colourful colonial history, which allows you to brush shoulders with some of the most legendary figures from Africa’s past: whether playing on the site where Karen Blixen grew her coffee in Nairobi, or beside the home of Scouts founder Lord Baden Powell in Nyeri; following in the footsteps of the late, great Seve Ballesteros at Muthaiga; or chasing the legends of Winston Churchill and Bing Crosby on the slopes of Mount Kenya. Wherever you go in Kenya, there is always history: rich, ancient and enduring.

And then – finally, indubitably – there is the natural history. No other country in Africa, perhaps none on Earth, offers the sheer depth of immersion in pure, wild, unrestrained nature. From swimming with whale sharks at the coast to elemental elephant encounters at Amboseli, from the gentle antics of the fearsome big cats to the superlative-defying spectacle that is the Maasai Mara migration, no other country does wildlife quite like Kenya. So don’t just pack your clubs and your gloves. Bring your binoculars and your walking boots. Bring your family and your friends. Whichever way you look at it, a golfing holiday in Kenya is just too good not to share.

About Tobs Kenya Golf Safaris
Since 1991, Tobs Kenya Golf Safaris has been the first and only genuinely specialised Golf Tour Operator in Kenya, organizing golf safaris and events. V.I.P. service and personal attention is what Tobs Kenya Golf Safaris is known for. The Tobs’ team is dedicated and highly trained and all are personally involved in organizing your dream golf holiday to the last detail. Tobs is Director of the Board of Kenya’s Home of Golf: Muthaiga Golf Club, the founder/ first Chairman of the Kenya Golf Marketing Alliance (1997-2009), the first Chairman of the Kenya Chapter of IAGTO ( 1997 – 2010) and was instrumental in winning IAGTO’s Award for the Best Undiscovered Golf Destination of the year 2009.

Media Contact:
Tob Cohen
PO Box 20146
Lenana Road
Nairobi 00200
Kenya
Tel: +254-20-2710825/6
Mobile: +254-721-601480
Email: tobs@kenya-golf-safaris.com
Web: www.kenya-golf-safaris.com