Military Approach to Golf

It is interesting that over 50% of all golf courses India are owned by the Indian military. These courses are generally not open to the public. However, there are some that do offer civilians the opportunity to play for a green fee. All the army courses are classified as EPTA or ‘Environmental Park and Training Area’.  The golf courses owned by the military are very old and some of them were in fact created by the British, such as the MEG golf course in Bangalore, and the Dhaula Khan Golf course in Delhi, to name a few.

Well maintained Green: MEG Bangalore

As the military operates with a tight budget, it is a challenge for them to manage a full-fledged golf course. Some of the army golf courses operate on a budget as low as USD 2000. This forces the supervisor to be creative in deciding priority areas for maintenance. The common practice is to give more focus to the greens, as seen on the picture on the left, (courtesy MEG, Madras Engineering Group, Bangalore) while the fairways usually are barely maintained with occasional mowing. I believe this may be sufficient for these courses as the total number of rounds per month is around 40.

One of the biggest advantages however that the military has over other golf courses is its access to labor. The military can assign a large numbers of individuals at a time to ensure proper maintenance of the golf course. The area of concern is the direction that they are receiving. This is because it depends heavily on the interest displayed by the golf secretary. Another issue is the lack of continuity in appointments and policies which will hurt the golf course in the long run and prevent it from attaining its full potential.

In this situation credit has to be given to those who work to maintain the army golf courses. Despite the lack of funds, proper machinery, and at times a lack of man power, these few interested hawaldars of the Indian army are able to ensure good maintenance of the greens, and keep them alive. I say ‘hats off’ to them, and I will help in whatever little way I can.

Some de-weeding being conducted: MEG Bangalore