Every week I make a date with ‘Bibi Mdogo’, I perform poorly

Lately, my relationship with the game golf has taken a turn for the worse. I feel like a bashful teenager once again, trying to woo a girl who no longer fancies me.

I am a sucker for punishment because every week I keep trying to get my swing back. Every week I make a date with “Bibi Mdogo” (the title given to golf by my wife), and despite all my attempts at a textbook swing, I cannot make a decent score. So this past Saturday, after another disastrous round, I decided to stay away from golf for a month.

Then I received an invitation to Vipingo Ridge and I could think of nothing else but playing the course. The Baobab Course at Vipingo Ridge is the most beautiful golf course I have ever laid my eyes on.

The layout of the course is fantastic with undulations that give the fairways a look like they were dancing to a chakacha tune. Listening to the brooks that run along some of the fairways just puts the mind at peace.

I have a feeling that Mr Mike Round-Turner, the General Manager at Vipingo Ridge, had the intention of torturing my poor soul when he arranged for me to be taken round the golf course. I now can’t get the course out of my mind. I couldn’t play because I was on a short visit to meet with Mr Guy Moran from The PGA.

It is no wonder that the people at The PGA chose the Baobab Course Vipingo Ridge to be the first to get PGA accreditation in Africa.

With that, Vipingo Ridge now has the first PGA Golf Academy in East and Central Africa. That to me is the best thing that could have happened to golf in our country at this point in time. The quality of the game played by our golf professionals seems to have stagnated.

They, just like me, seem to have plateaued in their quality of their game. Every year we host the Kenya Open, golfers from other countries come and take the top positions and we only have three or four of our golfers making cut. The main problem, in my opinion, is no one is able to provide guidance to our pros.

The PGA Golf Academy, which offers courses in conjunction with University of Birmingham, will help train golfers who would like to be professionals in the golf industry.

These are your teaching pros, golf administrators, green-keeping staff and all other staff required to run a golf course effectively.

The question of who will train our trainers is now taken care of. When a talented golfer cannot match up to the best in the world, he can now take the route of other world-renowned trainers and train other golfers.

The PGA Golf Academy at Vipingo Ridge will not only train them in swing analysis, they will be taught how run a golf business and golf psychology. I hope that if I finally get a chance to play the PGA accredited course, I can get some help to get my swing back.

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I have been getting messages for the past two weeks asking if it is in order for an amateur golfer to win a cash prize Sh1 million. The first time I heard about it, I had to ask many questions before giving an answer. Now I have developed a “boiler-plate” answer to the question without finding out the context.

In their 50th anniversary golf event, Britam had offered a prize of Sh1 million worth of investment for a hole-in-one on the 13th hole. Mr Kanyi Gachoka went ahead to make a hole-in-one on the hole and was awarded the prize.

The Rules of Amateur Status prohibit an amateur golfer from playing for prize money or its equivalent in any competition. So how did Mr Gachoka win the prize and still maintain his amateur status?

There is an exception in the Rule: “An amateur golfer may accept a prize in excess of the limit (which is pegged at 500 Sterling Pounds), including a cash prize, for a hole-in-one made while playing a round of golf”.

This condition is only fulfilled if the hole-in-one is made during a round golf. It does not apply if the hole-in-one is made in one of those competitions done on a simulator or a multiple entry competition on a golf range or any other place. I don’t know how many other hole-in-ones Mr Gachoka has made before, but I am sure that this must have been the most gratifying. And yes, he will keep his amateur status.

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The author is a KGU Executive