The Course

Located right next to the Arabian Sea, the Lalit Ashok Golf course is possibly the only links course in India. It’s a nine hole, 6000+ yard course complete with fearless tourists crossing the fairways, abundance of water bodies including one that gobble up all the balls in the world and hardly let out a burp. But heaven knows I almost got it to. Burp, i mean.

Let’s get the logistics out of the way first. A round of golf will set you back by about 3 grand INR. Two for the course fee, and one for the set. Luckily they have a couple of good Callaway sets on hire. Buggies are available, but best dispensed with. Trolleys build character. Caddies are optional. I did not take one and lived to regret it losing balls regularly on the fairway. Maybe it was the crows picking them up thinking them to be their long lost eggs. Maybe it was the sweltering heat making me think I landed on the fairway but not really..

Which brings me to the heat. If you’re playing in the month of March and April, carry a water tanker. You will need it in the last three holes. Better yet, split your game into front and back nines - do the front nine early morning, and the back nine late, late afternoon. If you’re doing it all in one shot, may the force be with you.

The course is split into two parts. The first five holes are in front of the hotel and are much more harder than the remaining four that are behind the hotel, even though the latter are the longer holes. Appearances can be deceptive. The shorter holes in the front are much more narrower and all kinds of rubbish like water bodies, decorative bushes, houses popping out of nowhere, and kids playgrounds comes in the way of your perfect drive.

Should you go into the bushes, red ants wait greedily to devour you. And yes, that is a toddler on the green you were about to decapitate. Be careful. Ignorant tourists have right of way on the course.

The white men’s tees are OK, but the blue championship tees are placed in impossible locations. Some of your drives are basically blind. Some of my drives will want you to go blind.

And yet, for all the challenges, this is a beautiful, beautiful course to play on. The sea will give you company for four holes and you will love it, if you’re playing early in the morning…

Except when it swallows up one of your balls. :)

Take a virtual walkthrough of the couse.

In and around

There isn’t much near the hotel, but the hotel itself is quite big so you can easily spend three days in there and not need to venture out. The beaches are clean, and jog or walk early morning is high recommended (before the hotel tourists wade in).

The gift shop in the hotel is surprisingly affordable, and has some interesting artifacts to carry back home.

Finally, there is a shack by the sea, which offers up some yummy goan food. Fish curry and rice - you can never go wrong with that!

Three words sum up this golf destination - Sun, Sand and Golf, of course!

• Golf