The Glorious history of INDIAN GOLF
The Glorious history of INDIAN GOLF. Although there are currently 196 golf courses in India and about 2.5 lakh golfers, the game’s history is fascinating. And here’s the story: The Royal Calcutta Golf Team was formed way earlier in 1829 until the first golf course was created in the USA and Europe. But it wasn’t given the moniker “Royal” until 1911 after King George V and Queen Mary gave it the honorary name in honour of their trip to Calcutta. So it became the oldest golf club in the United Kingdom and the earliest in India. So over a long time, the Royal Calcutta Golf Club was at the centre of the tale of golf in India.
India was ruled by the British throughout this period, and as a consequence, several new golf courses emerged as a consequence of British impact. In 1842, the Bangalore Golf Club was founded, and the now-defunct Royal Bombay Golf Club two years later. Eventually, in 1898, a team of British civil service personnel who worked together to build a course at a location known as Laban brought golf to Shillong. There were twelve golf clubs in India at the beginning of the century.
Whenever five golfers in Calcutta (now Kolkata) gathered and founded the Indian Golf Association, a notable change in Indian golf history occurred. Before the establishment of the IGU, most golf clubs in India were affiliated with the Royal Calcutta Club and played by the St. Andrews regulations of Scotland.
Following its establishment, the IGU set out to develop the sport in India. IGU launched its inaugural training programme at the National in Calcutta in 1957 with the goal of teaching assistant players and caddies. The International Amateur Golf Council, now recognized as the International Golf Organization, accepted IGU as a member the next year.
The India Open Golf Tournament was held in Delhi six years later, in 1964. Currently, this is India’s biggest significant golf event. The famous golf competition known as the Indian Open joined the Asia Pacific International in 1970 and is now co-sanctioned by the European Route.
In 1965, P.G. Sethi won the Indian Championship, becoming the nation’s first and only amateur player. Ali Sher, an Indian player, became the second Indian to dominate the competition in 1991. In the national tournament category at the 1982 Asian Championships, the Indian men’s golf squad excelled and took home the gold. The winner of the competition was Lakshman Rai.
Jeev Milkha Singh opened new possibilities for Indian golf in the international game in 1994. Jeev Singh, a successful golfer and the son of the great Indian sportsman Milkha Singh, helped to popularise the game of golf in India. Jeev played in the European Championship for the first time in 1998 and has won four titles, the most of any Indian to present.
After a stellar showing in their 20s, Singh becomes the first Indian to place in the list of 100 of the Real World Golf Championships. Several well-recognized golfers who have provided the reason for optimism include Arjun Atwal, the very first Indian to capture the Wyndham Tournament in 2010, and Jyoti Randhawa, who won the Asian Tour’s No. 1 player honour in 2002.
In addition, the organization that oversees competitive golf in India was established in 2006 (PGTI). Although there have been prior official tours, the PGTI tipped the balance for Indian golf and made substantial contributions to the development of the sport there. As a result, the World Golf Federation, the main golf federal-state council globally, accepted PGTI into membership in 2009.
In 2018, the number of foreign professionals joining the PGTI became unrestricted, making it an international tour. Due to the difficult home tour of PGTI, many talented players are now showcasing their abilities on the global stage.
Since that day, Indian golf has advanced significantly, and thanks to the combined efforts of numerous individuals and regulatory organisations, the sport has expanded to every city in the nation. With this momentum and exceptional skill, golf will soon rank among the major sports in India.
Golf has historically ranked among the highest-paid sports in the globe. The quantity of income a golfer may make after capturing a tournament in the modern world cannot be matched by that of any other game. In addition, the wealthy and upper-class members of society currently play golf, and most of the world’s highest earners own golf courses. One of the most lucrative and well-liked sports in the modern world is golf.