Meet Faith Chemutai. One of the best female golfers in the country and an entrepreneur with a thriving golf attire business. I’ve met Faith severally in the course of the Safaricom Golf Tour, but it is in Kericho that I got to sit down with her and hear her story. She was there to play, to train the kids who had come for the clinic that is part of each leg, and to sell golf attire and merchandise.
Faith stumbled upon golf by chance and rather simply. 5 years ago during a downtime in her then business, she went to a golf course to distract herself and she saw some ladies playing in a tournament. She got curious, picked up a club and her journey began at Kitale Club. What ended up being her home club to date is Nandi Bears though.
She came to realize that she was a natural at the game and combined with dedicated practice, her swing improved very fast. She now has a handicap of 2 and has won more medals than she can count in different tournaments. For Safaricom Golf Tour though, she played and won at Nyanza Golf Club, Eldoret Golf Club and she is sure she will take Kitale this weekend.
Other than the tour wins, her other most recent victory was a win in longest drive in Nandi in a tournament organized by ICEA Lion. She was not well when she took part in this, but she had some tricks up her sleeve, like switching and adjusting her clubs so that she did not struggle. That is the kind of resilience with which Faith takes her golf. Her secret to multiple wins in longest leg? Slow back swing, accurate down swing and keen follow through.
Faith is elated to see so many juniors develop interest in golf and is particularly grateful to Safaricom for this tour which is sparking more interest in kids and adults alike in each leg. She likes that the game is developing a future through junior golfers and that corporates are coming out to be part of this.
When she is not playing golf, Faith is working on her very niche business of bringing golf attire closer to the people. Her interest in attire developed out of necessity for her own outfits, and to fill a gap among other players as well. Golf skirts, tees, shoes and other accessories are not easy to come by and Faith could see many new players struggling with this. She teamed up with her brother who helps in sourcing merchandise here in Nairobi, and she sells them in different courses.
With the Safaricom Golf Tour, she has seen a sharp spike in sales since she now has access to visiting clients from different parts of the country. Being part of the golf tour has also eased access to clubs where she sells her wares. She has also gotten many contacts for future clients, and she is once again grateful to Safaricom for what the tours have meant for her business.
Faith intends to continue scaling her game up especially with the momentum and new enthusiasm that the tour has injected, and to grow her business to a point where she has her own pro shop.
The next leg of the Safaricom Golf Tour will be in Kitale this weekend and over 170 golfers drawn from neighboring clubs like Nandi Bears, Kakamega, Kisumu, Eldoret and Kericho are expected to participate. This leg will also feature a caddies tournament on Monday.