Golf in the North East

Golf, the gentleman’s game played with a stick and a ball has already been played in India for the last 60 years. It was popularized by the British in different parts of the country. Historically, the Royal Bombay Golf Club in 1842 was the first club in India and it played a crucial role in the game’s popularity among Indians . The Madras Gymkhana Golf Club was established in 1877, and our very own The Shillong Golf Club incorporated a golf course in 1886 at Shillong the capital of British East India’s Assam province

Hole in one

So, in North East of India the picture perfect Shillong Golf Course is the oldest and the most beautiful golf course in the entire region. The very existence of this golf course has patronized this game and has changed its image from a an elite’s game to a common man’s game.

The North East of India offers some of the best breathtaking sceneries with ever roaring pine trees and mystic lands. The natural landscape offers immense potential for the growth of sports such as Golf in this part of the country. The region today boasts of some of the best golf courses in the country. In North East India there are approximately 22 golf courses, each one of them possessing unique characteristics and offering memorable playing experience. Most of these golf courses are backed with excellent clubhouse facilities, food arrangements, practice areas and are well connected with the urban places.Among these golf courses the famed Shillong Golf Course is the most picturesque . Shillong has one of the largest golf courses popularly known as the Gleneagles of the East. It enjoys the rare distinction of being one of the few natural golf courses in Asia. According to golf experts the Shillong golf course is one of the toughest and the most challenging.The onus of starting the Shillong Golf Course goes to a few British Civil Service officers who started playing golf with a nine hole course. The present 18 hole course was inaugurated in 1924. The surrounding of the Shillong golf course with pine trees and a small pond in between make it one of the most beautiful The course is set in an undulating valley covered with pine trees. The longest hole is the 6th, which is a grueling 594 yards.

Golf Courses in Upper Assam

The Shillong Golf Course organizes a number of events . In an effort to enable budding managers to pit their skills and wits against the acumen and experience of corporate leaders IIM Shillong organized the first golf competition by any B school in which a large number of participants from various B schools and corporate leaders participated. Shillong IIM is the first B-School in India to conduct a golf tournament. The tournament was open to corporate leaders, post-graduate business school students, faculty members, alumni and associates.

Then in Assam, amidst the vast expanses of dense forests and exquisite tea estates another famous golf course called the Digboi golf course is located. Here also every year, tournaments, at both national and international level, are played and people come from all over the country to enjoy or take part in the events.

Apart from the Digboi Golf Course there are a few famous courses in Assam . They are:-

Tingri golf courseMargherita golf courseZoloni golf courseDibrugarh golf courseNaharkatia Golf Course

So looking into these infrastructural facilities, available in bounties the North East, golf courses can be used to organize world class tournaments and also to popularize among the local youths of the region so that they can trained properly and take up this sport as a career option.