Golf in the Blue Mountains - Ooty Gymkhana Club

Golf in the Blue Mountains – Ooty Gymkhana Club.
On the weekend of my birthday (I won’t tell you which one though!), I decided on the spur of the moment to show my wife the truly lovely sights and landscape of the Nilgiri Hills where I had spent all of my schooldays and indeed, much of my childhood and early youth, since my dad was a planter in the district. (After all, what’s better than to spend one’s birthday, marking the passing of yet another year, while at the same time, renewing association with the surroundings one loves most in the world, with the added bonus and pleasure of some golf thrown in!)
Therefore, on 8th March, we loaded up our assorted paraphernalia and our golf bags, hopped into the jeep and drove the 290 odd km up the hills from Bangalore. Using the steeper but considerably shorter approach via Masinagudi and the Sigur Ghats; some 5 and a quarter hours later we were pulling up in front of the Ooty Gym Club-house.
Founded in 1896 by British Planters and situated about 7000 odd feet above sea level, the Ross Thompson designed, Par 72, 6700 yard, Ootacamund Gymkhana Club (Ooty Gym) Golf Course is a veritable treat for the Golf Enthusiast. Practically everything in the main club-house, save the modern-ish bar, is redolent with history, steeped in heritage and evocative of the expansive comforts of days gone by.
Meeting and fixing up the afternoon round with Ashok Kumar, the obliging local pro/ course superintendent was short work. Since the dear wife has also taken up the game seriously, we assigned her a caddie/ coach and sent her along to get in some practice at the 17th which doubles as a driving range at OGC. Giving my bag to Ilyas, my elderly caddie and enjoying the fresh, clean, crisp, eucalyptus scent-laden air, I toddled along to the first tee, located on the hill above left in front of the club house.
Tee-ing off on this longish par 5 (583 yds), one typically has to place the ball to the right in the direction and line of the clubhouse, so as to make maximum use of the undulations of the course and find one’s self in good position to get on the smallish green which is located deep down in a natural hollow. If you’re a wolf, you are welcome to smack the driver on this, so as to be sure of distance. I chose to play my rescue which landed me fair and square, positioned well for the second. It is certainly better, in my opinion, to be humble.
The second is a relatively peaceful Par 3 of 223 yards, requiring you to place a little to the right with a 4 or 5 iron, so as to take advantage of the natural rolling landscape.
This golf course is carved from the natural rolling landscape, much of it similar to the original landscape of the Nilgiris, largely undulating grass and scrubland, with clumps of bushy trees, tree shrubs like Rhododendrons in part, loads of gorse and brambles (imported and introduced no doubt, by some home-sick Scotsman in the dim, distant past), and guarded by stands of Eucalyptus trees, those tall, timeless sentinels, watching and waiting to see some hapless soul hunting for his lost ball!
The fairways are neither manicured nor carefully tended like the newer, city-slicker type golf courses that one sees these days. Indeed, while the course is irrigated with a system of ingenious gravity tanks and pipelines laid by the British, there are no other real modern aids (except a recently acquired TORO Green trimming machine!). In fact, the fairways are pretty much kept in mown condition by the stray cattle, sheep, horses and other livestock that somehow, despite all precautions AND perimeter fencing, find their way onto the course. However, if you are fond of the game of golf, are a bit of a traditionalist at heart and maybe want to experience the game the way those original Scottish shepherds must have played it, then, this is a pretty good approximation!
Having said all this, it would be very remiss of me if I didn’t appreciate the quality of green keeping at OGC. No matter what the time of day, the greens were well moistened, nice and soft, almost reaching out at times to clutch and hold the ball! The putting lines held true, with a bit of a twist occasionally, but then, that is an occupational hazard in golf!
The 5th hole is worth talking about because it really tries your soul, with its awesome 500 yards going steeply uphill at first, with lots and lots of wicked gorse and bramble bushes lying in wait quietly to swallow your ball, possibly smiling to themselves, in anticipation of your frustration! Coming down and located right-ish is the green, guarded by a flattish, rough-ish bunker.
Clamber up to the 7th Tee at OGC which overlooks a deep valley, with a multitude of gorse bushes scattered all over. Once you have regained your breath and your heart has stopped thumping with the exertion and when your eyes have stopped bubbling and regained their focus, you will be greeted by a sweeping vista ahead with the green about 200 yards distant, guarded by a steep-ish rise to the right side, a bunker to the front right and a wicked drop to the left.
This is the real signature hole of the Ooty Gymkhana Club, according to my estimation. I can compare it in some measure to particular holes on two other golf courses I have played, the 7th hole at the Mercara Downs Golf Club in Coorg and the 4th hole at Victoria Golf Club, Kandy, in Sri Lanka.
It is as well to take a little break at the ninth, where one can arrange before-hand with the club dining room staff for a light snack of tea and some of the most wonderful scrambled egg sandwiches I have ever eaten. A sense of déjà vu for me, certainly, coming back home to Ooty again. First class Colonial style or in local terms, “Dorai” style at its best, with a uniformed bearer in attendance, catering to your every whim! This level of service with this peculiar Colonial flavour can be seen only in a few “hill” golf clubs in my experience – OGC, Wellington Gymkhana Club, High Range Club, Kundale Club in South India and Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka. (Please don’t forget to order some tea and biscuits for your poor caddie though, since it is certainly not an easy task lugging all your equipment and golf bag up and down).
Take a few minutes here to enjoy the crisp air around you and the fact that even food and drink actually taste so much better. This is a land that time has thankfully forgotten and if one seizes the moment to commune with one’s self, one would do very well to leave one’s cell phone and PDA and the other rubbishy, nonsensical trappings of so-called “civilized city life” behind.
Since this place is in the lap of nature and relatively less populated (and may it stay that way!!), one is quite likely of a morning on the course, to come across some wild boar damage or porcupine damage on the fairways, which they dig up to uncover some juicy morsel. It is equally likely that you will hear the peculiar wailing crowing cry of a wild fowl or “jungle fowl” as also catch a flash of its brilliant plumage when you walk along.
Going over to the back nine, one will find that it is relatively flatter, with wider fairways and relatively easier approaches to the greens, provided of course, that one plays to place the ball well – local knowledge certainly helps and one would be very well advised not to argue club selection with one’s caddie unless one wants to experience the vicious thorns of the abundant gorse bushes at first hand!
Worth mentioning on this is the lovely Par 3, 212 yard 11th hole, which is pretty well met with either a rescue or a 4 iron, placed slightly to the left of the green so as to allow it to trickle down to the green for birdie or at the very least, par.
On the 15th, (Par 4, 308 yds) one shoots a three wood off a far-away and down-below tee, avoiding a stand of tall eucalyptus interspersed with gorse, to come onto the steep uphill fairway, leaving one with only a well hit Pitching Wedge to the green. Once you crest the rise one is welcomed by the glorious sight of the ball sitting pretty on the green!
The 16th (Par 5, 576 yds) is simply brilliant, shooting the driver onto the right-sloped fairway, smashing the second with either a three wood or even a rescue a little left-ish so that the ball rolls down to the right and onto the semi-sunken green. Careful though, if you fall short of this green on the left side and are chipping on to it, because there is a wicked bunker behind!
The 17th (Par 4, 328 yds) is probably the only green which has some interesting upward undulations – if one is below, with the pin placement in the centre, it does become a bit of a poser but if you putt decisively and firmly you should be home for par.
The 18th (Par4, 370 yds) homeward is a nice semi- blind shot with a driver. Placing one’s self to the right side would be better because the slope is to the left and the ball does tend to kick and roll a great deal. However, there are not many other dangers on this hole (as if in compensation for the trials and tribulations that one has already faced if one has played the entire course), and one should be quite comfortably on the green in two, putting for birdie!
I will leave a cautionary statement here, for the typical cigar or cigarette-puffing, whisky-swilling, out-of-condition city-slicker type. Let me tell you quite plainly that the front nine at the OGC will leave you huffing and puffing, rather short of breath as you reach the ball, leaving you to negotiate very hard with your mind and body and requesting, nay, begging them to do your bidding! It will take you all your time to get your jelly like limbs, trembling knees and runaway legs under control and then try and address the ball, prior to taking your next shot!
If one is on the wrong side of 35 and normally leads a sedentary, desk-bound life, with little exercise, it is worth investing a little time in getting fit, acclimatizing one’s self to the slightly thinner air there and then embarking on a round of golf at Ooty Gym! This is quite decidedly NOT a course for the unfit, the faint hearted or the lazy amongst us.
However, all things said and done, considering the very reasonable access and comfortable driving distance from Bangalore, this land that nature has blessed with such beauty, is well worth the effort of visiting, if only for the golf experience alone! I loved it and so I am sure, will you!