Over the past three years, Entebbe Club has remodelled its monthly mug tournaments to the Monthly Tee following an uplift from partners telecom MTN.
Off the course, MTN’s bond has come with a halfway pod and facelift to the oldest golf clubhouse in East and Central Africa. Back on to the tees, fairways and the greens, Entebbe’s final Tee tournament of the year is called the MTN Grand Tee of Tees.
This week, Entebbe Club captain announced the final Tee of this year will be a unique one by announcing the build-up Corporate Edition.
‘This is about Entebbe Club and MTN inviting the different partners, corporate partners that we work with, do with, come to Entebbe Club and participate in what is really the centre of the sporting world around golf, scrabble, and darts,’ Walusimbi remarked at the clubhouse terrace.
‘It is really us opening Entebbe Club up, thanks to MTN which is the connecting bond here. They are in the business of connecting people, whether through voice or data. They are also connecting us through sport. What we are doing is inviting corporates to have a league. We are now just left without about three months,’ he noted.
The Corporate Edition of the Grand Tee of Tees will have a league kind of format with points scored in golf and other indoor games being played on knock-out basis scheduled for this weekend, November 21 and the finale on December 12. In 2027, the corporate format will then blanket the legs of the Tee all 12 months.
More than 20 corporate entities have been entered already. ‘This one is unique because it brings a new spin, the corporate edition which we hadn’t done before,’ said MTN’s senior business development manager Paul Luyima.
Besides golf, the six indoor games considered are pool table, table tennis, chess, darts, scrabble and foosball.
‘Each corporate brand will flag off 10 participants, four for golf and a representative for each game. It’s going to be competitive. We believe that these (corporate) relationships are not only built in the boardroom, but with events like this, we are able to connect more,’ added Luyima.
Entebbe’s indoor games captain Milton Edimu seemed to hint on more games being included in the 2027 calendar activity.
‘Entebbe Club has a multitude of games. Beyond golf, we have cricket, basketball, lawn tennis, scrabble, table tennis, pool, snooker, ludo and we are grateful for MTN coming to Entebbe to showcase what other options are available in Entebbe,’ he said.
‘It also feeds into the multitude of skill sets that corporate members have. In terms of the format, similar to golf, we will have three rounds (over the mentioned days) and then an accumulation of points. For the indoor games, it will be a knockout format,’ he added.
The tournament has already attracted entries from entities such as Parliament, Uganda Communications Commission, Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (CPA), Uganda National Oil Company (Unoc), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Uganda Revenue Authority (Ura).
Meanwhile, NCBA, Cfao Mobility, Stanbic Bank, National Social Security Fund (NSSF), I and M Bank, Total Energies, National Medical Stores (NMS), Equity Bank, Uganda Airlines, Uganda Breweries, Absa Bank and Dfcu Bank are all assembling teams.
ABOUT ENTEBBE CLUB
Started: 1901
Age: 125 years
Location: Entebbe, Uganda
Sports: Golf, Cricket, Basketball, Lawn tennis, Table Tennis, Pool Table, Darts, Chess, Ludo, Foosball, Snooker, Scrabble
Golf Course: Par-71
Size: Par-71 (18 holes)
Distance: 6784 yards
Club Membership Size: 330 Members
Current Chairman: Jacob Byamukama
Club Captain: Serwano Walusimbi
Trustees: Maxi Byenkya, Dr. Twinemanzi Tumumbweine, Jonathan Bakwega
Captain: Serwano Walusimbi
Lady Captain: Maureen Okura
Major Tournaments: Uganda Golf Open (2018, 2021, 2024), 2014 World University Cross-country Championships, 2019 East and Central All Africa Challenge Trophy (ECAACT), 2017 World Cricket League Division Three, 2024 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League (CWCCL) B