Why Karen course was picked to host this year’s European Tour events

Karen Country golf Club  [Photo: Stafford Ondego, Standard]

The par 72 Karen Golf and Country Club was founded in 1937 and the pristine course prides itself as one of the oldest golf clubs in Kenya.

For the third time running, the course will host the Magical Kenya Open and an additional European Tour event, the Kenya Savannah Classic.

According to Kenya Open Golf Limited, there are specific reasons as to why the organisers landed on Karen as the preferred host of the global showpieces.

“The course has sufficient facilities which matches up to the European Tour levels,” the tournament Director Patrick Obath told Standard Sports.

“We need a driving range of 350 yards and only Karen has that long shot in the whole country.”

The golf administrator is also happy that Karen has invested heavily in their course which is currently in perfect condition.

“We need total security for technical and broadcast equipments including cables and television towers and Karen has that assurance,” Obath said.

A worker cut grass on the Karen Country golf Club on March 03, 2020. [Photo: Stafford Ondego, Standard]

A large part of the 18-hole course is the family oriented club was built on the former coffee estate developed by the Danish pioneer Karen Blixen, whose life and times were depicted in the lyrical film ‘Out of Africa’.

The shade trees from her coffee plantation still dominate parts of the golf course, eighty years after they were planted.

The course is superbly maintained with greens built to the Professional Golf Association standards.

Despite Nairobi’s temperate climate, one can play golf 365 days in a year in comfort, an intangible asset that few golf courses in the world can claim.

The setting of the golf course is serene; with the Ngong hills as a backdrop, a rich variety of trees, indigenous forest, flowering shrubs and fauna.

The wetlands are a distinct environmental feature of the course and also home to thousands of birds and dik diks.

Additional reporting - karencountryclub.org