Hero Indian Open 2023: Know your venue, the DLF Golf and Country Club

The Hero Indian Open 2023 will host its fourth successive edition – broken by a three-year Covid-enforced break – at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon, Haryana. The sprawling venue opened back in 1999 and has become one of India’s most exclusive and desired golf venues. It is also the country’s most difficult course, measuring a massive 7,684 yards from the Gold Tees, which the professionals will be playing off.

The DLF Golf and Country Club in fact hosted its first international event, on India’s first Arnold Palmer Signature course in 2007, the Hero Women’s Indian Open on the Ladies European Tour and thereafter for the next five years in succession. The men’s event was played there for the first time in 2009, all on the Arnold Palmer layout, which also hosted the Johnnie Walker Classic (2008) and three editions of the European Tour’s (now DP World Tour) Avantha Masters from 2010 to 2012.

In 2015, the club management threw open its Gary Player design that vastly increased the course’s rating and degree of difficulty as it completely recast the layout, including the nine holes of the original Arnold Palmer design. It was also the venue for that year’s Hero Women’s Indian Open and immediately created a buzz. The Gary Player design was split between the Lake Nine (holes 1 to 9) and the Quarry Nine (holes 10 to 18) and measured 7,684 yards making even the most hardened of professionals squirm at the prospect of taking it on.

Additionally, the DLF Golf and Country Club is home to one of the country’s most successful academies, the DLF Golf Academy that has been in continuous operation since 1999. Over the years, it has produced a host of players – amateurs and professionals – who have dominated the national scene including the Professional Golf Tour of India and the Women’s Professional Golf Tour.

The club website says thus of the academy: “A panel of highly trained instructors teach golf in a structured manner, yet cater to needs of every individual golfer. The instructors recognise that the students learn golf for a variety of reasons and that the pace of learning is unique to each student. Programs are thus designed to suit all level of golfers.

“All nine professionals at the Academy are certified by the National Golf Academy of India, and come with more than 15 years of teaching experience. The team specializes in junior programs and in the use of golf teaching technology for all levels of golfers. The Academy also offers golf specific fitness training and has a highly certified resident Fitness coach to assist the students with their fitness routines.”

With the Hero Indian Open resuming after 2019, it will be a reunion of members from the DP World Tour and the PGTI with a temperamental and demanding track that will test their skills and determination to the utmost.

Course layout: Front nine 3,715 yards, Back Nine 3,969 yards. Total: 7,684 yards

Lake Nine: Hole 1: 424 yds, par-4; Hole 2: 454 yds, par-4; Hole 3: 252 yds, par-3; Hole 4: 570 yds, par-5; Hole 5: 190 yds, par-3; Hole 6: 446 yds, par-4; Hole 7: 456 yds, par-4; Hole 8: 566 yds, par-5; Hole 9: 357 yds, par-4

Quarry Nine: Hole 10: 476 yds, par-4; Hole 11: 402 yds, par-4; Hole 12: 178 yds, par-3; Hole 13: 421 yds, par-4; Hole 14: 550 yds, par-4; Hole 15: 631 yds, par-5; Hole 16: 273 yds, par-3; Hole 17: 414 yds, par-4; Hole 18: 624 yds, par-5.