Tee for two

More than you dreamed. Closer than you think'. That's the unique selling point of the Royal Palms Golf Club, the latest status symbol that'...

More than you dreamed. Closer than you think8217;. That8217;s the unique selling point of the Royal Palms Golf Club, the latest status symbol that8217;s made a mark in Mumbai. Never mind if it8217;s nestled deep inside Andheri, with it8217;s almost inaccessible location. What8217;s worth remembering are the acres of open land, artificial lakes that glimmer invitingly, the majestic country club house 8212; which gives the feeling that tip-toeing is the way to move around and hushed whispers the only way to communicate 8212; overlooking a never-ending golf course.

The whole project is developed by the Nenseys, who have made their presence felt in the world of construction and other related fields for over a century now. The Amir group, as it is now called, has to its credit hotels in Srinagar and Mahabaleshwar, as well as construction projects in various parts of Maharashtra.

Headed by Amir Nensey and his sons, Dilawer and Muhammed, this latest venture which took seven years and nearly Rs 65 crore to complete, promises to put the group on the map. quot;That wasn8217;t exactly what we were aiming for. But if it does, fine,quot; says Dilawer Nensey. For a project that has been in the offing for so long, the Royal Palms Golf Club has an interesting history behind it.

Minor details, like the fact that the grass on the golf course is imported from Malaysia and it took a year and a half to acquire a licence to get it or that private vehicles will take the members to the club, are instrumental in making the members feel that they are living in almost decadent luxury.

quot;The idea to turn this piece of land, which we had since 1981, into a golf course came about in 1991. All of us are into golf in a big way but there are few golf courses in the city, most of which are restricted to members,quot; says Dilawer. The first three years they concentrated on working out the design, done by Wimberly, Allison, Tong and Goo London, the same architects who designed the Lost Palace in Sun City, Africa. The actual work commenced only towards the end of 1993.

During the early nineties there were whispers of more than one golf club coming out in areas close to Mumbai, like Panvel. The Indian Golfers8217; Union IGU, however, doesn8217;t have much to say about these projects. Says Surjeet Duggal, head of operations in Mumbai for IGU, quot;There were a lot of people who thought that creating a golf course would be a lucrative idea, but only two have seen the light of the day. One is the Royal Palms and the other is Classic Golf Resort in Delhi, managed by the CCI. It8217;s simple to contemplate creating a golf club but it becomes complicated when you actually get down to it.quot;

One of the things that needs to be considered is the fact that you cannot have a stand-alone golf course. quot;It would never work. You need to have a club with it, complete with trappings that the kind of people who play golf require. Secondly, you have to have it close to a metro. The other companies who have tried it are Nirvana, an off-shoot of Baroda Rayon, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust JNPT and the Sahara group at Lonavala. But apart from the first few stages, they haven8217;t really reached anywhere,quot; Duggal finishes.

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For the Royal Palms, the Nenseys have big plans. They are planning to hold inter-club golf tournaments and spread it all over the South East. They are also very particular about their choice of clients 8212; a maximum of 1,200 members for the golf grounds and 1,200 for the club. Of which they already have 450 members.

All that, despite the fact that reaching Royal Palms is equal to going away for a weekend. quot;Actually, that8217;s the kind of image we8217;re projecting. Something like get away for the weekend 8211; only, do it in Mumbai,quot; he smiles.