A Golfing Sojourn in Sri Lanka - My Experiences

Sri Lanka - A Golfing Sojourn.

Imagine my extreme pleasure and surprise when I received a phone call absolutely out of the blue from Mr Hari Achanta of Golfline Magazine, apologizing for the short notice and asking me most tentatively if I would be interested in visiting Sri Lanka to play some golf on an all expense paid basis!

I mean, hey, who in his right mind would grumble at a Business Class ticket on Srilankan, First Class Hotels everywhere, a Private Chauffeur driven Car completely at my disposal and loads of Golf thrown in at some of the most scenic golf courses in the South Asian Region – all of this completely on the house! Wow!

Completely sponsored by Srilankan Airlines, this was truly a brilliant opportunity for an enthusiastic golfer, traveller and hobbyist writer like me! Whoopee, I said, grinning to myself from ear to ear and with some difficulty, desisted from doing handsprings on the roadside! At once I asked permission from the office too, which happy to say, I was given, by the kindness and large-hearted-ness of my bosses at Madura Garments where I work!

Well, I experienced at first hand the gentle hospitality of these soft-spoken, kind hearted and immensely charming islanders as soon as I hopped onto the Srilankan Airlines flight from Bangalore on 24th October, right from the first gentle “Ayubowan” (meaning welcome), onwards. Lugging my trusty golf clubs, many boxes of golf balls, tees, assorted clothing, shoes and golfing paraphernalia, I was thoroughly pleased to be going. It would be rather remiss of me if I didn’t at this point, mention the kindness of the Sri Lankan Airlines team, especially Mr Chandana De Silva, Mr Lalit Fernando and Mr Niroshan Ranawake in enabling so many varied and enjoyable experiences for me in a thoroughly enjoyable manner, during my 5-day sojourn there.

This superbly extravagant annual effort by Sri Lankan Airlines on their Golf Classic Tour teed off on the 25th and holed out on the 28th of October 2006. An experience par excellence, if I may say so, which enabled more than 200 Golf enthusiasts from points of origin as far and wide as the UK, US, Scotland, Hong Kong, Japan, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Kuwait, China, Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka, to meet in the true spirit of fellowship and play the game we all love so well amidst some truly beautiful and sylvan surroundings!

Part I.
25th October – The Royal Colombo Golf Club, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The Royal Colombo Golf Club is the oldest in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1879 in a far more spacious era than we shall ever experience again, it has recently celebrated its 125th Anniversary. It has the style and grandeur of days gone by and is one of the most beautiful club houses I have seen, built in the typical colonial bungalow style, with wide verandahs and lovely sloping tiled roofs, with eaves and – absolutely brimming with character. Like someone said, Tradition cannot be built overnight, it has to be earned, day-by-day.

Arriving there on a fine sunny (if slightly sultry day) at 12 noon, I was met by Mr Chula De Silva, the General Manager of the Club. I was assigned a caddy and directed to the 10th Tee to begin the round with the back nine. However, owing to circumstances, I was forced to embark on my round on this lovely Par 71, 6300-yard course, alone with the caddy.

Stepping up to the 10th I attacked the Short par 4 of 332 yards with my 4 iron. Bounded by trees on either side, an accurate shot is called for, which luckily came through and then it was smooth work to make par.

Then I meandered through the scenic 11th and 12th holes, braving the hazards, bunkers and waterways. Pushing on, through the noonday sun. I then observed another die-hard midday golf nut like me, wandering along the 12th fairway all by himself so I hollered across, asking him to join me since he was playing alone.

Mr Paul McManus of the British Council thus stepped up and introduced himself and we moved along in a companionable way to the 13th, which is a brilliant Par 3, with a daunting expanse of Water in between the tee and the green. Bashing it off the tee, I ended up on the left of the green while poor Paul had a rather deeply plugged lie on the bank of the water body. We continued plodding on through the next few holes, racking up scores we will never frankly confess to, but enjoying ourselves thoroughly.

There’s an old Noel Coward Song which goes “Only Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun……….” Though Paul is a Scotsman, it kind of figures ------ forgive me Paul, I simply couldn’t resist that dig at you Anglo Saxon chaps!

The 17th is a long-ish Par 4 – somewhat similar to the 18th at Pinehurst in Thailand but without the watery bits, where one needs to position the tee shot slightly left, in order to have a clear approach. Very tough, and we both ended up with some ghastly score on that.



Back then to the 18th (clubhouse) green, a beautiful elevated green with the clubhouse behind at which, stopping briefly for a break and some soft drinks for our caddies and water for ourselves, we went along to the first Tee, to play the front nine.

The first hole is brilliant – a beautiful drive landing us short of the waterway, which crosses the fairway, and then an easy rescue shot across the water to hit the edge of the green and plop, roll back into a watery grave. This was a dampener but completely undaunted despite a stroke lost, we played off again and went through with a double bogey.

The beautiful second hole (Par 4-396 Yards) has an unique phenomenon because the Colombo to Kandy, Kelani Valley Railway line passes along the fairway on the right, serving as an “out of bounds” indication. It is interesting to pause during a round to observe the 3pm train chug along the line, never tooting its horn. (I’m sure the train driver makes a concession to the unspoken dictum of gentlemanly silence on the golf course, a gesture so typical of these gentle islanders, who are such natural gentlemen). In addition there is a pond before the green so one’s second shot has to carry that in order to reach the green in a reasonably respectable way.

The 4th hole is a lovely Par 3 (198 yards) where we both clunked the ball with the number 4, to compensate for a slight breeze which had come up and in order to break with the guarding bunkers, both of us making a par.

The 6th hole is a 285-yard par 4 with a waterway to carry and several bunkers lurking around to catch you! A lovely thing about this hole is that the green is close to the perimeter wall, behind which is a beautiful, colourful Buddhist Temple. On that day, one could see the red stupa over the wall, but tempted as I was to peer over the wall, we heard the sad music of a funeral taking place in the temple and thus, deemed it disrespectful to take a gander over the wall.

The next few passed without major incident and we moved along to the 8th hole, which is a 404-yard par 4 with a clubhouse green. Interesting hole with a waterway one needs to carry on the tee shot and then a few bunkers to avoid.

The 9th is a gorgeous par 3 (170 yards), which is quite a challenge to be on the green in regulation, but by some chance, both of us ended the round with a nice Par, bringing to an end a nice round at the oldest golf club in Sri Lanka.

Paul and I parted ways then, having promised to stay in touch and meet up if he was in India sometime or on my next visit (Hari Mon Patron – are you reading this or listening???) to Sri Lanka!


Part II.
26th October – Nuwara Eliya Golf Club, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka.
Nuwara Eliya, meaning “City of Light” is situated in some beautiful tea plantation country, high up in the hills at 6500 feet (2070 metres) above mean sea level. Tea plantation clad hills, in manicured verdant green, crisp, nippy weather and air like vintage champagne was Nuwara’s first greeting to me, slightly cold and stiff as I was after a thrilling four and a half hour ride up from Colombo in a middle aged Toyota Hi-Ace Van, driven by the friendly and knowledgeable Mr Victor of Jetwing, the operational partners of Srilankan Airlines.

For me it was like a homecoming, since I grew up in the planting districts here like Munnar, Anamallais and the Nilgiris. I turned up at the NEGC at about 1 pm to meet Mr Devaka Wickramasuriya, the dapper, nattily dressed and immensely courteous Club Secretary.

October being the mid-rainy season in Sri Lanka, most sensible people play a round only in the mornings, not in the afternoons, because as I was soon to find out, the rain arrives in what can best be described as semi-impermeable sheets around 3pm and doesn’t stop till well past 6 when it is as dark as pitch. I thus played the round on my own, with the caddy.

This Par 70, 5520 metre long golf course is a very old course, established by British Tea Planters in 1889, beautifully maintained and from my observation, not a single one of the old standards of quality, service and “club life” as we knew it, have been allowed to drop. The clubhouse is again a picture post card pretty, bungalow style building with lots of beautiful panelled wood and high standards of upkeep and maintenance. A point worth mentioning is that this clubhouse, rather like our own KGA, has a clear view of all 4 fairways, 2 going out and 2 coming in. Quite an achievement, to have been able to create this, in the hill country.

The club and the golf course are somewhat similar to the Ooty Gymkhana, Wellington Gymkhana, Kundale club in Munnar or any typical hill golf course, complete with guffy lies, uphill and downhill lies, undulating fairways, wild roughs, wickedly thorny gorse bushes, interesting tee box positions and of course, some very beautiful, scenic holes. (Thankfully though, there are no nasty little leeches and other such examples of god’s unpleasant creatures!) Tall trees and other assorted vegetation abounds in all nature’s verdant glory, set off by the beautiful weather and rich rainfall prevalent in this part of the world. The course also has the unique distinction of having 6 holes where the river water comes into play. One feels a very old world, very colonial and wholly enjoyable experience, if one likes or is used that sort of thing. They prefer using the Metric system here to measure distances which is why all distances mentioned in this note on Nuwara are in metres.

What I was most pleased to observe, was the superlative standards of maintenance of each fairway, each green and the sheer quality of everything. Like one would normally expect only at an international city golf course, the caddy even carried a bag of sand to fill up divots and a pitch mark-repairing tool.

Mr Myilvaganam, the resourceful, smiling caddy assigned to me, and I went straight along to the first Tee, (having first made arrangements for some sandwiches and tea to be brought along to us at the Golf hut on the 11th).

A straightforward Par 4 of 419 metres, bounded by trees and the clubhouse behind, which wonder of wonders, I managed to par.

Interestingly we were joined here by a small black canine person of indeterminate ancestry, who then proceeded, wagging his tail, to trot along with us throughout the round, pausing every time I paused to hit a shot and strolling along with us along the course – truly man’s best friend.

The 4th hole is an interesting one, where you hit off a high tee box with the green being to the right – 315 metres away. Immediately on one’s right is a bank of trees and then a private vegetable garden which is completely out of bounds, so one must be careful to place one’s shot well to the left in order to approach the green on one’s second. This hole funnily enough can be loosely compared to one of the Par 3 holes at Coorg Golf Links Kodagu (I’ve forgotten which one for the moment though), because there one has to drive over a banana plantation (out of bounds) to get to the green.

Then the rain began, at first a drizzle and then slightly heavier, but whipping out our umbrellas we meandered along in this peaceful way through the course, racking up some pretty decent scores despite having never played the course before, and of course, drinking in the scenery and pausing regularly for photographs. I’m glad I had the foresight to wear a pullover to keep me out of the chill, which combined with rain, has done in many a golfer in the past.

Reaching the 9th, which is a pretty 111-metre Par 3, we putted out for par and then moved straight up to the 10th, which is a clean 236-metre Par 4. Attacking with my old and trusted number 4, and taking a clean approach wedge to the green, I still made 5 because by this time the rain was coming down quite heavily. Very much like Munnar I must say.

We slithered up the muddy tow paths to the 11th Tee and the cute, though leaky golf hut, where my canine companion proceeded to shake himself dry, and consequently covering me with fine drops of water off his coat. Naughty chap.

Myilvaganam, me and our canine pal then paused to have a hot cup or two of lovely high grown, delicately flavoured leaf tea from one of the neighbouring tea estates and a couple of chicken sandwiches, all of which were cheerfully brought there by the club steward. This kind of service can only exist in places like these, the lands that time apparently has forgotten and which are full of a certain kind of old world charm which I am very privileged to have experienced and been a part of for much of my life and now as well.

Attacking the 11th hole with my dear old Cleveland driver, I was flying the ball through pouring rain, trusting to instinct and not being able to see much at all, just clobbering the little white sphere in the general direction of the green. Putting was an interesting experience, since all the greens by now had become waterlogged and consequently very slow, so one had to seriously whack the ball with the putter to get it to move any distance at all!

The most beautiful, “signature” holes at Nuwara Eliya are the 13th and the 14th where one shoots of high tee boxes with some brilliant scenery visible. The tight 176 metre Par 3, 13th is challenging enough without having rain to complicate matters for one so I ended up with a double. The equally gorgeous long 14th (401 yards, Par 4) I was pleased to be able to bogey.

By this time of course we were all soaked to the skin in the rain, which was coming down in buckets– me and Myilvaganam through our clothes and our canine companion through his fur. Despite a massive umbrella and so on, frankly unless one is attired suitably in a wetsuit and waterproof shoes, there is absolutely no go.

Arriving a long last at the 17th green we came across the interesting sight of four little canines huddled together under a large spreading tree for shelter from the driving rain and accompanying chill. They looked at us with a rather strange expression, as if asking themselves what on earth it can be that motivates golfers to brave the high wind, rain and chill, and battle on doggedly through a golf course, first hitting and then looking for a tiny little white sphere all the time carrying a heavy bagful of strange looking clubs and other instruments! The imposing Grand Hotel, built in the elegant Mock Tudor style, which is the hotel for the “Swish-Set” in Nuwara, overlooks the 17th green.

We attacked the 18th then whose fairway is abutted on each side by banks of tall evergreen trees with the main road lying just beyond the tree line to the right side. A nice Par 5 of 400 metres caused me to come up onto the green in 5 and double bogey my last hole at Nuwara. As we walked along the fairway, I could see the twinkling lights of the clubhouse, through the steady rain and I can tell you, they were my beacon signifying home, warmth and comfort! Bidding goodbye to my friendly 4 legged partner and Myil as I had now begun to address him, I went off to wring out the water from every item of clothing I was wearing. Nuwara has been ranked one of Asia’s finest Golf Courses and I would wholeheartedly endorse this opinion.

Part III.

27th & 28th October - Victoria Golf and Country Resort – Digana, Kandy, Sri Lanka.

On to Victoria then, from Nuwara at 530 am on the 27th, in order to avoid the chaos of traffic and to reach Kandy early enough to warm up and relax before the round. Reached finally at about 1040am with my Tee time of 11am!

The Victoria Golf and Country Resort is located in Rajawella, Digana in Kandy, the little hill Kingdom in Sri Lanka, a lower elevation hilly area where a massive hydel project was begun some years back with the Victoria Dam and Reservoir. The Golf course per se was designed by the renowned Golf Course Architect, Donald Steel in 1997 and I do believe that he had his task cut out, working through mist clad mountains, brilliant natural rock formations and some equally interesting wildlife!

Opened in 1999, this Par 73, 6945 yard golf course is a masterpiece of landscaping, built and maintained to USGA standards and rated in the Top 100 Most beautiful courses in the world by Golf Digest and Asian Golf Monthly – with very good reason I may say, since I was simply overwhelmed by the sheer beauty and contrasting landscape. The most arresting point is that it is blessed with towering mountains as well as brilliant views of Water all along the course.

The golf resort has some lovely cottages in the typical Swiss chalet style and even offers other sports like trekking and equestrian sports since this is also the home of the Victoria Equestrian Stables. The clubhouse is a functional and smart one, smart and clean in terms of architecture and with the functionality and facilities required by the new-age luxury-seeking golfer.

Very ably managed by Mike Varney, a giant of an Anglo Saxon who is also a Tiger of a Golfer and a British PGA Professional, the maintenance of this place is simply fantastic. High quality shrieks at you from every aspect, right from the Driving Range offering beautiful views of the Reservoir, to the staff who are extremely pleasant, friendly and knowledgeable and the brilliantly maintained fairways and greens.

Thus, on 27th and 28th October I was able to play a round here along with the tournament, something which was kindly arranged for me as a very late comer by some kind gentlemen and now friends of mine, Mr Jehan Kumara, Mr Raju Chandiram, Mr Chandana De Silva and of course Mike Varney himself.

Nuwan, my small built caddy and I set off to make our way around this masterpiece of natural beauty combined with man made perfection. I played along with Mr Alan Sheppard, a fine gentleman of middle years and a young tiger-cub of a Golfer, Roshan De Silva who normally plays at the Royal Colombo.

The 1st Tee from behind the clubhouse required me to clobber my driver well into the middle so as to negotiate the right dogleg to the green. This Par 4 – 403 yards can be done with the Driver and Rescue / Long Iron. Beautiful putting surfaces and undulating greens do definitely require a lot of skill to keep the score low.

The Par 4 – 384 yard 3rd hole is a beautiful dogleg left where if one is a brave man, one may choose to clunk the ball well over the rise on the left, causing a short approach and definitely one less shot to reach the green in regulation. Woe betide you though if you don’t carry the rise and end up in the evil buffalo grass roughs that abound here. A tamarind tree to the right guards the green and one needs to be pretty accurate to get there placed well.

My favourite hole – the wickedly pretty Par 3, 116 yard 4th is called the “Terror” because it has a pocket hanky sized undulating green usually attacked by a 9 or Pitching Wedge. If you go right you will go straight into hell signified by deep devilish rough and of course the sharp drop direct into Victoria Lake! I was happy both times I played here to make par on this hole. (Largely I suspect because I had paid homage to the Water Gods prior to arriving here!) One simply must pause here, please, to take in the breathtaking views all around of the Victoria Reservoir and of course the surrounding mountains. Paradise regained, a la the late John Milton! Believe me, I cannot even begin to describe the beauty of this place!

Climb up to the 5th tee – and you need to decide whether you want to go left or right or centre of the knoll or mound in the centre of the fairway. Long hitters can get there, but be humble, gentlemen, is my sincere suggestion! This 314-yard Par 4 looks deceptively easy! Incidentally here I was almost snuffed out rather permanently by a ball hit by the chap in the group behind us who decided to drive off the tee with his driver just as our group was putting on the green. Ian Tait, the BPGA Tournament Official, a crusty Marlboro smoking Scotsman, had rather a lot to say about this to that poor gent, Steve Munro. Personally I take my hat off to Steve’s distance combined with accuracy.

The 6th Tee is also a deliciously high one, very tempting to pull out the “big dog” –with the fairway lying well below – maybe 100 odd feet below going into a nice long 473 yard Par 4 where your fate will be determined by your Tee shot and very little else. Very tough, as I found out to my cost!
The 7th is a pretty 182-yard par 3, which is rather straightforward despite a split-level green. Smartly attacked with a 4 iron, one should putt in to make par unless of course one is struck by ill luck.

One must simply take a break after the 7th since there is an excellently appointed golf hut with some seriously great snacks like hot dogs, puff pastries and practically any kind of soft drink. Lovely staff – so very solicitous for one’s comfort!

Move through to the 422 yard- Par 4, 8th where one simply tees up and clobbers the little white sphere – man, if you find the fairway centre you only need to launch the ball again over the two guarding Mara trees with your rescue or 5 wood to be on in regulation and make par. Not that I did, to be honest, but that was entirely due to the buffalo grass roughs and then getting trapped by the Mara trees – perhaps I didn’t pay sufficient homage to the Tree Gods and the Gods of the Buffalo Grass Roughs, because the combination of these were my complete undoing!

The 9th is a monster – Par 5 520 Yard hole. I was forced to scratch because of a wayward tee shot which caused me to enter the buffalo grass rather deeply and then of course, short of using a bulldozer or some other state-of-the-art earthmoving equipment, there was no way to get out! All it needs is accuracy, but then as we all know, this is easier said than done!

Pressing on then, to the back nine after a quick Banana and Water break to keep the energy reserves up and to bolster one’s rapidly weakening resolve to conquer the rest of the course!

Attack the 357 Yard Par 4 10th with either a Driver or a 3 wood if you tend to slice or hook, because it is important to be amongst the Jack Trees on the fairways so as to be on in regulation. True to my form that day, I promptly took a couple of practice swings and then simply let fly with my rescue, wishing to be humble. Humility doesn’t work, accuracy does, because as I found out to my cost, I was in the death–guff once again! Wincing and steeling myself again I ended up making a triple on the 10th!

The long 534 yard-Par 5 11th is pretty straightforward hole if one is careful. Playing down from the tee over the undulating fairway, one goes up an incline to the guarded green. Working one’s way through the Jack trees, one generally can make bogey at the very least.

Number 12 is another brilliant 210 yard Par 3 played off a high tee. Don’t try stunts with anything but your long irons guys because there is a wicked drop to the left, which will cause you to abandon all hope if you land there. It is far more sensible to whack short of green, chip up and putt in for Par. Tra la la. What fun!

The Par 4 – 430 yard 13th hole invites you to drive downhill with the big dog but preferably one must send a mid iron across on the second shot, flying the ball just high enough to plop on the green. (I did this nice sounding plop on the green bit in 5, to make triple bogey because as seemed to be the order of the day, I was battling the long, knee high buffalo grass yet again!)

The signature hole of Victoria Golf Club is supposedly the Par 4-393 yard 14th! However, the 4th hole, simply because of its beauty and terror closely juxtaposed, is a strong contender for the title of Signature hole. It shall, at least for me, remain the real signature hole on this course! At the 14th, a narrow coconut tree lined valley invites one to do a serious bit of thunking, but the wicked little natural rock formation to the left before the dogleg ends all hopes! Doglegging left to get to the green one lands up trying to skitter the ball on the green from behind the majestic Mara tree right there. Disaster man! I made a triple! Horrendous!

The 15th which is a 553 yard Par 5 is a brilliant hole offering rather gorgeous low land views of the Reservoir with its surrounding necklace of misty mountains and a portion of the extreme edge of the Driving range as well can be seen from the tee. Ideally one plays to the left onto the fairway, freeing one up to go over the sharp wadi (a natural water course which allows rain water run off to drain direct into the reservoir but remember, the fabled buffalo grass abounds both left and right of fairway. Move sharp right onto the fairway past the dividing watercourse and then you can be on the green in three if you're a bit of a Wolf! Or as someone else in he group behind us did, one can get rather beautifully tangled up in the coconut palms on the right and left. Sheer fun this challenge!

Hole 16 – we reached huffing and puffing since this is a long course, which requires a decent level of physical fitness in order to be enjoyed. Shallow green Par 3 – 195 yards. Deceptive. Watch the bunker on the left boys, please! Somewhat similar to the 8th hole at Coorg Golf Links in Coorg though that is a Par 4.

The 17th – 441 yard par 4, is a super-brill downhill drive through the coconut palms but be cautious of the chaos on the left side and right side of this exhilarating hole since the dear old buffalo grass lurks here too, apart from some completely wicked bunkers, just waiting to catch the poor lost souls of golf like me unawares. Death by Grass it seems – like my Death by Water experience in Thailand! Terrible score, which I wont even reveal, lest I lose my coveted position as the Founder President of the Duffers Golf Club!

The 18th and ultimate hole of the dear old Victoria is a long 545-yard Par 5. Huff Puff Huff Puff I went, since I had walked through in slightly sultry conditions and covered a distance of nearly 6500 yards by then over undulating terrain! A clear valley beckons and tempts you like the Sirens in the old Greek Myth who tempted Ulysses, to pull your driver out, set up and try to hit the cover off the ball. A good drive (not my drive) should land you on fairway centre and then cause you to play up the valley onto the pretty clubhouse green with its collar of coconut palms around the bowl in which it is set. I think I had a disagreeable 8 on this hole because of the death guff again, but it was without a doubt an exhilarating experience, purely on account of the sheer natural beauty of the place, one’s close communion over several hours, with nature and the sheer enjoyment of the game of golf.

I will tell you one thing and clearly. It has certainly motivated me to go right back and play this course all over again and soon, if I can manage that!

Part IV.

28th October - The After Party – Mahaweli Reach Resort, Kandy.
Of course after these strenuous few days of driving across Sri Lanka’s pretty countryside and more often than not, crowded and broken roads, and playing several taxing though enjoyable rounds of golf, nothing could possibly have been more welcome to us weary souls than the superbly organized prize distribution party hosted by Srilankan Airlines at the Mahaweli Resort in Kandy.

The typical generosity and large heartedness of the people of our little neighbouring island nation was more than evident in the catchy music, the easy living lifestyle, the flowing rivers of the rather excellent bacchanalian kind straight from the establishments of the Chivas brothers, Scotland, the tottering mountains of superbly crafted dishes of exotic meats and fish, the unobtrusive and caring service of the waiters and sous-chefs manning the food counters………… I can go on and on and on, but sadly I have a clear and finite number of pages, which I am allowed, by the kindness of ‘mon patron’, Hari!

A superb setting and a whole evening of fun, laughter, drinks, much dancing and great food gave this rather excellent annual event a fitting finale. Well-done Srilankan! “Bohama Stuthi” as they say in the soft sounding Sinhala language– Thank you most kindly for a very well organized, extremely enjoyable, brilliant golfing and cultural experience.