http://willingdonsportsclubgolf.golfgaga.com
So on a revision day for Connor - whilst he is learning about Mumbai for his Geography AS 1 (true dat no sheeeeiite - family joke) - what can I do? I know I'll ask the concierge to organise a game of golf - I need the practice - maybe I'll learn something about this place myself - "simples".
Ring ring ring ring. Valencia on the concierge desk phones me in my room and informs me that she has booked a round of golf for me at the famous Willingdon Golf and Country Club - one of India's first golf clubs. Great, I wonder what that will be like???? "Mr Dolan you will be playing with the hotel General Manager at 2:30pm, you will need to hire a caddie and a ball spotter (they'd obviously heard about my last few rounds at Aintree Golf Club) and I presume you will want to hire golf shoes as well as your golf clubs?".
OMG. Don't fancy playing with the General Manager - don't need that pressure! I apologise for the hassle I have caused Valencia and decline to play on the grounds that I don't want to put the General Manager to any trouble. She accepts my apology.
Two minutes later ring ring ring. "Hello it is Valencia here from Concierge. Your car is waiting to take you to the golf club. Mr Rogers is waiting in the foyer to escort you. He has to sign you in but understands that you do not wish to play with him because you are chicken"........not exactly what she said but what she meant .......,Valencia just wouldnt take no for an answer. Maybe it's a Concierge badge of honour thing or the fact that her boss is now involved. Connors shaking his head but I accept and sound as pleased as I can. Changing into my golf pants and best short sleeved shirt (ie not the new Hawaiian flowered number that I am saving for the Old Buggers Tour), I confess to being a little bit excited and now genuinely chuffed that Valencia has made the effort and persuaded me to play.
Chris Rogers, the South African sounding Four Seasons GM from Yorkshire, is actually a nice guy and when I find out that he is a 24 Handicapper I regret not taking his offer to accompany him. Too late. In the limo he gives me the lowdown on the rules and regulations of the Willingdon, the fact that due to it being strictly members only that normally guests are only allowed to play if playing with a member but hopefully (!!!!) in this case they will permit him to sign me in on condition I go round with a playing caddie and a spotter. He tells me how much to tip the at the end, not to take photographs near the club house and numerous list of course rules that I forgot immediately. I arrive at the Willingdon to exactly what I now, given the briefing, expected - a bastion of British Colonialism with the only difference being that in modern India the white patrons of bygone days had seemingly been replaced by the rich Indian castes of Mumbai. Or was it? Actually Lord Willingdon founded the club in 1937 to create a place where none whites could participate in sports alongside and with their British white counterparts ie he wanted to play a round with the Indian Mahuraja.....not exactly a Mumbai Martin Luther King then....so yeah I was 3/4 right.
What a fantastic afternoon it turned out to be. My playing caddie, Dev (honest Chess), played off 7, he selected all my clubs (I couldn't refuse a little help), told me where to aim (in English: 'left hand side of the fairway, water on the right' - under his breath in Hindi....'just twat it'), pointed out the hazards and the history of the landscapes that surrounded the course. My spotter (who actually didn't need to spot anything I was that good -I amazed myself), Sanjay, played off 11, gave me the line on all the greens and pointed out how to improve various aspects of my game (mostly putting). I wish I could take them to Italy for the annual "Old Buggers Tour Golf Comp".
So on a revision day for Connor - whilst he is learning about Mumbai for his Geography AS 1 (true dat no sheeeeiite - family joke) - what can I do? I know I'll ask the concierge to organise a game of golf - I need the practice - maybe I'll learn something about this place myself - "simples".
Ring ring ring ring. Valencia on the concierge desk phones me in my room and informs me that she has booked a round of golf for me at the famous Willingdon Golf and Country Club - one of India's first golf clubs. Great, I wonder what that will be like???? "Mr Dolan you will be playing with the hotel General Manager at 2:30pm, you will need to hire a caddie and a ball spotter (they'd obviously heard about my last few rounds at Aintree Golf Club) and I presume you will want to hire golf shoes as well as your golf clubs?".
OMG. Don't fancy playing with the General Manager - don't need that pressure! I apologise for the hassle I have caused Valencia and decline to play on the grounds that I don't want to put the General Manager to any trouble. She accepts my apology.
Two minutes later ring ring ring. "Hello it is Valencia here from Concierge. Your car is waiting to take you to the golf club. Mr Rogers is waiting in the foyer to escort you. He has to sign you in but understands that you do not wish to play with him because you are chicken"........not exactly what she said but what she meant .......,Valencia just wouldnt take no for an answer. Maybe it's a Concierge badge of honour thing or the fact that her boss is now involved. Connors shaking his head but I accept and sound as pleased as I can. Changing into my golf pants and best short sleeved shirt (ie not the new Hawaiian flowered number that I am saving for the Old Buggers Tour), I confess to being a little bit excited and now genuinely chuffed that Valencia has made the effort and persuaded me to play.
Chris Rogers, the South African sounding Four Seasons GM from Yorkshire, is actually a nice guy and when I find out that he is a 24 Handicapper I regret not taking his offer to accompany him. Too late. In the limo he gives me the lowdown on the rules and regulations of the Willingdon, the fact that due to it being strictly members only that normally guests are only allowed to play if playing with a member but hopefully (!!!!) in this case they will permit him to sign me in on condition I go round with a playing caddie and a spotter. He tells me how much to tip the at the end, not to take photographs near the club house and numerous list of course rules that I forgot immediately. I arrive at the Willingdon to exactly what I now, given the briefing, expected - a bastion of British Colonialism with the only difference being that in modern India the white patrons of bygone days had seemingly been replaced by the rich Indian castes of Mumbai. Or was it? Actually Lord Willingdon founded the club in 1937 to create a place where none whites could participate in sports alongside and with their British white counterparts ie he wanted to play a round with the Indian Mahuraja.....not exactly a Mumbai Martin Luther King then....so yeah I was 3/4 right.
What a fantastic afternoon it turned out to be. My playing caddie, Dev (honest Chess), played off 7, he selected all my clubs (I couldn't refuse a little help), told me where to aim (in English: 'left hand side of the fairway, water on the right' - under his breath in Hindi....'just twat it'), pointed out the hazards and the history of the landscapes that surrounded the course. My spotter (who actually didn't need to spot anything I was that good -I amazed myself), Sanjay, played off 11, gave me the line on all the greens and pointed out how to improve various aspects of my game (mostly putting). I wish I could take them to Italy for the annual "Old Buggers Tour Golf Comp".
What about the other 1/4 - you decide. Although their English wasn't great they were great Lads and chatty. They played in all the comps and the club loaned them clubs and equipment to play. As a team the Caddies beat the members regularly and were the current champions of the Mumbai Caddies league, though they couldn't play the members of other clubs in any competitions they earned a living and got to talk and play golf all day........ sadly you don't need me to tell you that you could do a lot worse outside the gates of the club. During the round the course crossed a road that took us through a slum area. Dev and Sanjay both lived local. Maybe they lived there......
The rest of the course was immaculate, beautiful, an oasis in the noise and chaos of the real Mumbai. At times it seemed like I was the only one playing - I swear I only saw 5 maybe 6 other golfers - perhaps the afternoon heat was not the time to play for the patrons. Apart from me and the other 6 golfers I did however see; the odd small group of Indian women sitting in the fairway, a man in the lake on the par 3 14th whose job was to retrieve miss directed or short tee shots - he stayed in the lake all day!!! - and a couple of packs of 'course dogs'. I asked Dev about the wildlife at one point and he pointed out a couple of birds and a micro squirrel......'no snakes today' he said.......lucky for me..... as that possibility included a black headed cobra and three other poisonous varieties.
So what about the golf I hear you ask. Pretty good. One completely fluffed shot and one ball in that par 3 lake. Great (unusually for me) off the tee with some very long drives, putting very poor first 5/6 holes, pitching not the best.......but ended up 21 over par (decent for my 24 HC) with a score of 36, due to a par, a birdie and pretty much nothing worse than bogie on most holes including 5 of the 6 where I had two shots. Chuffed with that - actually meant to be a pretty tough course - though as I said I had a little bit of guidance.
At the end of the round I tipped well, the round itself although expensive locally cost me about £50 including the hires of clubs, shoes, a caddie and a spotter+ the purchase of balls, a glove and a cap., which Dev kindly signed for me...... You never know he might be famous one day.
The Willigdon Golf Club experience, Mumbai, India. A Geography and History AS revision rolled into one.
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