Kabul Golf Club

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The Kabul Golf Club is a nine-hole golf course located near Kargha, around 7 miles from the center of Kabul, Afghanistan.

The course opened in 1967 during the reign of Mohammed Zahir Shah, was closed in 1978, and reopened in 2004. During these three decades it has undergone several changes. After its opening in 1967 it was relocated to its present site in 1973 after Zahir Shah’s cousin, Mohammed Daoud Khan, staged a coup d'état and established a republican government. It was later closed in 1978 after the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan launched a coup known as the Great Saur Revolution and took over the government. It was reopened around 1993 some years after the Soviets withdrew and closed again in 1996 due to the Taliban regime's ban on sports. Since 2001, the course was used as an area for military training in the removal of land mines. In the process of restoration to its present state, three Soviet tanks and a multiple rocket launcher were removed by a nonprofit agency. In 2004 the Kabul Golf Club was reopened again. According to a report from the Christian Science Monitor, “The final demining process was paid for by US military funds aimed at the disarmament of local warlords, but the profits actually end up in the hands of a warlord, a Northern Alliance commander named Engineer Abdul Rashid.”

Differently than other golf courses in the Middle East where desert golf is a new trend, the greens at the Kabul Golf Club are actually brown due to their composition of a mixture of sand and oil.

Mainly affluent Afghans and foreigners frequent the course. The entrance fee is 500 afghani ($10 US Dollars) and a year membership is around $60.