Friday, 10 October 2025

Cde Basopo 2025 Golf Season

  

What a great golfing season this has been, lots of hours, caressing and romancing with the game over the entire summer season , parts of spring and now fall.


This year, we deliberately explored new courses and environments opening the season with some beautiful courses in South Africa, ERPM Boksburg was welcoming and warm.


We played over 67 rounds at my home-course  Oppegard Golf Club, mostly with my vivacious and charismatic friend David John Smith and his good family.


Some decent courses in Budapest Hungary , St Lorinc and Highland Golf Clubs, but most notably, Botaniq  Marient Golf Klub was spectacular, the esthetics and challenging obstacles, a championship course worthy trying,way bellow par, 5 star.


Hills and The Valley in Göteborg Sweden were amazing courses to cajole, towering pines, rolling hills and stipulating topography resides in its definition .Hills, a world renowned 18 hole course known to have hosted the European Tour events, Nordia Masters and Scandinavian Invitation in 2018 and 2019 is a worthy interaction.


Back in Norway, Nesa Golf Club, Haga Golf Club were enjoyable, Nesa remains the most open/clear course played thus far.


Droback  Golf course is beautiful with high traffic ,but the worst Restaurent attendant oozing with racist undertonnes, its at this course where I was directed to get drinking water from the toilet by a man whom I ordered coffee from, begrudgingly,he said, ..”you obviously want black coffee…”, the irony, it was true. The incident gave me the same vibes that I experienced in South Africa, where my bewitchingly beautiful girlfriend and I were barricaded from accessing The Club at Steyn City Golf in Sandton.


This post is not about my experiences with inclusion and exclusion on and off the course, that constitutes a dedicated book.


Miklagard Golf Course, another 18 hole international championship course with a myriad sand bunkers, challenging yet stunning slopes was amazing to converse with. The course is located in the municipality of Ullensaker, an area with strong historical traditions dating back to the Viking Age.


Poland has some surprisingly dazzling courses and warm people to play play along with.Tokary with its steep terrains and the longest hole in Poland was enjoyable on a rainy day over the front 9.


Sierra is next to none, same league with Botaniq of Hungary, a mixture of eye-pallability and sophistication.


Postolowo Golf Club Gdanski takes the lead, the second longest par 72 golf course in Europe, the most challenging and generally fascinating course well known for hosting notable Championships and ranked the best in Poland in 2008/2009 and 84th best in continental Europe.


It’s at this course where I lost over 30 balls into water and thick grass just along the fairway.


Looking forward to many more amazing seasons ahead, The Old Course at St Andrew’s Links remains the dream.Scotland and Portugal.

Thursday, 9 January 2025

Inside the mind of Mrs Erna Solberg

 Commencement of 2025 with meeting Mrs  Erna Solberg, the 35th  Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway, and current Leader of Opposition was a great eye opener . 




A phenomenal Tête-à-tête that serve as an Oasis of hope on potentialities between Harare and Oslo in general and Africa as a whole, in pursuit of bridging the current wide and disturbing divide.


The future of clean , welfare and ficus maximizing hydrocarbon extraction, sustainable natural resources’ utilization and combating poverty serve as inevitable baseline for symbiotic, synergistic and mutually beneficial relations between Zimbabwe and Norway.


Mrs Solberg has combined several key national positions as Prime Minister, Parliamentarian and regional politician with a strong commitment to global solutions for development, inclusive growth and conflict resolution. 


She holds a strong position on the need for traditional aid and humanitarian assistance in marginalised and conflict-ridden areas of the world, a not so effective panacea but possibly a top-notch necessary-evil given the current experiences of the world.


Looking forward for a follow up colloquy  with the warm, stable, charismatic and all embracing leader that operates under the dictates of an open door policy of dialogue.


Under my hand.

Treasure Basopo