The Kundale Golf Club

Golfing in Munnar – The Kundale Golf Club.

Probably the last preserve or bastion of the British Raj in India, an absolute jewel of a place located a matter of 9 hours easy drive from Bangalore, the lovely scenery of Munnar district certainly qualifies it to be considered as a fore-runner for the title of the “Sanctum Sanctorum” of God’s Own Country!

A sense of déjà vu for me, since as a child, I was privileged to grow up amongst these lush tea plantations spread all around like a lovely green carpet, nestling amongst mist wrapped hills with a constant drizzly rain falling down and seemingly impermeable tropical rain forest everywhere with the superbly refreshing fragrance of tea wafting up from the numerous tea factories…I could go on and on.

We were visiting some friends, a tea planter and his family and understandably, I was more than happy to join him in a round of golf while there, at the Planter’s Private Preserve - The Kundale Club! The club is located a little off the beaten track and quite close to the highest point in Munnar, aptly named Top Station. On the drive there, one passes the lovely Madupatty dam and reservoir which once, (not so long ago), used to be quiet and pristine, but whose placid waters are now torn asunder with the wakes of high speed boats, not to mention the roar of their high revving engines.

Luckily, the Kundale Club cannot be accessed by the general public and one can only go there along with a member at his express invitation – so while I may not quite agree to being a complete elitist, I most certainly am rather pleased that at least this lovely place is still free from the evil depredations of the cohorts of uncaring, noisy, litter-bug tourist types whose ubiquitous and raucous presence almost everywhere else worth visiting, is a guaranteed irritant to normal civilized human beings.

The Golf course is beautiful– a nice nine hole course carved from the contours of a natural valley, bounded all around by hills with some steep climbs, where one plays the front nine beginning off the first tee, above and behind the clubhouse. As with most of the golf courses of this type, one needs definitely to be reasonably fit in order to labour up the bridle paths to each tee box and then muster sufficient energy to clobber the ball with reasonable force and of course, reasonable accuracy as well!

There are no serious water hazards and sand traps as one may encounter on the new fangled manicured golf courses of the cities, but playing on such a course is an absolutely charming experience in itself and well worth it, I may add.

Don’t be lulled by the sheer beauty of the place into a false sense of security though, because there are other, somewhat wicked hazards – notably the ditches that run criss cross around the fairways, a couple of streams bridged by rickety old timbers and last but not least, a proliferation of God’s rather unpleasant creatures, namely leeches of different shapes and sizes, including a vicious sub species - the dreaded tiger leeches (as if the normal ones weren’t enough for the unsuspecting golfer to contend with!

You can see these little monsters in the monsoon rearing their blood sucking heads up as you pass, almost sniffing the air like trained bloodhounds. They lurk in large gangs in the wet grass and on the tee boxes. They are silent and deadly because if they attach themselves to one, (even through one’s thick golf socks and by finding gaps in one’s shoes), one will never realize till one comes back to the clubhouse and sees them sticking to one’s person, feasting as it were!

The most effective antidotes to these so to say are common salt and of course tobacco – so here is one of the few times where being a smoker has its advantages (at least in the defence of one’s person against the full fledged offensive mounted by legions of leeches)

There are some interesting local rules - while playing the front nine, one can shoot to the road which passes through the fairway and still be within one’s rights, but while playing the back nine round (off different tees) of course, the self same road is completely out of bounds! Can be tough-ish for the first timer I assure you!

On the brighter side, the course is bounded all around by lush shola or forest to the uninitiated, where during one’s leisurely afternoon round, one can quite comfortably bump into a bison, quite possibly a pack of wild dogs and if one is really lucky, catch a glimpse of that beautiful big cat, the panther.

The Kundale Golf Course is one of the lovely natural golf courses of India – built by the British Tea Planters in their sporting tradition. It is today an inheritance, which we simply must preserve as part of our heritage.

The lovely old clubhouse is a typical bungalow style building, with sloping tiled roofs to enable the constant rain to run off and its long verandah dotted with easy chairs offering a pristine view of the golf course.

There is a quaint little bar inside (well stocked, I may add), where one simply helps one’s self and writes down in a register what one has imbibed (albeit in large quantities) – a truly gentlemanly and decent system, which is entirely dependent on one’s innate sense of honesty and personal honour. I shudder to think of the consequences that may arise if such a system were transplanted into some of our new fangled clubs though!

Well worth mentioning here is the fact that despite the advance of modernity everywhere else, this club is still not on the telephone and is staffed solely by an elderly and soft spoken major domo, who is quite possibly the last remnant of a dying breed of club staff.

In conclusion, I would suggest that you pull out that old diary of yours, search most diligently in it till you locate some old acquaintance or friend who has some kind of live connection with Munnar and see this jewel of a place for yourself. I will wager a substantial sum that you will not be disappointed!