Coorg Golf Links - A Birdie's (Bird's Eye) View

Coorg Golf Links, Bittangala, South Coorg – A Birdie’s (Bird’s Eye) View!

A sylvan setting, a lovingly tended course, a functional yet comfortable clubhouse, first class staff and nice food - all of this in the middle of Kodagu district, around four and a half hours drive out of Bangalore, Coorg Golf Links is a carefully thought out man-made course, which uses the existing landscape to the hilt, while giving the golf enthusiast a series of challenges and the opportunity for a whole lot of fun.

Coorg has been known as the “Scotland of the South”, with its affable and hospitable, yet strongly martial race of people, primarily agrarian economy and of course, nature’s bounty at its best, its lovely mist wrapped hills, lush, forested, verdant green valleys and sparkling mountain streams.

Since I am fortunate to number a host of schoolmates, college-mates and other good friends from the Coorg community, many of whom are good golfers and permanently resident in the district, my fiancé and I decided to spend the New Year’s weekend with some of my buddies there, in particular my old college buddy, Mr C.B. Muthanna or Ajay, as he is generally known. He is currently the Secretary of Coorg Golf Links and an avid 7 handicapper.

He and I both have a few things we hold sacred, notable amongst these, the clear undivided intention of beginning each New Year in an auspicious manner with a round of golf on the First of January (in the earnest hope that the rest of the year proves a “Good Golf Year” for us!).

Coorg Golf links is unique in that it combines clearly two different types of terrain, the front nine being hilly, rough and quite difficult, requiring a good level of physical fitness. Playing the front is aptly compensated by the challenge of each hole combined with the sweeping panoramic views of the surrounding countryside of low hills clad in Coffee Plantations and the flat paddy field lands interspersing these. Nature has smiled generously upon this land and how!

The Back nine on the other hand, has been carved out of land that was originally used for the cultivation of Paddy and believe me, it still bears the signs, with its tuft laden fairways, sudden ditches and irrigation waterways as well as the presence of an inordinately large number of land crabs, who, apparently rather indignant at being thus dispossessed of their hunting grounds by the demands of the local golfers, lose absolutely no opportunity in staking their claims, as it were, on every available patch of tufty grass and indeed, on the carefully tended greens as well!

Playing off the regulation tees, we enjoyed a brilliant round of Golf, with me ending up (much to my surprise, knocking ten bucks off Ajay – a feat whose tom-tom-ing I can easily be forgiven for), since I am the epitome of the average high handicapper who simply cannot get the various aspects of the game to work smoothly together, which fact, combined with a lack of adequate ‘local knowledge’ normally ensures that I have some rather high scores!

Notable amongst the holes on the front nine is the wicked Par 4, third hole, which requires an accurate tee shot, placed well on the fairway to the left of the large guarding tree (which guards, I may say, a sharp drop right which is anyway completely out of bounds). One’s second shot needs to be a well hit number 4 or 5 which will take one to pole position on the flag line, because this is a completely blind shot from below. Very challenging and incidentally, for most city golfers, very demanding, in the physical sense. This is one of the few courses, which have three Par 3 holes each immediately after the other, namely, the 4th, 5th and 6th Holes!


Climbing up to the 5th which is a fantastic par 3 – normally thunked with a Number 9, one needs to use one’s local knowledge to smartly strike the hill side on the right of the green and gently cause the ball to ricochet (gently being the operative word here) onto the green, since the left is another sharp drop to hell whence one may never venture forth! I had to do a Walter Hagen here, since my ball lodged itself rather nicely amidst some rocks and I had to thwack it out holding the club with the head the other way round and playing my wedge off with my left hand in order to plop on the green in two for par with my putt! Ajay was generous in his praise for that shot, telling me as he did, that it was as important to have a good memory and use it, while playing, as much as having skill at golf! I was most gratified to hear this from a good golfer like him!

Playing on through the next few holes, I realized that other golfers who may not have age/ fitness on their side, have to be very careful with the pressure they put on their knees, while navigating the treacherously narrow tow paths where one’s entire body weight is supported by one’s knees, so be careful!

The 9th hole is a lovely Par 4, guarded very well with a huge tree on the right of the green. One has to place the tee shot well to the right, in order to avoid the waterhole on the left and one’s second shot ought by rights to soar over the tree OR to the left of it, to land well on the fast, undulating green, to make two putts and par! Great!

The Back nine is characterized as I said earlier by tufty grass, tough-ish lies and plenty of smelly mud! A relatively easy road though, compared with the front. It is interesting to watch the little land crabs scuttling around and disappearing rapidly into their little shelters, each characterized by the little mound of crusty mud at the entrance! The apron of the 12th hole (if I remember right) looked quite like a little enclave of these tiny denizens, with a cluster of these mounds visible as I approached it!

The 13th Hole, according to me, is the real Signature Hole of Coorg Golf Links – a savage Par 3, requiring one to hit a 9 iron off a reasonably high tee, almost blind. Between the tee box and the green is this nice little Banana Plantation, which belongs to a local farmer, is NOT part of the Course and is certainly, indubitably and completely out of bounds! This is an absolutely brilliant hole to play! Accurate hitters will have fun, as will the brave-hearts amongst the golfing fraternity, but believe me, the average Joe golfer, will be neck deep in Bananas more often than not! I would compare this hole with the 4th hole at the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club in Sri Lanka, which also has an ‘out-of-bounds’ Banana Plantation to the right of the tee, where most slicer’s would end up, if they hit a wayward shot!

It is also worth noting that at the Coorg Golf Links course, there are a number of beautiful little cottages and tiny villas, each offering phenomenal views of the course. Their idea is to let these cottages out for holidaymakers and avid golfers who literally can roll out of bed onto the course while there! An automatic comparison I would make is to Victoria Golf and Country Club, Kandy, Sri Lanka, where the concept is very similar, as is the architecture! The CGL cottages would be operational very soon; indeed, several were almost ready for occupation when I saw them!

The Coorg Golf Links course is affiliated to the Karnataka Golf Association and the Bangalore Golf Club as also the Indian Golf Union. For the Bangalore based golfer, this destination is most definitely worth a visit, located as it is, just four and a half hours away by road, with the roads currently being quite excellent all the way to Coorg. I, for one, would very happily endorse the fact that it is a near-perfect setting and a fantastic place to unwind from the stresses and strains of modern day life in the cities!