Golf in Kashmir

the membership entitles you to use the clubhouse restaurant facilities. You can hire a golf set and balls for the day from the pro-shops at Gulmarg. Should you want to brush up your play, or simply to learn golf for the first time, there are competent trainers at both clubs. The layout of both the courses, too, will delight the golfers.

Golf in Srinagar
Srinagar has an 18-hole golf course with common fairways, and a par of 70. This course is open throughout the year, unless snowbound in winter.

Kashmir Golf Club, Srinagar
The Kashmir Golf Club at Srinagar is interspersed between chinar and pine trees and a professional 18-hole course. This golf course has been the venue of many tournaments. The Kashmir Golf Club has all the luxuries fitted that make playing golf a memorable experience. It is spread over 52 sprawling acres of lush land adjoining the Maulana Azad Road. The course has common fairways and a par of 70. Srinagar offers an exclusive opportunity for golf enthusiasts to play through an extended summer, from April to November. While the plains are boiling, Srinagar's temperate climate allows the golfer to play longer hours without getting tired. Its president, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, is himself a keen golfer. Associated with history of Kashmir Golf Club is its famous pro man of many golfing facets, the 98-year old Ghulam Mohammad. In 1930, he was the first golfing professional in India. He trained hundreds of aspiring golfers during his long career as a golfing pro. Ghulam Mohammad started his life as a fore caddy in the early years of this century. Later, he went on to play to a scratch handicap for 30 years. Through time, he trained famous golfers of India like the late Billoo PG Sethi, the late Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir, the late Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and J.S Pathak. He has also trained Farooq Abdullah who began playing golf since the age of 12, and today is living up to his teacher’s name. According to Ghulam Mohammad, "golf is like an addiction. You can’t have enough of it."

aesthetic delight and golfing pleasure and is a truly transcending experience for the golfers and nature lovers. The 118 holes, 6445 mtrs. Course at a par of 72 offer a challenge to all levels of players. The fairways are turfed with coolweather grass of different Shades. Rye, Kentucky blue and tall frescoes border trees and lend a touch of colour throughout the golfing season. The club building is built in a style which reminds of old Kashmiri architecture with separate wings of locker rooms and other facilities.

There was a separate 6-hole course for children. By 1920, the resort was totally covered with two 18-hole courses, the ‘Upper’ and the ‘Lower’ course and one 9-hole middle course, which was more famous as the ‘Rabbits Course’. Gulmarg, with its rarefied atmosphere, is natural all the way. As the ball is hit, it 'whistles' its way to the next hole. The turf, since it lies buried six to eight feet under snow for five months of the year, is soft. The greens have a combination of moss and a high variety of grass and natural slopes, which are fast to play on, and the thin air carries the ball further. Golfing at Gulmarg's 18-hole course, with a par of 72, is a unique experience. The golf course at Gulmarg is situated at a height of 2,650 meters. It is the highest green golf course in the world. The layout of this golf course is strikingly different from other golf courses – the land slopes and inclines along the complete area of the course, which has a par of 72. The historic Gulmarg Golf Club was started in 1911 by the British who used the place as a holiday resort. The golf club first opened its doors in 1904.Since then it has seen over four score years of tournaments of both amateurs and professionals, of men, women and children. The J&K Tourism Development Corporation now manages the Club.

The Gulmarg Golf Club
The first Golf championship was played at Gulmarg in 1922. The Nedou's Cup was introduced in 1929. In 1930, ‘The World’ beat Scotland. The same year saw the D.P. Vasu Championship for Women and the Children's Golf Competition. In 1931 the women's foursomes played at Gulmarg on the Lower Course. The Northern India Amateur Golf Championship was played from 1947 to 1953. After the troubled times of 1948 when golfing had come to stand still, the J&K government took over the maintenance of 18 hole course. Enthusiasts welcomed the revival of golf in Gulmarg in 1954 when many events, such as Duncan Vase, O.P. Vase, Civil Cup and Nedou’s Cup tournaments were held. Peter Thomson Associates of Australia redesigned and laid out the golf course to fit it with its natural beauty, by changing the location of greens and making it more challenging. The Northern India Championship was played at Gulmarg till 1989 when it had to be shifted to the Delhi Golf Club due to problems in the Valley.