A lovely little golf course, tucked away in the hills. Here you get a chance to play golf as it was meant to be. In the lap of nature as she rolls your ball this way and that way, and yet you try to keep it to the middle of the fairway. This also happens to be my home course, and I was absolutely thrilled to be playing it for the first time.

Pilkula Golf Club is located on the outskirts of Mangalore, Karnataka. IGU members are allowed in, and so I decided to go and make a fool of myself. Sattelite view of the course, and the trademark shape of most course. Most of the holes are straight, although try telling the ball that. There are a few dog-legged holes too. The drive up to the course is quite scenic, up a winding road with forests on either side.

Bhubaneswar Golf Club Bhubaneswar is the capital city of Orissa. On the outskirts is the Bhubaneswar Golf Club (BGC) - a small, yet very well maintained, and challenging nine hole course. The club house is situated at the top of a small hill, and it is from here that you tee off for the first and tenth holes. The layout of the course is mainly up and down, and all around the base of the hill.

Tollygunge Club Tollygunge club, or Tolly as it’s affectionately called, is all of 220 years old much older than independent India. You definitely feel the “club” atmosphere all around, and even the waiters are intimidating and can ask you to get out if you’re not dressed apprpriately. Even though it is situated in the heart of the city of Kolkata, the course spread across a large area providing enough opportunities for the golfer to go into woods, water and bushes.

Mercara Downs Golf Course in Madikeri, Coorg July, 2021. Madikeri is a hill station in Coorg county in Karnataka and that is where the Mercara Downs Golf Course lies. Nothing quite prepares you for the initial sight of the course, for all along the way are small houses and narrow roads. Until, that is, you take one turn and see the vast expanse. Rolling plains and surrounding hills would have you believe you suddenly were in some European country side.

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.