The Hindu Business Line : Putting it across to the masses

In Gujarat, where cricket is considered the third religion after business and gastronomy, an investor has evolved the novel idea of taking golf, hitherto seen as an expensive game played by corporate honchos and celebrities, to the masses.

The idea is to first create golfing awareness, train the enthusiasts and then set up bigger golf courses.

Clients ranging from corporate houses to school children have started coming to the latest Cambay Golf Academy, which is scheduled to formally open on August 15, its Project Consultant, Colonel P.K. Uberoi, VSM, told Business Line here on Tuesday.

What is more, it would be a five-star facility with one-star charges, he quipped.

Neesa facilities

Neesa Leisure Ltd, promoters of Cambay Golf Academy, is an emerging hospitality major. The company is also coming up with a range of hospitality facilities in Gujarat and Rajasthan, said its Chief Operating Officer, Mr Sanjay Sharma.

Among the company's upcoming projects are a five-star hotel in Ahmedabad and a spa institute in Rajasthan. Neesa's flagship and the State's first five-star resort, Cambay Spa and Resort, launched in Gandhinagar with an investment of Rs 8 crore in 2004, is a successful venture, having broken even within two years.

Academy facilities

The academy, first of its kind in Gujarat, is being set up in a 16-acre area with an initial investment of Rs 15 crore. It would have a six-hole, two-storeyed golf course with an artificial, fully-covered roof for executive day-and-night play. It would have a natural turf on the roof.

Its driving range, 240-metre long and 40-m wide, started on June 18. The academy will have 16 driving stations, half of them each on the ground and the first floor. For the trainees, it would offer a videogame-like simulation technique through three-dimensional screen in an audio-visual hall where they would be taught the finer points of the game, apart from classroom activity. It would involve a lot of science, semantics of golf, rules and etiquettes, the Colonel said.

The academy will also have a professional shop to market the golf merchandise and accessories at discounted prices to the members, besides a coffee shop and a lounge. It would have mechanical and manual ball-pickers for smooth supply of balls.

The academy has chalked out a number of packages, including those for housewives and children, at affordable fees.