Charity Golf Day: Afriyea Golf Academy

I may have kept social media up to date with my 40 by 40 progress but I have been really poor with my blog posts. I have fallen so far behind, that I am not sure whether I will catch up before I reach my birthday milestone in just over six weeks' time. But I will give it a go.

Back in May, I was invited to a charity golf day for the Afriyea Golf Academy. The event was organised by Golf Club Talk UK podcast hosts Leighton Walker and Eddie Bullock. A day to get out onto the course and raise money and awareness for the Ugandan golf charity.

Golf Club Talk UK is a show that provides an entertaining and informative look at Golf Club life in the UK featuring the latest news and information. Each show features interviews with the people who make things happen in the industry but also provides listeners with insights into golf clubs that are at the top of their game.

As your resident person "who makes things happen", I featured on the podcast in August 2022 - listen here.

The charity golf day was to be held at Gaudet Luce Golf and Leisure Complex which is somewhere I had wanted to play for a long time as it was only 20 minutes from home. My playing partners for the day were Leighton, who is also a golf club manager and Nathan Shelley from Medi8 (pictured above).

Gaudet Luce Golf and Leisure Complex, Droitwich

Gaudet Luce has one 18-hole course, the Phoenix, which we were to play but also features a nine-hole course The Hadzor with footgolf and diskgolf options.

The Phoenix Course has two contrasting loops of holes. The front 9 is tight and requires thought and careful club selection, in particular the long 9th with its tight out-of-bounds down the right hand side. In contrast, the back 9 is more open and longer with a network of water features. The 12th hole is generally considered to be one of the finest Par 3s in Worcestershire – fairly long, with green well guarded by water.

One thing is for sure, there was definitely a lot of water!

I am not sure that I am able to critique Gaudet Luce properly due to the amount of rain that fell in advance of the charity golf day but also the amount that fell whilst we were playing. However, considering how much rain had fallen, the majority of the course held up well. In preparation for the conditions I had my golf boots and waterproofs on, which proved very convenient as it was quite squelchy and muddy in parts and one green was temporarily flooded due to a massive downpour.

Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was me, but I did not play very well. Topping most shots, it became a little painful but I fell back in love with the game after a sweetly struck drive on 18, followed by another good shot which gave me some hope that not all my golf ability had left me.

I guess that after wanting to play the course for so long, I had hoped to do it in better conditions and to do it with a bit more finesse. It is definitely a big reason that I need to return with my golfing buddies. Maybe next year when all this rain has hopefully gone away!

Afriyea Golf Academy

The Afriyea Golf Academy is the number one Golf Academy in Uganda, that is bringing the game of golf and its benefits to children in the country. These children are not just benefitting from learning the sport, it is teaching the life skills, educating them on the environment around them and also building social opportunities. To date the academy has introduced over 1000 children from underprivileged families into the game of golf.

You do not need to spend much time in founder Isaiah Mwesige's company to be inspired by his passion for the work that he is doing in Uganda. He is using his own lived life experiences in which golf has played a crucial part in making him the person he is today.

The charity golf day was timed for when Isaiah was over in the UK. Although he was not able to make the golf, he arrived in time for the presentation and to give us more insight into the work that he and the academy are doing.

It was a perfect end to a day where even the torrential rain could not dampen our spirits.

40 by 40 - Round 10 ✅

This was the first charity golf day I had attended. It was on a much smaller scale than some you see, but it was no less significant. The day proved a great way to bring together many different segments of the golf industry, to raise awareness of this fantastic golf charity in Uganda whilst raising important funds to help them continue the reach of their life changing golf programme.

I also got to tick off a local course that I had been meaning to play for a long time!

From a charity golf day to a society golf day. I would be heading down to Surrey to take part in the first meeting of a golf society I joined last year, the Golf Industry Golf Society, on the Red Course at The Berkshire. Two rounds of golf in two days... what could go wrong?!

40 by 40 is also helping to raise awareness of the fundamental work that is carried out by the Golf Foundation to get more children active in golf across the UK. As well as raising funds for this fantastic charity via our JustGiving page.

40 by 40 Headline sponsor

Thanks to Simplify Consulting who are the headline sponsor of 40 by 40. Put simply, they are practitioners in financial consulting. They are experts in Operating Model Design, Project Delivery, Operations & Process Optimisation and Risk Management across Life & Pensions, Wealth Platforms and Asset Management.

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