Know your Royal Ranthambore BT Golf venue: The Tollygunge Club

The Tollygunge Club, venue of Royal Ranthambore BT Golf’s second event of the 2023-24 season, started out as a plantation and has since undergone gone through several changes before settling on its current avatar of a golf course in the heart of Kolkata with a clubhouse that is both a historic structure and a classic example of Empire architecture.

Set up in 1895, the club has – besides its rich heritage – a long-standing sports traditions that offers members and visitors tennis courts, squash courts, two swimming pools, an equestrian centre and a gymnasium and spa. This is besides the sprawling club buildings that house accommodation and a good number of restaurants and bars.

A 6,292-yard 18-hole par-70 course that is in frequent use on the domestic professional tours, the Tolly track offers a series of challenges designed to test the skill and ability of not just amateur golfers but also those who play the game professionally. The course has undergone several upgrades mostly recently with its greens being re-laid as well.

Ball-hunting in the thick grass alongside its fairways or watching them disappear into the pond that guards the 10th hole’s fairway and other sundry hazards are to use a bad pun, par for the course.

The back nine has one tricky little hole, the par-4 16th that is both a test of accuracy as well as and ball-placing. The other trial was on the front nine, again a par-4, the dog-leg third hole that requires precision in finding the right lines particularly for the approach to the green.

Course facts: Par 70, Yardage 6292 from Blue tees, 5557 yards from Yellow tees.

Front nine (from Blue tees): Hole 1: 405 yds par-4, Stroke Index 7; Hole 2: 171 yds, par-3, SI 17; Hole 3: 415 yds, par-4; SI 1; Hole 4: 398 yds par-4, SI 11; Hole 5: 404 yds par-4, SI 3; Hole 6: 215 yds par-3, SI 13; Hole 7: 491 yds par-5, SI 9; Hole 8: 177 yds par-3; SI 15; Hole 9: 433 yds par-4, SI 5. Total 3109 yards.

Back nine (from Blue tees): Hole 10: 510 yds par-5; SI 14; Hole 11: 175 yds par-3, SI 16; Hole 12: 370 yds par-4; SI 10; Hole 13: 498 yds par-5, SI 4; Hole 14: 356

yds par-4, SI 12; Hole 15: 311 yds par-4, SI 6; Hole 16: 392 yds par-4; SI 2; Hole 17: 369 yds par-4, SI 8; Hole 18: 202 yds, par-3, SI 18. Total 3183 yards.