About Us

The Karen Country Club is a family oriented club, founded in 1937 and prides itself in being one of the oldest golf clubs in Kenya. A large part of the 18-hole course was built on the former coffee estate developed by the Danish pioneer Karen Blixen, whose life and times were depicted in the lyrical film `Out of Africa`. Indeed, the shade trees from her coffee plantation still dominate parts of the golf course, eighty years after they were planted.

The course is superbly maintained with greens built to the Professional Golf Association (PGA) standards. The Club has been host to the prestigious Barclays Kenya Open for the past three consecutive years. Despite Nairobi`s temperate climate, you can play golf 365 days in a year in comfort, an intangible asset that few golf courses in the world can claim. The setting of our golf course is serene; with the Ngong hills as a backdrop, a rich variety of trees, indigenous forest, flowering shrubs and fauna. The wetlands are a distinct environmental feature of our golf course and also home to thousands of birds and dik diks.

Club Membership

We are a family oriented Club with over 4000 members, 800 being golf members. The Membership of the Club is a great reflection of the nationalities in Kenya. The club has a range of amenities to cater to children, young adults, adults and seniors;

18 hole championship golf course, driving range and practice facilities

Casual & Formal dining outlets

Meeting & conference rooms

Unique event grounds – Wetlands, The Mulwa Dam

Wellness spa

Swimming pool

State of the art fitness center

Bowling green

Squash courts

Tennis courts 

Employment

Karen Country Club acknowledges that to enhance the quality of services to its members, it has to invest in its staff. We are proud to have a team of motivated work force committed to providing service excellence in the course of duty. Our Team goes an extra mile to ensure that both members and guests are provided with an unsurpassed level of service at all times.
The Club has sound employment policies that govern employees in their work environment, ensuring we remain competitive in the market. We have a staff base of 170 employees spread out in all areas of the club:

Golf and Estate

Gymkhana

Operations 

Finance

Funding

The club is funded from sponsorship, membership entrance fee and annual subscription fees. The sponsorship and subscription money is used in running on the club, whilst the entrance fees are used to finance new projects. Currently, the interior of the clubhouse is undergoing a major refurbishment programme, the caddie quarters are also being upgraded, and a new laundry is being built. On the golf course extra water hazards are being planned, and a major tree planting exercise is currently being undertaken, so that future generations of golfers can continue to enjoy the beauty of the environment.

KAREN COUNTRY CLUB – A POTTED HISTORY
The idea for a club at Karen was conceived in 1933. Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke, on whose former coffee plantation it would eventually be situated, had realized, some two years or so before this date that it was becoming impossible to carry on with her Ngong coffee farm. A young banker, Jean Remi Martin (no connection whatsoever to the brandy), came out from England to arrange for the
acquisition of her property and its subsequent development into a residential suburb. The contract was signed on 1 April 1931. Karen Estates Ltd was formed later that year with the young Mr. Martin as Managing Director.
Eventually in 1933, after all sorts of delays owing to legal wrangles, the development programme of Karen could be seriously addressed with this whole project being the very raison d’etre of Karen Country Club. At that time the area which was deemed to be part of Ngong, was completely new and unknown
to most. It was also regarded as being somewhat remote and in the rainy season it was essential for all vehicles to carry chains. To attract potential buyers to Karen`s development the provision of a golf course and club was
considered essential - but not merely a golf course per se. The golf course would have to offer something special, not only to draw both new golfers and those with allegiances already established with other Nairobi clubs, but also to make the sometimes hazardous journey out there seem worthwhile. And it did. After due deliberation one feature absolutely insisted upon was the provision of proper greens as against "browns" - a notion virtually unique among Nairobi golf clubs at the time and a tough challenge for a green keeper in the face of an extremely erratic water supply. This farsighted policy contributed greatly to the early recognition of Karen Club as one of the top clubs in Kenya. The layout of the first nine holes was completed towards the end of 1933. The clearing of the coffee
trees and many of the shade grevilleas had been started in May that year. The few grevilleas, nuisances to say the least (many would use more emphatic terminology), that remain to this day are insufficient in number to suggest anything like the straight lines in which they had been originally planted to serve
their initial purpose. Finding a golf course architect proved hugely difficult but in the end the layout was entrusted to Remi Martin. He had shown considerable skill in surveying and, although not a great golfer, had at least an eye for country. The fairways for that first nine were planted the following year in the long rains of 1934. Initially, the intention had been to build only a nine-hole course, but there was so much excitement about the project, set in such beautiful surroundings and with almost unlimited land available, that plans were immediately made to extend the course to 18 holes. The second nine was duly laid out in 1934 and the fairways planted in the 1935 rains