The Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort. PHOTO | COURTESY
Following my article last week centred on the naming of the Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort as Kenya’s and Africa’s best Golf Resort, many readers were keen to understand how a golf course is judged.
For the avoidance of doubt, I did not name the Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort as Africa’s best golf resort, that was the work of the 3rd Annual World Golf Awards in Algarve, Portugal; and may I point out that these awards have grown to be respected in the industry.
To answer these questions, I looked to Golf Digest who produce an annual ranking of the world’s Top 100 golf courses. Golf Digest use seven distinct criteria to rank golf courses; from shot values, to resistance to scoring, design variety, memorability, aesthetics, Conditioning and Ambience.
And while it is difficult to be objective when discussing aesthetics or ambience, golf courses that rank at the top are uniquely eye-catching or well conditioned.
If we put the Great Rift through these seven criteria, how would it fair? On Shot Value, the 18-hole layout presents a great variety of holes that offer risk and reward shots.
For example, the opening hole, a short par-4, entices those long off the tee to give it a go, but with OB to the left and rocky terrain to the right, an easy birdie can turn into a quick double bogey.
The third ranking criteria, Design Variety, investigates how varied the holes are; from length to hazard placement, green shapes and contours.
The holes at Great Rift come in all manner of shapes and sizes, and the designer used the natural lay of the land to slope fairways left and right.
The doglegs, many of them blinded by brush and mounds of rock, give the golf course unique character.
Complex judgment
And is the course Memorable? This criterion is about design elements, comparing how each hole stands out individually yet fits as part of the overall 18 holes.
The elements that make up the Great Rift course make it truly memorable; from the water features on several holes, the majestic acacia trees throughout the course and even the wildlife that roams free on the fairways.
The fifth criterion is Aesthetics – the scenic value of the golf course. The course at Great Rift is set on the slopes of the Eburru Ridges, overlooking Lake Naivasha. And while the lake is not visible from all the holes, its elevated position on the ridge gives it wide sweeping views of the Rift Valley and the Aberdares Ridges far beyond.
Golf course ranking also considers the overall Conditioning of the fairways and greens. The fairways at Great Rift are lush all-year and are generously wide; the greens were renovated a few years ago and offer great putting surfaces.
The final criterion is Ambience; and in Kenya, the Great Rift, Kitale, Sigona, Vipingo Ridge offer perhaps the best golfing atmosphere ever.
In selecting the Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort as Kenya’s and Africa’s Best Golf Resort, the judges considered much more than the golf course; the lodge with all its dining and accommodation facilities was also judged and ranked, complicating the judging system even further, but also giving the process credibility.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
