Indoor golf comes to Chennai and you can now tee off at St Andrews

By Rahul Banerji

All revved up and no place to go? Have the itch but it’s too hot? Well then, pick up your bag and head indoors.

For India where the summer heat gets intense, indoor golf is a concept that is waiting to be expanded on, Making a start down south is Golfer’s Edge Chennai, a new indoor golf centre in the heart of old Madras that opened this March.

The centre features an ultra-realistic high-definition virtual simulator and a dedicated 170 square-foot putting turf, says GEC co-founder Bharath Arvind.

While GEC caters to golf enthusiasts in Chennai with a fully air-conditioned indoor facility that will enable visitors to ‘play’ all-year-round, it also aspires to make learning golf affordable, accessible and entertaining to new players.

“GEC has customised coaching sessions, affordable membership packages, and special programmes for adults and children,’ Arvind points out.

“The golf simulator features practice modes that replicate a real golf driving range experience and offers over 150,000 courses from around the world including the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland (The Home of Golf), Pebble Beach Golf Links and Augusta National to play at.

Swing and learn

“With a high-speed tracking camera and live analysis of every swing, chip and putt, the simulator offers a very real golfing experience to learn and improve your game.

Arvind and co-founder Hari Natarajan are both avid golfers and sports enthusiasts who believe that golf is a fast-growing sport in India, and want to make it available to a larger public.

Adds Arvind, “We have created this facility so as to make it a casual, comfortable, and safe environment for all visitors to experience golf in an entertaining and approachable manner.

“Our hope is that, maybe one day, we produce a champion golfer or top amateur who began their journey right here at GEC Chennai”.

GEC offers individual and group coaching classes for children and young adults. GEC will soon open its first summer camp for kids between 7 and 12 years.

For its junior coaching programme and summer camps, the company has partnered with Golphin, an award-winning company from Scotland that designs and manufactures junior golf sets and will use Golphin’s proprietary mobile app – MyPathway2Golf to make learning fun.

Creating opportunities

“Chennai is such a sports-obsessed city, but has limited opportunities for anyone wanting to play or learn golf,” says Natarajan.

“With GEC we hope to make it more accessible and affordable, and with an indoor air-conditioned facility we hope we can make golfing a year-long sport, even in Chennai’s hot summers.”

GEC is a brand set up by TeeTime Ventures (TTV), a Bangalore-based sports and recreational services company.

Since 2014, TTV has successfully completed over 50 indoor golf and sports installations across India and Sri Lanka and works with sectors like hospitality, real estate, sports, corporates and the Armed Forces amongst others. Golfer’s Edge Chennai is the company’s flagship experience centre.

Also read: US Kids Golf India to expand home series, run events across Asia