Welcome to This Girl’s Golf Diary blog. Here I will talk about good golf, bad golf, amateur golf, professional golf, women’s and men’s golf and mostly South African golf. I am here really just to give a different perspective on the game. I will focus on golf travel, some equipment from an amateurs point of view and golf experiences from all the courses I get to visit and play. I hope to chat to some professional golfers and get some insight on their lifestyle outside of their day job.

South Africa has some of the worlds best golf courses and we are so lucky to have access to them. Unfortunately most people still feel that golf is an exclusive sport. Understandably so. Golf has been for a very very long time and elite sport and still percieved to be that to some extent. Although things are changing and the amount of diversity that is happening in our golf clubs is something to celebrate and document. Golf still can not shake that seemingly bad reputation of being a sport for the few select and majority white.

Personally, I am happy to be a part of that diversity, I get super excited when I see the number of Black folf on the golf course, especiallywomen and children. Even if they are not playing with me on that day, there is still that “hey gurlll” thing that happens when we cross paths. And we will talk more about that in the future. The future looks bright too on the Black amateurs circle. So my aim is to create as much awareness as I possibly can on the changing dynamics in our golf circles, accessibility and the influence of social media on golf as a whole.

I get asked all the time, “why golf”? Of course I always have a few answers ready but my main answer is..”golf is a way of life.” It teaches one, how to manage your time, honesty, manners, an enormous amount of patience and respect for your fellow golfers. Which translates into your daily life. It’s a great way to connect with people.

I remember when I started playing golf. I had moved to Harare, Zimbabwe with my family and we were going to be there for four years. I was a new stay at home mum and knew no one. I soon realised Harare had some beautiful courses and I always wanted to play golf but never had the time. Well, turned out I had the time and needed to make new friends who were not my husband or his work colleagues. I bought a beginners box set from Dunlop clubs from a Sportsmans Warehouse. Not even a Proshop. 😅 I didn’t even know Dunlop made golf clubs, I thought they just made tennis balls.

I joined Borrowdale Brooke Golf Club and showed up on the ladies Thursday game like it was the first day of school. I found such a welcoming bunch of ladies and soon enough the golf course became home to me. Of course I had to have a good bunch of lessons on the basics before venturing out there. Anything less would have been suicidal. I was lucky enough to get lessons from the wonderful Tim Price, who happened to be the club pro at the time. I soon played in the ladies silver division and club champs. The rest is history. When you’ve spent almost half your life playing sports like I have. At some point you can’t take part in most if not all the sports you used to take part in. With all the injuries one accumulates during those years, your body starts to sing a different tune and is no longer in tune with your mind. At some point it requires you to retire from your action sports. Golf has allowed me to remain competitive and active, even if its on a social level. I am hoping to inspire more women to play, especially more black women to play.

This will be my fun but sometimes serious golf blog. I plan to collect as much flags as possible.

Catch you on the fairways.

Felicity Shiba