In Full Swing

While India’s golf tourism industry has considerable distance to cover before it can compete on a global scale, it is growing at a steady rate—and resorts are taking notice.

- Ashwin Rajagopalan

There’s one place in Bengaluru where rush hour usually starts at 6 am. I had to patiently wait in line at the KGA (Karnataka Golf Association) course to tee off on a Tuesday morning. Part of my ‘four-ball’ were two Korean visitors who were visibly excited, pausing for pictures that captured the occasional ‘birdie’ moment. This was their second course in as many days. You wouldn’t bracket them as ‘golf tourists’—they were in Bengaluru for business meetings— but they worked their schedule to include three hours at the golf course on each day. Such business travellers are fuelling India’s growing golf tourism industry.

India’s golf story is full of paradoxes. It’s home to the world’s oldest course outside the UK—the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) that was established in 1829. India lags behind evolved markets such as the US in terms of its golf hole-to-population ratio, and yet, it’s only behind Japan, South Korea and China in terms of the number of courses. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (popularly known as R&A, which operates out of the iconic St Andrews Golf course in Scotland, considered the home of the sport) released a report in 2016 that pegged India’s golf courses higher than the number in Thailand, which is one of the world’s fastest-growing golf tourism markets.

According to industry estimates, about 1.6 million golfers travel globally each year. At about $5 million, (the total estimate of India’s inbound and outbound golf tourism revenues), India’s share of the global revenues is clearly miniscule.