Tee Party

‘‘My husband took to the game while in the US. Initially, I used to take the kids to the club here and carry a book for myself. But now I’ve realised it’s the best way for the family to be together. So even I take along a club nowadays and try to hit a few shots. I have a good mind to take it up seriously,’’ says Radhika Datta, 30-something homemaker.

Golf, then, is finally emerging out of tight corporate circles and men’s-only clubs. Even as home-green heroes like Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa earn international accolades, pros like Ali Sher show lineage is no criterion. And once-elitist golf clubs—including the Bombay Presidency, Kolkata’s Tollygunge Club and Gurgaon’s DLF Golf and Country Club—are turning democratic, wooing families with horse-riding, swimming, tennis and squash facilities and offering junior memberships.

Upmarket schools, such as Delhi’s Vasant Valley, have been quick to jump onto the golf-cart, organising golf clinics with Kapil Dev, encouraging children to participate in tournaments and tying up with clubs. More than ever in its long history in the country—Kolkata’s Royal Calcutta Golf Club is the oldest course outside the British Isles—golf is turning into a family game.

And the family that plays together, stays together. Model and designer Simar Duggal is a familiar sight at the DGC with her husband Prem and 10-year-old son Arjun. ‘‘We play two to three times a week,’’ says the model, who often walks the course to soak up the excitement during major golf events.

Transporter Mukul Bahri, 37, introduced his pre-teen kids Rohan and Shweta to golf a few years ago. ‘‘Now we are all so hooked we spend weekends on the course,’’ says Bahri, who has been training alongside his children with coach Karan Bindra for two years. ‘‘I try to play twice a week, and the kids head for the course whenever they get time. Golf is an addiction.’’

And familial influence is the best way to pass it on. Brahm Majithia, who flies commercially and organises golf tournaments, recollects jovially that when he married Rohini a couple of decades ago, she hated the game. ‘‘But her father and sister played and so she decided to look into it,’’ he laughs.

It worked. Rather than be a golf widow, Rohini took to accompanying Brahm to the course. Now she swings a mean club—she is a former captain of the Delhi Golf Course—and their daughters Neha, 18, and Meghna, 13, are ‘‘completely hooked to the game’’. Neha, in fact, hits the course or the driving range every day, and is on her way to becoming one of India’s leading lady golfers.

Much of the sport’s popularity with the younger crowd is attributed to the success of Indian golfers abroad. ‘‘The Indian professionals are an inspiration for everyone,’’ says Maninder Kohli, New Delhi-based Citibank vice-president, who heads for the golf course every other Saturday with nine-year-old son Sumer and septuagenarian father MS Kohli. ‘‘To encourage my son, I get him a golf gift whenever I travel. The last one was a pair of special Nike children’s golf shoes. It was a big hit.’’

It could also be the first step towards a career option. ‘‘When we were in school, the emphasis was firmly on team games. But today the focus has shifted to individual sports as the returns are bigger,’’ points out Kohli, 36. ‘‘When we decided to organise a small event for children during a recent Citibank tournament at the DLF driving range, the 30 kid slots were snapped up within a day. I think more people watched the children play than the adults.’’

With the stakes and the pressures building up, coaching camps are swamped with children as young as four and five. If Sumer Kohli coaches with Vikram Sethi at the DGC every Friday, Karan Khaitan, 10, trains there with Ram Singh. Karan Bindra, head professional at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon, sees 35-40 children attend his month-long coaching camps; each of them shell out Rs 2,800 to learn the rudiments of irons and putts.

If the risks are high, so are the returns. Gurbaaz Mann, who was initiated into the game by his parents Meeta and IPS Mann, announced his decision to turn pro after returning from college in the US last summer. ‘‘They told me to play the qualifying school and then take it from there,’’ recalls the 20-year-old. ‘‘But he won, and there was nothing we could say,’’ laughs Meeta. With prize purses getting heavier—around Rs 20 lakh is up for grabs each week in the Indian tour tournaments—it is an option that leaves no room for complaint.

It is, moreover, a decision that justifies the twice-yearly visits of teaching professionals like Italian Donato de Ponziano and Australian Kel Llywellen. Last month also saw the arrival of PGA Design Consulting (PGADC), a four-member team that teaches beginners and hones players’ skills with the PGA Teaching System, the only amateur golf learning programme approved by the British PGA.

‘‘Golf is growing in India and we are very excited to be part of this growth,’’ says Beverly Hukes of the PGADC. While all four are fully qualified British PGA professionals, Mark Arnold is also a fitness trainer certified by Butch Harmon (Tiger Woods’s coach), and Peter Cain, a scratch golfer who still competes professionally, is a trick shot specialist.

‘‘The idea,’’ says Claire Waite, the fourth member of the team, ‘‘is helping players get things right and keep them right. They have to know how to move forward.’’

The right equipment, of course, helps. And entrepreneurs have been quick to spot the burgeoning market for the best. If virtually every sports shop in New Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai now stocks golf equipment and accessories, top international brands like Titleist, Callaway, Cobra, Reebok, Taylor Made, Adidas have their own distributors.

‘‘There has been a growth of about 40 per cent since 1992, when we started,’’ says Deepali Shah, director of the Mumbai-based Zaverchand Sports and Equipment, dealers in the leading brand names. ‘‘More and more people are opting to buy their gear here rather than cart it back from abroad since prices are the same everywhere and the full range is available here.’’

According to Digraj Singh, director of Tiger Sports—an event management company that organises 36 major corporate events and 25 professional events each year—the number of golfers in the country has doubled in the past two years. ‘‘Consider the Bombay Presidency Golf Club. A couple of years ago, finding a game on a weekend was no problem, now you have to book a week ahead.’’

But for families seeking to spend quality time together amid rolling greens, bracing air and relative calm, that’s a date worth making.