Jorhat: Fairway to heaven. That’s the only way one can describe the Kaziranga Golf Resort, which is set for an October 30 launch.
The club house of the Kaziranga Golf Resort. Picture by Santosh Ghosh
The 18-hole par-71 facility is the first true championship course in the North East and as the brochure says it will be a golfing experience like no other. The course, an initiative of B&A Group’s chairman Hemendra Prasad Barooah, is crafted in the middle of the meandering Sangsua Tea Garden.
“This 6900-yard course was completed in just 18 months and I doubt whether any course in the country has been designed and completed in such a short time,” AK Chowdhuri, managing director, of the resort said at a media conference, here, on Tuesday.
What makes this course unique is a train line, which runs parallel to the 13th hole. “I do not think you will see anything like this anywhere in the country. In Europe you may find some courses but not in India,” Chowdhuri boasted.
“The course is designed in such a way that it’s a perfect blend of natural beauty and man-made water bodies,” he said. Chowdhuri said that they are planning to organise tournaments in the near future. But that plan may hit a bottleneck as the golf calender is packed till November 2013.
“We have seen sometimes sponsors of a particular tournament backing out at the last moment. And therein we can fit in very well, organising a tournament here,” Chowdhuri was speculative.
So how much will be the cost of hosting a tournament? “To organise a decent tournament you need at least Rs 60 lakh. We have to find sponsors.”
The resort will cater the golfers of all levels — beginners, intermediate and experts. The lay-out is challenging with the 17th hole being the toughest. “It will be not easy for a professional,” says Rizwan Ali, who will be teaching the game to the budding players.
There are some dogleg holes like the ninth and the 11th and those make it all the more interesting.
The golf resort, Brandon de Souza Management Services is doing the marketing, has the longest driving range — 280 yards — in the country and since it’s double-sided it can cater to as many as 72 golfers at the same time.
Chowdhuri said Barooah’s dream was to have a golf course which will be unique. “So you have this course. It’s on a land of 150 acres and designed by Ranjit Nanda.”
Chowdhuri said proximity to the Kaziranga National Park, just 96 kilometres from the course, also gives the resort an added advantage. “This can be a perfect holiday destination for those who want to spend time in a relaxed atmosphere.”
He also had an interesting tale to tell. “When we were digging up the land there used to mountains of sand here. And our security guards spotted a leopard and her cubs playing on the sand.” So a chance encounter with a leopard also cannot be ruled out!