Golfer’s Journal
OLD WORLD CHARM
Eccentricities abound at Sri Lanka’s Royal Colombo Golf Club
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or the golf-starved traveller, the most rewarding aspect of wondering aimlessly through Asia is that you’re pretty much bound to discover great courses in the most unlikely of places. Whether you find yourself in the steamy jungles of Sumatra or in the cooler central highlands of the Malaysian peninsula, there is seemingly always a worthy layout to get your softspikes stuck into. I was reminded of this very fact on a recent trip to Sri Lanka. Compared to the golfing nirvanas of Thailand, Japan and, increasingly, China, this island nation, home to 18 million people and only four courses, doesn’t really ‘do’ golf. Cricket rules the roost here, and all other sports take a back seat. But don’t let that put you off. The golf here, what little they have of it, is good—and at the Royal Colombo Golf Club they have one of the most intriguing courses around. Established in 1879, making it one of the oldest clubs outside the British Isles, Royal Colombo is situated in the western suburbs of the country’s commercial capital, barely a 15-minute taxi ride from the main international hotels of the city’s financial district. Unfortunately, I travelled to the club by tuk-tuk (or threewheeler, as the Sri Lankans refer to these motorized tricycles), which adds at least 10 minutes and immeasurable discomfort to the journey. But I Royal Colombo Golf Club forgot all about that when I arrived Model Farm Road, Colombo 8 at what, in my mind at least, is one of Tel: +94 (011) 269-5431 the best clubhouses in the world. Website: www.rcgcsl.com Call me old-fashioned, but I am Yardage: 6,353. Par: 71 not a fan of the large, grandiose Walking course; caddies mandatory structures, featuring spas, saunas, Greens Fee: 2,400 rupees (HK$170)
squash courts and swimming pools, that pass for clubhouses at the majority of Asia’s newer courses. For me, a good 19th hole should be functional: a simple locker-room, a well-stocked pro shop, an even better-stocked bar and a restaurant serving a decent array of carbohydratebased snacks. Royal Colombo has all of this, plus a wonderful veranda overlooking the eighth and 18th greens where you can relax with a bottle of locally brewed Lion lager and watch the club’s ageing membership hack their way back home. The waiters may not run around barefoot as they did back in colonial days, but they’re unfalteringly polite and quick to make recommendations from the club’s exotic menu. Like almost everywhere else in Asia, caddies are a mainstay at Royal Colombo, but unlike the pretty young girls you tend to find in other countries, Royal Colombo’s caddies are all men—and what’s more they know their stuff. Jinasena, a 60-year-old Sinhalese with wild facial hair, was the man chosen to lug my hefty bag around for the afternoon and was quick to provide every ounce of information that I—or Tiger Woods—would ever need. “This is a short par-4, Sir,” he advised when we reached the second tee. “Aim at the lone tree on the left with your drive. A good shot here will only leave a pitching wedge to the green. But watch out! The pond in front of the putting surface will gobble up any short shots, so better to be long with your approach. Also the green has a lot of slope…are you a good putter, Sir?” “Well, I suppose I have my moments,” I said. “Then this is an excellent birdie opportunity,” he replied, oozing misplaced confidence by the bucketload. After slicing my ball onto the railway track that runs parallel with the fairway, Jinasena, his faith in my abilities well and truly extinguished, boasted: “I play to a handicap of three. But I’d be a WWW.HKGA.COM
lot better than that if they allowed us caddies to play more.” The real joy of playing Royal Colombo, however, comes from the variety of flora and fauna encountered on the course. Magnificent acacia and mara trees line many of the holes here, while lotus-filled ponds and lakes, home to great numbers of storks, ibis, spoonbills and pelicans, serve as the course’s predominant hazards. Giant monitor lizards—some of which measure up to five feet in length—can be seen sunning themselves by the side of the fairways, while snakes of all descriptions are said to lurk in the higher grasses of the rough. A round of golf at Royal Colombo is akin to walking through a wildlife sanctuary, the only difference being the occasional need to whack a small white ball towards a flag somewhere in the distance. To be perfectly honest, Royal Colombo will never make it onto a list of Asia’s best courses. It’s a little too rough around the edges, a little too eccentric perhaps, for those who judge these things. But that’s hardly the point. This is a complete one-off. A course with history, character and hardy old men called Jinasena who will carry your bag and regale you with stories of the club’s rich past. It is, I’m afraid to say, one of a dying breed.
Ball Boys Just skewed your drive into a lake? No problem. For a flat fee of 30 rupees (about HK$4), a sarong-clad villager will dive into the murky depths and retrieve it for you. An absolute blessing, given the price of golf balls today!
All Aboard the Bogey Train While the title of Royal Colombo’s hardest hole probably goes to the par-4 1st, which requires a long arrow-straight drive followed by a good mid-iron over a pond, things don’t get much more surreal than playing the 6th—but only at around 8am in the morning. At first glance there’ s nothing particularly taxing about this par-four. It measures less than 300-yards and the landing area is more than generous. But wonder up the fairway, and at roughly 50-yards short of the green you’ll notice that a railway track bisects the hole. This is the Kelani Valley railway line and every morning the Kelani Valley Express whooshes through ferrying commuters into the centre of Colombo. Free relief (two clublengths) is permitted for anyone whose ball comes to rest on the track.
HK GOLFER・MAY/JUNE 2008
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