Happiness in golf is to play in harmony with nature

Nyeri Golf Clubs' chairman Arthur Muchiri in action at the par 72 course, June 22, 2019. [Mose Sammy, Standard]

Somehow, when you are fully aware of the natural habitat of an area, you expect to get a special thrill trudging through the golf course that has managed to remain in harmony with nature.

That was my feeling this week as I spent the better part of it at the Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort, the venue of the sixth event on the Safari Tour calendar.

The golf course with a great view of Lake Naivasha and surrounded by hills, is one of the most scenic golf courses in the country. The third is definitely the best par three hole that we have in the country.

On the tee, which is about 90 feet above the green, one sees the lake on one side, the Eburu hills on the other and steam from the Olkaria geothermal plant out in the distance.

Even the birds on the golf course sound happier. The long nasal whining of the arrow-marked babbler flying from tree to tree assessing golf swings is a more natural sound and much better than the horns from cars.

The lush carpet of Kikuyu grass on the fairways and the smooth Bermuda grass greens are a total contrast to the long native grass that grows in the rough. The whistling thorn and the yellow fever are among the many indigenous acacia varieties that stand proud and tall on the course.

They are very prominent and have not been replaced by exotic, fast-growing eucalyptus or pine trees that are found in most golf courses in other parts of the country. Beyond the first cut of the rough are the wild leleshwa and wild mint bushes. Getting a ball out of these bushes that have been left to grow wild was a very daunting task.

The cherry on the cake for me were the zebra, impala, waterbuck and the adorable little dik-dik that are to be found grazing and stopping between mouthfuls of grass to curiously watch the golfers as they go by.

Many of the professional golfers that played at the resort agreed that the course was a very good one to host a Safari Tour event and some even want to see the Magical Kenya Open hosted there in future.

There were some who complained about the way course architects allowed nature to overawe them that they left some trees in the path of their well-struck tee shots. Instead of planting rows of trees where a bad shot is penalised, as they do on many courses in the country, the course architects just left them where they grew naturally.

As usual, the cream always rises to the top and the golfers who played shots that were suitable to the course as they found it, did well. The ever consistent Dismas Indiza taught the younger professional golfers a lesson in playing the course as he found it.

For me, and what I wish many golf club boards would learn, is how to keep in sync with nature. I spent some time with Daniel Kilonzo, who refers to himself a naturalist, at the Resort. Kilonzo showed me the relationship between the leleshwa bush and the birds; how they use wool from it to line their nests among many other things.

Unfortunately, we have been doing a lot of harm to our ecosystems at golf clubs by planting exotic trees and shrubs that are not beneficial to the cycle of animal life in our areas. They may look good and grow faster than some of the indigenous ones, but we lose the benefit of encouraging wildlife, which is how nature intended it.

To properly unwind during the festive season, I would recommend a round of golf at the Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort, a golf course that is in sync with nature. While there, please ask for Kilonzo and he can tell you a very interesting story about the all so common whistling thorn and the yellow fever tree.

Wang’ombe is the General Manager of Kenya Open Golf Limited