Rossvegas
06-18-2008, 10:23 AM
Hey y'all! In the wake of Tiger's big win this week, I thought I would turn you onto a golf course unlike any other....
The short story is that a buddy of mine was the Middle East Bureau chief for the Toronto Star, and his beat covered both Iraq and Afghanistan. He filed one report about this golf course in Kabul, and I've been intrigued ever since!
(I should declare at this point that I'm the crappiest golfer. Ever.)
Anyway, it turns out that there was this guy in Pakistan who was an unbelievable golfer. He entered their equivalent of the US Open, and won ot hands down. Unfortunately (for him), the guy was a Hindu and there was no way that they would allow a non-Muslim to succeed like that so he was banned from further competition. He emigrated to Afghanistan just before the Russian invasion, and decided to open his own golf course.
The Russians came through and bombed his place to bits. He rebuilt it, and it functioned (barely) until all of the recent nonsense fired up again. More bombing, more landmines. He rebuilt one more time, and now the Kabul Golf Club is open for business!
In my friend's article, he asked the guy about the danger of golfing on the course. (While the war is pretty much away from Kabul, there was still the danger of land mines.) His response had me in stitches:
"Well, we combed it pretty good and we didn't find anything. I then had a shepherd wander the property with his flock for a couple of weeks, and nobody blew up, so it's perfectly safe now!"
The odds are pretty good that you'll never have the chance to golf this course, but you CAN buy their merchandise online, and it is extremely cool. (I'm actually ordering some stuff today for a friend as a going-away present.) I guarantee that you'll never find a better golf conversation piece anywhere.
The course itself is pretty ridiculous. You rent a 1 foot square mat (fake grass with a plastic tee embedded in it) for a dollar, and you drop it down on the ground whenever you make a shot. You hit the ball, pick up your turf (the only turf on the course) and make your way to the next spot. There are no "greens" - in Kabul, they're called "browns" because they are made of sand and oil. :>) You'll want two caddies: one to carry your clubs and another to run ahead and find your ball in the desert brush.
If you get a minute, visit their website and click on "the Experience". It's unreal...
http://www.kabulgolfclub.com/index.asp
The short story is that a buddy of mine was the Middle East Bureau chief for the Toronto Star, and his beat covered both Iraq and Afghanistan. He filed one report about this golf course in Kabul, and I've been intrigued ever since!
(I should declare at this point that I'm the crappiest golfer. Ever.)
Anyway, it turns out that there was this guy in Pakistan who was an unbelievable golfer. He entered their equivalent of the US Open, and won ot hands down. Unfortunately (for him), the guy was a Hindu and there was no way that they would allow a non-Muslim to succeed like that so he was banned from further competition. He emigrated to Afghanistan just before the Russian invasion, and decided to open his own golf course.
The Russians came through and bombed his place to bits. He rebuilt it, and it functioned (barely) until all of the recent nonsense fired up again. More bombing, more landmines. He rebuilt one more time, and now the Kabul Golf Club is open for business!
In my friend's article, he asked the guy about the danger of golfing on the course. (While the war is pretty much away from Kabul, there was still the danger of land mines.) His response had me in stitches:
"Well, we combed it pretty good and we didn't find anything. I then had a shepherd wander the property with his flock for a couple of weeks, and nobody blew up, so it's perfectly safe now!"
The odds are pretty good that you'll never have the chance to golf this course, but you CAN buy their merchandise online, and it is extremely cool. (I'm actually ordering some stuff today for a friend as a going-away present.) I guarantee that you'll never find a better golf conversation piece anywhere.
The course itself is pretty ridiculous. You rent a 1 foot square mat (fake grass with a plastic tee embedded in it) for a dollar, and you drop it down on the ground whenever you make a shot. You hit the ball, pick up your turf (the only turf on the course) and make your way to the next spot. There are no "greens" - in Kabul, they're called "browns" because they are made of sand and oil. :>) You'll want two caddies: one to carry your clubs and another to run ahead and find your ball in the desert brush.
If you get a minute, visit their website and click on "the Experience". It's unreal...
http://www.kabulgolfclub.com/index.asp