By Rahul Banerji
Standing on the tee box of the Shillong Golf Club’s first hole, it’s impossible to not feel a twinge of apprehension. The fairway swoops away and the tiny green is a speck in the distance.
To the right is a stand of massive pines that divides the first and 18th fairways. On the left, it looks like the land has been scooped out, leaving the quaking golfer wondering just where the right line is.
That pretty much sums up the challenge – and pleasure – of one of India’s oldest and most natural golf courses. It is also a personal favourite. The par 71 spread plays to 6,100 yards and challenges on every hole, throwing up a mixture of streams, marshes, slopes and OBs one after the other.
This is a course that will make you sweat, swear and smile all at the same time,
It’s impossible not to curse as what seemed a perfectly good shot that vanishes into the rough of mud, It’s also hard not to feel the heart soar at the blue skies, stands of pine and rhododendron all around – and very often, spitting rain that comes out of nowhere.
After all, Shillong is just a few miles short of the world’s rainiest spot, Mawsynram.
Unique spread
One of the many massive pines that dot the fairways at the Shillong GC.
Spread out in a clover-leaf pattern across a valley crisscrossed by streams and dotted with patches of thick rough, the course is unique in that three roads cut right across. Don’t be surprised if you have to let traffic through as on at least five holes, you are hitting over a road.
But compensation lies in the combination of beauty unfolding all around and golf nous required to negotiate this tricky course.
My favourite (despite the number of balls lost in getting to it), is the par-4 ninth hole. You wheeze your way up to the tee and the breath still stops at the view. The fairway drops away almost 200 feet below and rises to a lone pine that marks the ideal line for the bumpy runoffs and super-fast tee.
Three holes earlier, you will have encountered what was once India’s longest par-5, a 597-yard monster that has the additional trial of having the slimmest of fairways to deal with.
On the back nine waits a grinning ogre, the par-3 13th. It is one of four holes the greens is either way above the tee, or concealed. All designed and laid out way back in 1924 by Captain Jackson and CK Rhodes.
It sits unchanged to this day, barring the odd corner that has vanished under the pressure of urbanization and creeping encroachment.
Course tips: Green fees and caddy fees are very economical, Carry a sackful of balls and an umbrella. You will need both. And in the clubhouse, Nonibabu, the all-in-all of the Shillong GC is always at hand to soothe nerves, as is the bar, which was open whenever I have played there regardless of the time.
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Thank you Mr. Banerji for the beautiful description of the golf course. I visited Shillong number of times but never had an opportunity to play except passing through it. Your TIPS would be remembered and I would definitely have a round of golf during my next visit to Shillong.
Shillong is very nostalgic to me ,as I was born and brought up in this beautiful hill station. Over the years the race course has been forgotten as a distant past and I hope this challenging golf course remains as a flag bearer of India,s golfing destination. It has already seen lot of encroachment and has become a public playground. Can not blame the locals, since the old pologround is now reduced in size. The fareways have become children,s football field and greens may not remain green in distant future.
It is time for local administration to wake up and preserve it’s unique identity by
making alternate roads and public playground.