Saturday, 22 June 2013

My Journey to Explore Golf Courses in the North: My visit to the NCR

The National Capital Region (NCR) in recent years has the seen the greatest development of golf course development than any other part of the country. The main areas in the NCR are New Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad. In just three out of these four, (New Delhi, Gurgaon, and Noida), there are over 20 golf courses with a further 10 in different stages of development.

A view of the large greens found at the course
Gurgaon alone, boasts three ‘Championship’ 18 hole golf courses and one 9 hole golfing facility. In this city it is expected that another two 18 hole courses will be added and some of the existing 18 hole facilities will develop smaller 9 hole golf course attached to the property. What could be spurring this frenetic development in this region? Green fees at these clubs are upward of 2000 rupees a round and the golfing population is not very large…

The Characteristic tight and rolling fairways
The first course I visited here was the Classic Golf Resort. It is located 30 km from the center of Gurgaon and is developed by the ITC group. It is also the first golf course created by Nicklaus Design group. The contrast in style to the Kalahaar Blues and Greens in Ahmedabad was stark. The fairways are wider on this course and there are fewer water hazards. However the greens remain very treacherous as they are narrow and have multiple breaks. The course features 27 holes and is spread over a sprawling 300 acres. The hotel is under construction and is expected to be ready by the last quarter of this year. The only challenge this golf course faces is the access to the property because the inner roads, leading off the highway are not in good condition. As with most places in Gurgaon it is the lifestyle aspiration that seems to be drawing people to the course and hopefully this will continue and allow the course to play a pivotal role in the future of Indian golf. The management is waiting for the hotel to be completed before they actively pursue any marketing activities for the course. With the kind of investment being currently pumped into the course, its not hard to imagine this becoming a very popular destination for golfers across the world.


Peacocks are a plenty at the course!
What is evident in this city, compared to others in India, is that golf is very clearly being used to support the creation of a lifestyle and image that many Indian city dwellers aspire to. The sport itself is secondary. Golf is viewed as an elitist sport and developers are cashing in on this aspect to sell real estate around the golf course. Is this positive for the game in India? Or is it filling a social need? It is known that the NCR region being the political capital has a large number of affluent and high net worth individuals (HNI), who are driving costs of real estate and lifestyle including golf. If one of the fall-outs of this trend is better and even world class golfing facilities it can only benefit the game in the long run. New talent can emerge and major tournaments from around the world can come to India, lifting the profile of the sport.