The Panchkula Club - An Interesting Precedent

The union territory of Chandigarh has 2 18-hole golf courses, the Chandigarh Golf Club, located in the hart of the city (Sector 6) and the Panchkula Golf club. The Panchkula Club is outside the union territory, in Haryana approximately 14 km from the heart of Chandigarh. The golf course was created by the state of Haryana and is maintained by the city. It is public golf course that also offers membership.

Unlike the Chandigarh golf club the Panchkula Club features wide fairways with a water hazard on the 9^th hole and the 18^th hole. The greens are moderately sloped, but offer interesting pin locations that can penalize wayward approach shots. There are not as many trees on the course as CGC and even a miss-placed tee shot can be easily recovered. All in all this is a great practice golf course and quite impressive that a golf course of such caliber was created by state.

In the future the need for public golf courses is will greatly influence the popularity of the sport. Especially n India, where there are more private association style clubs that restrict guest players and charge Green fees that are in the premium range. The Panchkula club offers a great example of what can be achieved with the will of the government. Clubs such as these will play a pivotal role in encouraging and promoting the game amongst the wider section of the community.

It is my hope that tier 2 and tier 3 cities embrace golf courses not just as a draw for business but even as centers for bio and environmental diversity, sewage treatment, beautification and contributing to the public lung space. It can be used to preserve monuments and even be developed on disregarded pieces of land.

There are urban legends about foreign companies preferring land around the golf course as opposed to an industrial area. As the government develops ‘Smart Cities’ and ‘Port Cities’, golf will be a highly valued amenity by the prospective developers and investors. In this case the Panchkula Golf Club will make an excellent precedent for governments to follow. 

The game of golf is a great leveler, it is one of the few sports where a professional and club golfer can play together and it can be a competitive game. I hope government bodies recognize this and leverage this sports positive value. The few states that have done so… have never looked back.