WINDSOR GOLF HOTEL & COUNTRY CLUB (****)
Safely back to base in The Norfolk, there was time to take in perhaps the #3 ranked course in Nairobi, the Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club. It looks like the oldest club in the area but is, in fact, one of the newest, opening in 1992. Designed to look like an old English manor house, the hotel/clubhouse and surrounding cottages wouldn’t look amiss in an episode of Downton Abbey. The facilities themselves are decidedly more modern, with a well-stocked pro-shop and a well-maintained course. The club even has its own free app where you can book tee times, use the GPS, and has a scorecard and course guide. I wish more courses did this!
As to be expected, this is more of a resort course than a championship track, but nothing wrong with that. With a central location, knowledgeable caddies and great facilities, this was the perfect relaxing end to a great tour. Relaxing, but thanks to strategic challenges and severe elevation change, by no means easy.
Take your time on your first shot of the day, as the water in front of the green isn’t always visible from the tee but is eminently reachable. The second is a beauty, requiring an accurate tee shot over the lake to the corner of a very sharp dogleg right. Find the sweet spot on the fairway, and you’ll be treated to spectacular views and a huge 120-foot drop to the green 200 yards away. It’s a fantastic par four.
The signature par three 13th is challenging from the tips, at over 190yds into the prevailing wind. There is OB right, and the drop off to the left of the green is truly precipitous. This softens you up for the 432yd 14th, one of most memorable holes of the trip. Continuing the steep drop towards a river on the right, the tee shot needs to be long and accurate to set up a stomach-churning approach through a gap in the trees to a green down by the river. If short, or too far left, this hole becomes a three-shotter, but even then, the approach is a knee-knocking flip with a lob wedge straight downhill to a small green with water beyond. It may lose some of its fear factor with familiarity, but a show-stopper nevertheless.
The 18th looks fearsome with an approach to an island green in front of the clubhouse, but the green complex is enormous, so aim for the middle of the green and stroll on admiring the view of the clubhouse reflected in the pond. Retire to a table on the terrace overlooking the 1st and 18th and over a Tusker reflect that there is no disgrace in being third behind Nairobi’s two pre-eminent gems.
