Sport: Golf in Africa

It's a mixture of ancient and modern, with excellent beaches and sea breezes to cool you down on hot days. While some of the terrain is particularly flat, many of the courses are built on undulating land. Tunisia is best for golf from April to June, and from September to October - times of the year when you'll find reduced green fees and empty courses. March is very popular and the greens are busy.

Just as Cabell Robinson had a big influence on Moroccan course design, another American, Ronald Fream, has put his stamp on Tunisia. He designed El Kantaoui and Monastir in the 1980s, before creating five courses among the olive and citrus groves in Hammamet during the 1990s.

With many hotels and a marina, El Kantaoui is a popular resort with British holidaymakers. It has two courses, the Panorama and Sea. Monastir, further south along the coast, has two excellent Fream designs, Flamingo GC and Palm Links.

In the far south, at historic Djerba, an island connected to the mainland by an ancient causeway, there's now an 18-hole links-type course. However, the best of Fream's designs in Tunisia is considered to be Tabarka, one of the country's newest resorts, in an old Phoenician port.

It's only a few miles from the Algerian border, west of Tunis. Golf de Tabarka has five stunning holes set on the cliffs overlooking the sea. The area bears a close resemblance to the Algarve. Golf in Tunisia is similarly priced to Morocco, with green fees generally set at about 40 dinar (£20) in the high season and 30 dinar (£15) in the low season. Caddies are again inexpensive.

Egypt

Egypt is one of the world's newest golf destinations. Although the game was first played here by the British at the end of the 19th century, only in the last four years have modern courses been built to cater for tourists, and they are starting to mushroom.

They have lush, American-type designs and are surrounded by desert, with spectacular views of the Pyramids or the Red Sea. In many respects the courses are similar to those in Dubai, where golf first took a foothold in the 1980s. The new ones generally cater for members, tourist groups and hotel guests, so reservations are essential.

Today Egypt has roughly a dozen courses, most of which are sensational layouts attached to five-star resorts, with every facility imaginable. The clubhouses are palatial, with swimming pools, health spas, restaurants, fitness centres and fully-stocked pro shops. Nearly all have golf academies attached, where instruction and practice facilities are available. Residential villas are also a key component of most resorts.

Katameya Heights Golf and Tennis Resort, ranked among the five best courses in the country, was the first championship layout built in Egypt, and opened in 1997. Like most of the new golf resorts, it's close to Cairo, just 20 minutes from the airport in the upmarket areas of Heliopolis and Maadi.

It has 27 holes. Another outstanding course close to Cairo is Dreamland Golf and Tennis Resort, at the astonishing Dreamland City development, which claims to have the world's largest clubhouse and where golfers have views of the Great Pyramids of Giza. Dreamland's layout was designed by the American Karl Litten, the man commissioned by Dubai's rulers to build the first course there.

Two other superb new courses in Cairo are Mirage City, belonging to the Marriott hotel, and Pyramids Golf and Country Club, part of a giant project along the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, which totals 12 million square metres. It will have 99 holes by 2002, but only 27 are currently open.

Among the top designers who have ventured into Egypt is Gary Player. His course, Cascades Golf Club at Soma Bay, is on the Red Sea, about 25 miles south of Hurghada. It stands on an old military base attacked on several occasions by the Israelis, and land mines had to be removed before construction could begin.

The lush green fairways contrast dramatically with the starkness of the desert and the deep blue of the sea. (This area also provides some of the world's best scuba diving.) One of the most famous hotels in Egypt, Mena House Oberoi, with a close view of the Great Pyramids, now also has an 18-hole course as part of its sporting facilities.

The country's oldest course dates back to 1890 and is part of the Gezira Club in Cairo. Once reserved for British nationals, it is now open for public play, although its condition can be a bit rough. Another from that era is the Alexandria Sporting Club in this Mediterranean city.

Kenya

While golf is a fairly recent pursuit in North Africa, it has long been established in East Africa, where Kenya is the leading nation in terms of golf tourism. It has nearly 40 lushly-grassed courses and is one of Africa's best-kept golfing secrets. Away from the resorts, green fees in Kenya are relatively cheap.

Nairobi itself has six courses, including Royal Nairobi (founded in 1906), and another eight can be found nearby. Nairobi is at a high altitude of 2000 metres, and the ball travels a good deal further than at the coast. The Windsor Golf and Country Club is considered Kenya's best course, with a magnificent new layout opened in 1992 in a beautiful setting of forests and lakes.

An outstanding hotel completes the picture of luxury. Hundreds of Sykes monkeys frolic around the course, giving Windsor a real African flavour. Close behind is Muthaiga, a Nairobi club with a rich history that annually hosts the Kenyan Open on the European Challenge Tour in March. Its 18-hole layout is being upgraded by South African designer Peter Matkovich.

Anyone who has either read Out of Africa or seen the movie should play golf at Karen Country Club, built on what was Baroness Karen Blixen's coffee estate and adjoining her old home, in the colonial suburb of Karen outside Nairobi. It's a fine test of golf, although players today don't have to deal with the hazards of yesteryear.

A photograph in the clubhouse shows a sign saying 'Beware of lions in the area of the 15th, 16th and 17th holes.' Most of the courses in Kenya are basic affairs, many just nine holes, but two other 18-hole layouts well worth playing are Sigona GC and Limuru CC, both only 30-40 minutes' drive outside Nairobi.

In tea-growing country, they offer breathtaking views of the Great Rift Valley. Sigona was originally laid out around a watering hole for elephants, and boasts a fine variety of indigenous trees. On the coast, Mombasa has three courses, but only Nyali Golf and Country Club has 18 holes. Further south, also on the coast, is Kenya's newest course, Leisure GC, where it is planned to introduce crocodiles into the large water hazard bordering the par-5 18th hole. That should liven up a round.

From the Clubhouse - Nick Price

Growing up in Zimbabwe, I found myself in an environment very conducive to golf. The political climate made it hard to travel too widely, but the climate outdoors meant we could play literally 365 days of the year, bar freak conditions, such as a typhoon from Mozambique upsetting the weather for a few days.

We were very spoilt: Southern Africa has some of the best weather in the world, and it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between winter and summer. There is never extreme cold or strong winds, unlike in Europe.

The championship courses built in Africa in the last fifteen years are as good as those built anywhere, but there are also some great older courses like Durban Country Club, one of my favourites and among my top five in the world.

The Gary Player course at Sun City, where we play the Million Dollar Challenge, has the greatest notoriety and is also a favourite; it's always in great condition. And Johannesburg has some wonderful venues like Glendower and the Royal Johannesburg.

Besides the leading courses in Harare - such as Royal Harare, Chapman and Sun River - Zimbabwe has some top ones in its farming districts. The country is studded with little gems supported by local communities, some in great shape, some not so great. Mvurwi, for example, has nine holes in a wonderful setting among granite kopjes and is always in excellent condition.

In the lowveld, courses like Triangle and Hippo Valley are also wonderful. Clubs revolve around their members: Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday are members' days, but they'll open for play on other days, even if with a skeleton staff or without restaurant facilities. They will be happy for you to play, and if you phone in advance they may well open everything for you, even though you might find yourself the only one on the course.

Zimbabweans are very welcoming and golf is more a social activity than anything. That's not to say there aren't some really good challenges for the serious golfer, but it's unheard of to play a round with three guys and disappear: part of the deal is a few beers afterwards.

That's what's so wonderful - the clubs are real clubs. There are also good deals available at residential courses like Borrowdale Brook (where I have a house). Absentee members' packages make the golf very cheap.

Technically, playing in Africa isn't really different from playing elsewhere. Many courses were built between the 1920s and '40s, but since the mid-to late-'70s, with the advent of irrigation, most have had Kikuyu grass. Initially, not many people liked it - it's springy and tends to thatch - but now the green keepers have learnt its nuances and can control it.

Its greatest advantage is that the courses are no longer dormant during the winter dry season: golf in Africa is now truly year-round. Kikuyu grass is also coarse, so the ball sits up nicely. I miss playing in Africa very much. I only get to do so two to three times a year, which is quite sad.