Things don’t always work ‘kijeshi’

Back in the day, before sliced bread, my friends and I had a term for improvisation.

The term was kijeshi, which loosely translates to “like in the military.”

If, for example, we were hungry before meal times (come to think of it, we always seemed to be hungry) and we were able to raise two shillings to buy a loaf of bread, we would not go to any of our houses to get a slicing knife.

I remember Woody, my childhood friend, giving instructions as to how to use our hands to share the bread “kijeshi.”

Last weekend, I was at the Thika Army Barracks for a round of golf.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the army don’t actually do things kijeshi.

They have a nine-hole golf course, which even though is still in the rough, shows a lot of promise.

One of the army architects designed the course and it is evident that they have put a lot of effort to prepare the greens and the water hazards.

The roughs are, however, untouched and it only takes one bad kick of the ball in the rough to lose a ball.

Between my three-ball and I, we must have lost well over a dozen balls.

With the army’s penchant for doing things the right way, I found it difficult to refer to Major Ng’ang’a as “Captain”.

Isn’t it improper to refer to an army officer by a lower rank?

Thankfully, Major Ng’ang’a is amiable and didn’t take offence at being referred to as Captain.

Talking of golf captains, this week we had a Captain’s Symposium at the Royal Nairobi Golf Club.

Captains from across the country turned up to discuss many topical issues on running the affairs of the game of golf.

Out of the forty-odd clubs we have in Kenya, only a handful were not represented.

From the feedback that I received from those that attended, the session was very useful.

I, however, left with this nagging feeling that we did not do justice on the topic on the local rules.

I was left wondering if the captains now know that they cannot make a local rule outside of the ones prescribed in the Rules of Golf.

The most important thing is the wording of these local rules.

If, for example, the committee feels that the condition of the course warrants preferred lies, then they should go the extra mile and provide the conditions where one may move their ball and how far from where the ball lay originally.

The local rule should be properly worded as provided for in the Rules of Golf.

Writing “preferred lies on the fairways” is just plain lazy.

There is also room for improvement on the protection of young trees.

Many golf courses plant new trees every so often.

The good people at Kenya Forestry Services are always at hand to help in identifying the best trees for any particular area. The young trees need protection from golfers who miss the fairways.

The worst possible way to employ this particular local rule is to leave it to the golfer’s judgement as to which trees need protection.

Some will have no qualms declaring sturdy five-year-old mugumo tree a seedling.

The best way is to mark all the young trees with either a stake or a tag.

Would it help if we had one set of recommended local rules for all Kenyan clubs?

PROPER INSTRUCTIONS

Seeing as most golfers play in many different clubs, it may help to standardise the local rules.

If a golfer plays with a watch that helps him get the distance to the green in Limuru, he may find it illegal to do so in Kiambu if the local rule on distance measuring devices is not in force at the latter club.

Some clubs have footpaths and roads as an integral part of the course while others give relief. It is no wonder that many golfers end up doing the wrong thing in different clubs.

I’m certain that many golfers would do the right thing if they got the proper instructions.

Golf captains should not do things kijeshi.

Come to think of it, the army doesn’t either.

[email protected]

The author is a KGU Executive