Against all odds: From a caddie living in slums to becoming a professional golfer touring the world, Anil Mane’s story is all about having the right drive

When he was in Class 9, his father in an inebriated state suffered an accident in a kerosene stove burst. That’s when in 1998, Mane started to caddie for Rs 35 a day at the BPGC, where his father used to work. “Between my mom and I, we wouldn’t even make Rs 100 a day,” said Mane. So being a caddie was just a means to an end. At that point, it never crossed Mane’s mind to pick up the golf club as a professional player.

But the BPGC wasn’t the only place where Mane was surrounded by enthusiasts of the game. For decades now, in Chembur’s slums, golf has been played amid the ongoing clamour of everyday life in small lanes. This is not played with professional golf sets, but with metal rods bent in the shape of golf sticks, plastic balls and holes dug up to create a makeshift field. It was in this set-up that Mane first tried golf.

“I saw my friends playing and joined them for fun. I didn’t want to play professionally, I just did it for enjoyment. But then I felt drawn towards it,” he said. One day on a golf course, when he was on the field to work as a ball picker, he asked a professional golfer if he could try just one shot. “I was too surprised at how great it turned out to be, that’s when I thought of playing for tournaments.”

Golf played in the slum and also at the BPGC gave impetus to Mane’s future. “My parents couldn’t support me financially, but members on the golf course like Ashish Kachoria took up my expenses for around three years. People think golf is a sport of the elite. But being a caddie helped me immensely. I would observe the techniques of people I worked for, that’s how I learnt,” said Mane. His golf set was also a gift from one of the members of the club.

Mane started participating in tournaments for juniors. He started travelling across cities to participate in as many as possible. But he still hadn’t thought of golfing as a career. “It was when I defeated a leading player, that’s when I actually started to play the game seriously,” he said. In 2006, Mane beat the country’s 4th-ranked amateur in an all-India amateur golf tournament. That win opened doors for him to get sponsors.

But even then, in the initial phase of his golfing career, he would go an entire year without winning anything. In 2010, Mane participated in seven tournaments hosted by different clubs in the country and earned nothing. But soon things turned around as he had expected.

As of now, he has not only played in state and national tournaments but also travelled to countries like Bangladesh, France, Sri Lanka and many more for the sport. In 2023, he played in 17 tournaments across cities like Jaipur, Vizag, Delhi, and Ahmedabad and won in six of them. The cash prize from those six tournaments amounted to over Rs 3.5 lakh. In 2016, Mane participated in 19 tournaments and managed to make it to the winner’s list in 14 of them. Every year, without fail, he participates in the Pune Open Golf Championship. And Mane has now moved from a caddie to a coach at the BPGC.

After he created a place for himself, he wanted his children to play and excel at it too. The family moved to Mukund Nagar as part of the redevelopment project in 2014. “My daughters used to play earlier, but they don’t anymore. But my son is beginning to practise now,” said Mane.

Mane had three daughters and one son. “My six-year-old son passed away in 2016 of dengue. He was the youngest. When that happened, I felt like giving up. But I had my family and my wife, and they were grieving too. So, I decided to go back on the field,” said Mane.

He went to a tournament in Haryana. It was cathartic and helped him cope with the deep loss. Mane had another son after his first son passed away.

Today, not only does Mane, 42, work as a coach at the BPGC, but he also trains a lot of caddies. During the lockdown, when there were no tournaments and no place to practise, Mane still found a way to practise the sport. After three months of the club being shut, he started practising on the Vashi Naka railway tracks at 6 am. “My friends and I were also among the first ones who started the Indian Slum Golf tournament two years ago, and now many have followed,” said Mane.

The tournament for caddies was started in 2022 and is currently hosted in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, with the organisers hoping to spot more gems like Mane.