Why Bengaluru is the ideal location for the sport of golf

Eagleton, The Golf Village – One of Bengaluru's finest

Namma Bengaluru has been referred to by a number of names in its history, ‘The Garden City’ – for its gentle climate, broad streets, greenery and the presence of many public parks, ‘The Silicon Valley of India’ – for its role as the nation's leading information technology (IT) exporter.

Now, Bengaluru is at the head of a golfing revolution in India and thereby earns its name as ‘India’s Golfing Hub’. There are not too many cities in India, let alone the world, that enjoy perfect golfing weather throughout the year, setting the perfect background for the game to be played. Karnataka has over 13 golf courses and the Karnataka State Tourism board recognizes the incredible potential of its state to be a real leader for Golf Tourism in the country and plays an active role in the promotion of golf.

Bengaluru has great facilities to learn the game. Courses like the Karnataka Golf Association, Eagleton Golf Resort, Prestige Golfshire are championship level courses that test the skills & abilities of all levels of golfers. Coupled with the fact that there are a great number of top coaches such as Vijay Divecha & Tarun Sardesai who call Bengaluru home, we are seeing a whole generation of great golfers emerge from the region.

Golfers from Bengaluru are competing in International tours including the Asian Tour, European Tour, PGA Tour, Ladies European Tour and excelling at the highest level consistently.

At the top of the ladder is Anirban Lahiri, currently ranked 39th in the world, he plays on the PGA Tour & recorded the highest finish ever for an Indian golfer in one of golf’s Majors with a 5th place finish at the PGA Championship earlier this year. He leads the Asian Tour Order of Merit and will be looking to carry on his spectacular form in 2016.

Aditi Ashok, a 17-year-old student of The Frank Anthony Public School who is taking the world by storm. She is the First Asian ever to win the St. Rule Trophy and Lawson Trophy(St Andrews Links, 2015), First Indian to win the Ladies British Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship 2015 and has achieved a number of firsts in an incredible 2015. She is currently ranked 19th in the World Amateur Golf rankings and will be one for the future.

Chikkarangappa S is a 22-year-old golfer who enjoyed a terrific week recently at the Eagleton Golf Resort, defending his title at the Take Solutions India Masters. Earlier this year, he also won the PGTI Players Championship presented by Kensville Golf & Country Club.

Khalin Joshi, 23, is another golfer from this region display a great amount of promise. His career highlight so far is being ranked the number one amateur on the Indian Golf Union Order of Merit in 2012. He is enjoying a fine season recording a victory at the PGTI Ahmedabad Masters presented by Kalhaar Blues & Greens.

Other stalwarts from this region include Udayan Mane, Abhishek Jha, Sharmila Nicollet & Trishul Chinappa,

Bengaluru boasts of a number of great golf courses including the Bengaluru Golf Club, established on a summer evening on June 24th of 1876, the land was previously used by a army regiment as a rifle range & training area. The course started as a 12 hole design & was transformed many a time the last being a redesign in 2000.

Karnataka Golf Association, It was in 1973, that a group of avid golfers from Karnataka embarked on a mission of identifying Bangalore as the golfing capital of South India. 16 years later, memberships were open for KGA. The KGA has established itself as one of India’s top courses.

Eagleton - The Golf Resort, plays host to India’s only Asian Development Tour event.

There are a number of new golf courses that have been established in the last few years including:

Prestige Golfshire, an award-winning Golf Club in Bangalore designed exclusively by PGA Design Consulting and is expertly managed by Troon Golf, a world-renowned Golf Resort Management Company.

Zion Hills Golf County, Designed by Ron Fream of Golfplan, USA. The current 9 holes are a Par 36, 3608 layout & the final 18 hole course should be well over 7000 yards.

Clover Greens Golf Course - Phil Ryan of Pacific Coast Design, Melbourne, Australia. Clover greens 18 hole course measures around 6000 yards and is a Par 70 golf course.

They’re all easily accessible, have world class facilities and have played host to a number of great golfers and exciting tournaments in the past.

There is no better place in the country to be if you are a fan of golf and want to witness the top pros in action. Bengaluru boasts of a year-long calendar of terrific golf events the Louis Philippe Cup, Toyota Karnataka Golf Festival, Take Solutions India Masters, Take Solutions World Corporate Golf Challenge and many more.

We can only hope that Bengaluru is taken as an example and several golfing hubs emerge all across the country producing terrific golfers. It’s only a matter of time before an Indian wins a Major, don’t be surprised if that person’s tryst with golf began somewhere in Bengaluru.

Edited by Staff Editor