GOLF as you've never seen before

Yes - come one come all to the exotic golf vacation resort in Niger, known as Rio Bravo. Bravo is a good name for it as you need some bravery to golf here. Niger is of course mostly desert but that is no reason to not play golf, at least not for the carzy Frenchman who built the course.

Rio Bravo is the one and only golf course in the country, it is an 18 hole par 70 golf course and it is located about 40 minutes drive from Niamey. Rio Bravo has special extra rules for obvious reasons and you will soon find out. The regular golf words/terms are still used despite not being quite the same, for instance the putting “greens” are called greens despite that the only speck of green on them is the painted sign adjacent to them, the greens themselves have no grass!

10 reasons why Golf is better in Niger

(in reverse order)

10) No problem with sprinklers in the way as there is no need for them since there is no grass.

9) Easy to find your ball on the fairway! On the flat brown rocky surface of the fairways, you can see your orange golf ball from more than 100 meters away.

8) You get assigned not one but two personal professional caddies who know the course, and their caddie fees are only $2 each for the whole game (or more if you want). . Your 2^nd caddie goes ahead of you to help spot your ball and to sweep a path for your ball on the putting greens (kind of like curling).

7) Unlikely to be rained out! Niger has not a drop of rain for 9 months of the year and it is usually sunny.

6) No lost balls in water traps (or unlikely). Each water trap (they only contain water during the rainy season) is equipped with some African kids to help out. For 20 cents, they will wade and swim into the water trap in order to find your ball and give it back to you.

5) Sand traps are no stress! (a) Being in a sand “trap” is no worse than the fairway which is mostly sand as well (b) you can whack your ball out of it onto the “green” with your putter since it is hard packed rocky sand;

4) Only your first two putts are counted! Because of the bumpy dirt surface of the “greens” (the greens don’t have a speck of green) you are allowed to count only 2 putts even if you took 20.

3) Your ball always has a perfect lay in the fairway as you are required to replace your ball on top of the portable artificial turf that you carry with you (see photo) for each shot. Always an excellent surface to play off.

2) The “rough” is no rougher than the fairway, it’s the same hard packed sand with almost no bush nor grass. Another perfect surface to play off!

1) The next time you play golf in Canada and are tempted to complain about the conditions of the grass, remember Golf club Rio Bravo in Niger, and you will be happy to have grass!

Looking for a new place to play golf? Now you know where to go, Niger is waiting for you!