Golf in Cochin: The hundred-year-old Bolgatty Golf Club

By Rahul Banerji

Last year I had the pleasure of getting in a round at the historic Bolgatty Golf Club in Cochin, Kerala, which is in the process of observing its centenary.

Sited around Bolgatty Palace on the southern end of Ponjikkara Island that faces bustling, modern day Eranakulam, the quaint little course is now essentially an executive, nine-hole track that provides for a pretty unique set of challenges.

These include hitting over the car park and into the palace grounds. Thereafter a mini-complex laid out around the garden follows that involves crossing lawns and a decorative fountain and then back out on to the main course.

What you constantly need to watch out for is to avoid bonking hotel guests, workers and passers-by with some strong and clear calling before every tee shot almost right through the round.

On Sunday, the Bolgatty Golf Club, also called Cochin GC will mark the hundred-year mark with a tournament at the Cochin International Airport Limited Golf Course.

While no exact date for the club’s establishment itself is clear, a small plaque in the tiny clubhouse that also doubles up as office and makeshift pro shop says, “Cochin Golf Club, Malabar Coast, Clubhouse inauguration: 02 January, 1923 by H.H. Jones Esq.”

Under threat

Yet, given its uniqueness, there is a danger of this slice of Indian golf history sliding away into oblivion.

Threatened by grandiose projects that have eaten into its original layout, Bolgatty today houses a massive convention centre while a hotel has come up just outside of the original area.

At the heart of the course is Bolgatty Palace, originally sited and built by the Dutch who established links with the spice trade though it was the Portuguese who were the first Europeans to find their way to the Malabar coast and set up shop back in 1500 AD.

This makes the course one of the very few actually sited in and around an existing hotel, which has gradually constructed cottages and a new block over the years. While the development has added beds to the establishment, it has come at the cost of the golf course.

The club itself has silverware dating back to the 1920s including one with the legend, “Presented to the Cochin Golf Club by CWE Cotton Esq, 1925.”

Another one was instituted and presented to the CGC in 1925 called the Baker Challenge Cup.

Once an actual island with golfers needing to take a boat to access the course, the Goshree Bridge now connects Bolgatty to Ernakulam on the mainland making the trip a whole lot easier. It also opened the doors to a gradual erosion of the golf course itself.

The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation that now runs the establishment has this to say of the place, “Amid this picturesque island of Bolgatty is the beautiful Bolgatty Palace, the exclusive mansion with four palatial rooms, provides the travellers with world-class amenities and wonderful holidaying options.

Rich history

“Originally built by Dutch traders in 1744, it is the oldest of its kind that exists outside Holland.

“The resort is neatly tucked among giant umbrellas of refreshing green and is sure to give an exotic island experience in Bolgatty.

“The resort has a main block, a mansion block, which houses the palace rooms and a marina block which faces the marina.

“The Marina block has a marina on the one side and the golf course on the other side. There are six lake view cottages also in the resort. The resort is encircled by a nine-hole golf course established in 1925.”

Centenary tournament

To celebrate its centenary, the CGC will – as briefly mentioned – hold a tournament for a proposed field of 150 in association with the 18-hole CIAL course that adjoins Cochin’s shiny airport.

A 10-strong committee will oversee the event that has a Rs 2,000 registration fee besides participating charges and will require a valid handicap certificate from respective home clubs.

Committee members include Ernakulam police commissioner Nagaraju Chakilam, IPS, CIAL general manager Joseph Peter, Kerala Golf Federation president Raghuchandran Nair and Joseph Thomas, organising secretary and CGC president, among others.

Competition will be held in six categories – general, best club, boys and girls, ladies, gents age 65-75 and gents above 75 (nine holes).

More information can be had on the Cochin Golf Club’s website.

Also read: Golf in Dehradun: FRIMA and the Doon forest