For someone who only got consistent in golf last year, Marion Githinji has accomplished quite a feat by emerging the overall winner of the recently concluded Safaricom Golf Tour. More so because the determining course was Vipingo Golf Course which was new to her, was quite windy and therefore presented new challenges in game management.
As part of celebrating her win, Marion is elated to have elevated her home club, Nanyuki Golf Club. In a pleasant coincidence, this is where the golf tour kicked off, leaving in its wake increased interest and activities in the club. For Marion to bring the trophy home where it all begun was the icing on the cake. The victory means a lot to her and her club especially now that more ladies are embracing golf. She’s glad to be of further motivation to those just starting out and existing players who wish to scale their game up.
Bringing the trophy home comes with a lot of excitement for the payoff to her personal efforts, and pressure to make her game better, lower her handicap and maintain the winning streak. She attributes her win to consistent practice, a very good caddie at Vipingo and good teammates too.
The impact of the Golf Tour as a whole has been big at the club. After Safaricom came and left, the club saw a spike in junior registrations and a general revamp in enthusiasm in the game. Kids are excited to indulge more, and parents are happy to register them and bring them to the club.
On their part, the club management have since taken up the role of building junior golf with initiatives like sponsoring further clinics and tournaments. The club also started periodically closing off the course for juniors at dedicated times. Other than hugely motivating the kids, this also gives them a perfect opportunity to learn and play uninterrupted and it has sunk well with the kids and adult members alike. The first time the course was solely dedicated to juniors was during the Safaricom Golf Tour Nanyuki leg and this is something that the club intends to carry on. Hopefully other clubs can follow suite. Source.
Marion fell in love with golf because it is mentally challenging, and there is a new learning experience every day. She likes the fact that she gets to meet new people and make friends, and that the game teaches her to accept wins and losses gracefully. Golf is a game where as much as you can play as part of a team, you have to make decisions on your own. She finds this unique and motivating. She’s also passing these life lessons that she’s learning to her young daughter who is a junior golfer, quite ardent and already dreaming of winning a junior tournament soon.
She is thankful to Safaricom for the well-organized tour, and she particularly loves the fact that so much was put into junior golf. Her wish for the future of the game is to have it made more accessible in public courses and for more corporates to come in and support. Media too will help by giving more airtime to the game.