-Sharing state banquets with first Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta to smoky jazz clubs in Paris and London, sharing a Norfolk Hotel suite with International music legends Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier and Miriam Makeba to finally sharing a four-ball with seniors at Nyali Golf & Country Club in Mombasa County.
-From 1957, when he left Mombasa quietly, unknown, to 1963 when he returned as Kenya’s first international pop star to the present 2026 when he walks the fairways of Nyali as a revered senior, Sal Davis’ journey is Kenya’s journey.
-And when the Legend Star finally holes out on 18th and walks up to the Club veranda for his cold juice just like any other Nyali member, you realize something profound that ‘Some legends don’t fade,’ they just find a new fairway to shine on.
MAARUFU MOHAMED-GOLFNEWSLINKS.
In the soft morning mist of Nyali Golf & Country Club in Mombasa County, when the Vervet monkeys still own the fairways and a cool wind whispers through the casuarina trees, you will hear him before you see him with a warm, familiar laugh as the gentle whirr of a golf cart makes a stop for that presentable swing from the greens.
At 85, Salim Abdallah Salim whom the world knows as Sal Davis, is no longer chasing hit parades but is chasing pars on the greens.
From state banquets with first Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta to smoky jazz clubs in Paris and London, from sharing a Norfolk Hotel suite with International music legends Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier and Miriam Makeba, to sharing a four-ball with seniors at Nyali Golf & Country Club in Mombasa County.
Sal was born in Mombasa on March 31, 1941, the son of Arab Aristocrat Sharif Abdallah Salim, a member of the colonial Legislative Council, Davis positioned himself as a second act of a true legend proving age is just a number by defying age.
His life was scripted to go to England, study Law, return to Mombasa to practice and inherit his father’s prestige.
And he did go to England, to Portsmouth College of Technology for his O-Levels and then law, but destiny had another melody.
In his autobiography, authored by historian Mohamed Said, it reveals that, “Like in the Albert Hammond song, he ventured into the music world.”
Enchanted by the American calypso king Harry Belafonte, the young Salim would cross nightclubs across Manchester and London, doing covers where in 1962, he officially became a professional and borrowing from his idol Sammy Davis Jr., Kenyan Sal Davies was born, a name that would soon shake East Africa.
Davis fame begun in 1963 when Tom Mboya, then Chairman of the Independence Celebrations Committee and called the young Kenyan singer while studying at Ruskin College, Oxford and requested him to write a song for Kenya’s independence and produced ‘Ayayaa Uhuru’ a song celebrating the independence of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, recorded by Philips of Holland.
He played it to Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and the Lancaster House delegation Charles Njonjo, Paul Ngei, Njoroge Mungai in London.
They loved it and what followed was a fairy-tale homecoming where he recounts in his book Sal Davis (Salim Abdallah) 1963.
“I was coming back not as a ‘learned brother’ as my Father had envisaged but as a pop star at the invitation of the new Kenyan government,” said Davis.
He landed at Embakasi to a state reception and was a state guest at the Independence Civic Ball at the Norfolk, guarded by police outriders, lodged alongside Belafonte, Makeba and Poitier where his hits Uhuru, Makini, Unchain My Heart, Kenyatta’s Song/Leave Me Alone, ruled the airwaves.
From 1964 to 1966, he was a BBC news and current affairs presenter in London, then returned to Voice of Kenya presenting Sundowner on radio and Mambo Leo on TV.
He later became an entrepreneur running the Sal Davis Night Spot on Koinange Street, Nairobi that later became the iconic New Florida Night Club and launching Davis Air Limited with three light aircraft operating from Wilson Airport and was, arguably, the first Kenyan musician to buy an aircraft from music and business earnings.
But like all timeless vinyls, life needed a B side and after decades of lights, applause and business turbulence, Mombasa called him home again.
From 1957, when he left Mombasa quietly, unknown, to 1963 when he returned as Kenya’s first international pop star to the present 2026 when he walks the fairways of Nyali as a revered senior, Sal Davis’ journey is Kenya’s journey.
And at Nyali Golf and Country Club, the 18-hole, par-71 championship jewel of the Coast, 6,500 yards of baobab-lined beauty course, Davis found a new stage.
Today, Davis is one of the most respected senior golfers at Nyali, a mentor, a historian and a living bridge between Kenya’s cultural independence and its sporting present.
Davis who once charmed Paris at The Mars Club where he first met Sidney Poitier at age 22 said that at Nyali, the course humbles everyone regardless of one’s age.
In an Interview on Saturday evening while sipping his cold juice at the Nyali Club garden, after playing a round of 18 holes, he pointed out that golf sport is like music, Rhythm, timing, tempo and practice, you cannot fake it and above all his health is stable due to involvement with golf.
“Golf has really helped in maintaining my health. In fact, if it was not for the sport, I would have died a long time ago. Playing every week keeps my body healthy. Golf has also given me friendship after fame. It has given me health and peace. In music you perform for people while in golf you compete with yourself and I thank God,” said Davis.
He has traded screaming fans for chirping birds, spotlights for sunlight, gold records for Nearest-to-the-Pin trophies, the passion and discipline is all the same.
While the young guns bomb drivers over 300 yards, Mzee Davis plays chess on the fairway with disciplined, strategically, never rushing and his course management is his arrangement, knowing when to lay up, when to go for the pin, just as he knew when to hold a note.
His fellow seniors describe him as the soul of the senior section, always immaculately dressed, always early on the first tee, always with a story about London in the 60s or about Tom Mboya, that leaves the whole clubhouse roaring.
Club Chairman Michael Sangoro and Lady Captain Zaituni Mohamed will tell you that icons like Davies are what give the club its character.
“Nyali is not just a golf club, it is a repository of Kenya’s history. To have a man who sang Kenya into independence now putt on its 18th green in front of the iconic clubhouse is heritage in motion,” said Sangoro and Zaituni.
This senior veteran golfer who was among the first Africans to pioneer the Sport in the Country after Independence is proof that age is just a number.
While at the course, with his Cap half pulled low, ready to swing smooth and unhurried, a smile breaks his face as his old Calypso melodies.
Today, Davis no longer walks 18 holes as his legs, after decades of dancing on stages from Manchester to Nairobi, can no longer carry him for four hours under the Coast sun and these days, he is driven hole-to-hole in a golf cart by his trusted caddy Mary Naneu and never mistake the cart for retirement but it’s his chariot.
His usual four-ball flight colleagues of Edward Ndungu, David Ngunjiri and Kamau Kuria, all senior golfers at Nyali are not just playing partners, but his brothers and his witnesses.
“Davis is the reason we still wake up at 5am to play. You see an elder dropping off the cart, lining up a putt and cannot complain about his knees. He teaches us that golf is not about walking, it’s about the heart. We call him our Captain, even though he never asks for it,” Said Ndungu.
Ngunjiri, one of Nyali’s most consistent seniors, adds with a laugh, “We always struggle with Davis because you get stories you cannot find in any book. One hole he is telling you how he interviewed Jomo Kenyatta, the next hole he is reading a green like a professional from the 70s. His short game, hey! At 85, his chipping is still a nightmare for us. Cart or no cart, he will still beat you on the green.”
And Kuria, puts it best, “Playing with Mzee Davis is like playing with living history. He sang for Uhuru. He owned Florida Night Club. Now he lets us push his cart when the caddy is tired. He has shown us what senior golf is about, dignity, laughter and never giving up. When his ball goes in, the whole course knows. We all shout ‘SAL!’ My legs may be younger, but his spirit is younger than all of us.”
That spirit is what you see, Davis does not just ride but competes, from the cart to the tee, two steps, plants his feet, waggles once and strikes it pure and his caddy, his legs for the day, knows his yardages by heart.
Davis says, “My legs may not walk 18 anymore, but my heart still plays 18. My caddy Naneu is my legs. The cart is just my dance floor now. Many years back, we had no carts. We walked in blazers. Now, ‘Allah’ has been kind. I can still see the ball. I can still feel the shot. As long as Edward, David and Kamau call me ‘Sal’, tee time is 6:30′ I will be there. Golf kept me alive after music, after business. Nyali is now my home.”
At 85, the cart-driven legend of Nyali on every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with Ndungu, Ngunjiri and Kuria in tow, four seniors, one cart will always be leading the way.
The Legend star forever remains the same and when he finally holes out on 18th and walks up to the Club veranda for his cold juice just like any other Nyali member, you realize something profound that, ‘Some legends don’t fade,’ they just find a new fairway to shine on.
And finally, at Nyali, that fairway is forever painted with the colorful, unforgettable strokes of Sal Davies.
ENDS.
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