PROFILE
are always back home by 3.30pm
and that’s time to go to the club for
practice,” says Mrs Wahome.
Whereas this routine propelled
the boys to certain heights, the
Wahome’s realized that they had to
invest more to get the boys to play
at the highest level. The boys have
all had short stints at the Gary Player
Golf School of Excellence in South
Africa. “I thank God that my children
have natural talent for golf. However
lack of certified coaches in Kenya is
such a disservice to the sport. This is
an area we really have to prioritize as
a nation if we are serious about this
game. It’s a high time we established
a national school of golf akin to the
Gary Player project,” Mrs Wahome
opines.
Granted the success that her
children have enjoyed on the course,
Mrs Wahome has no regrets having
tethered the boys to the sport; “It
has been the best way to manage
their teenage years. They have
literally been brought up in a club
environment and therefore learnt the
appropriate mannerisms espoused
by the golf culture. Golf is the best
sport to instill values of integrity and
Mathew Wahome
Team Mombasa players at Tannahill
etiquette in children especially during
their formative years.”
For her passion for the sport,
Mrs Wahome is a dedicated golf
ambassador at the coast having
held several positions at the club
and administrative levels. Today she
serves as the Head of Junior Golf
for Coast region. In this role, she is
tasked with identifying and nurturing
junior golfers, a responsibility that
she has taken with open arms.
Mrs Wahome’s love for the sport
has seen her focus largely on
developing junior talent. Her talent
Alice Wahome
pipeline boasts of the likes of
Daniel Nduva, Adel Balala, Taher
Mohammed, Agil Ishaq and Mathew
Wahome, boys who have gone on
to represent Kenya in international
tournaments. Basking in this glory,
Mrs Wahome has now taken up a
new cohort which she is silently
grooming. The raw talent under
her stable comprises 14 year olds-
Nathan Ngweno, Alyssa Jamal, Rumil
Jayasinge, Zayan Din and Andrew
Wahome.
Her pet project though, remains
spreading the sport to the less
privileged as a way of expanding
the talent pool. To say she has
embarked on this mission with gusto
is an understatement! In 2018, Mrs
Wahome launched a talent search
programme around Maweni and
Kongowea. To kick off the project,
she enlisted the services of select
Caddies to accompany her to the
local primary schools to entice the
boys and girls to take up golf.
“We started off by assembling
more than 250 children on football
grounds. The Caddies would then
take them through the motions of
chipping, putting and basic swing
techniques. From this pool we
selected the best 18 whom we gave
an opportunity to start practicing