How KGU started development
Junior golfers are taken through golf basics drills on chipping and putting by pro Felicity Johnson (far left) during a clinic at the par 72 Vipingo Ridge's Baobab course in Kilifi on December 5, 2019 organised as part of the preliminary events of the Magical Kenya Ladies Open.
What you need to know:
- The girls’ championship started in 1972 to compete for the Bob Harries Cup
- Before then and starting in 1931, there was the now defunct Grigg Cup, another “inter-schools” event, organised and run by the Kenya Golfing Society and played at Royal Nairobi
- All schools taking part in the event presented shields to be hang at the bar at Royal Nairobi
Since the mid-1950s, the Kenya Golf Union (KGU) has sought to develop talent from school level. KGU has held a junior championship in Kenya since 1955.
The boys event was first to be inaugurated in that year.
The girls’ championship started in 1972 to compete for the Bob Harries Cup.
An inter-schools event, the Lisle Shaw Memorial Trophy had also begun in the late 1950s.
This trophy was presented in memory of George Lisle Gordon Shaw, the chairman of the KGU in 1953, who was killed by the Mau Mau on November 18, 1953.
GRIGG CUP
Before then and starting in 1931, there was the now defunct Grigg Cup, another “inter-schools” event, organised and run by the Kenya Golfing Society and played at Royal Nairobi.
The Grigg Cup was played by representatives of schools within the British Empire, later the Commonwealth.
The event was open to pairs, juniors or adults, representing a school within that region.
The first tournament was played in 1931 and the winners were Glasgow High School. All schools taking part in the event presented shields to be hang at the bar at Royal Nairobi.
Anyone visiting should note some of these shields hang above the bar in the lounge at Royal Nairobi. The event continued until January 1, 1970 when the last final was played at Muthaiga.
The matches had begun on the last weekend of 1969. The winners were Milton School, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) represented by Tom Gilbert and Ernie Proctor.
Government African School-Kibera represented by Burhan Marjan and Abdi Juma were the defending champions and lost the title in the finals. In the last Grigg Cup apart from Government African School — Kibera the only other African team was that of Alliance High School represented by Philip Ndegwa and Richard Kemoli.
The book "Kenya Through the Lens of Golf" is available at the KGU offices at Muthaiga, book stores in Nairobi at Village Market, Yaya Bookshop, Westgate and the Karen Country Club Pro-Shop at a cost of Sh4500.
