NEW DELHI: Golf has been synonymous with several tags over the years that haven’t resonated with Indian sports enthusiasts. From ‘The Rich Person’s Game’ to ‘Slow and Boring’, the game may have won classes in the country, but not the masses.
However, gaining Olympic recognition for the 2016 Games in Rio seems to have come at the right time for the sport to grow in the country. And at the forefront of developing the necessary infrastructure is Silverglades Development Company (SGDC) India Private Limited, the nation’s first ISO 9001:2000 registered golf development company based out of Gurugram in Haryana.
Founded in 2005, SGDC has made a name for itself in taking up turnkey operations for top golf courses in the country, notable ones being the Delhi Golf Club, Army Golf Course and Qutub Golf Course in the capital.
The Delhi Golf Club (DGC) is one of SGDC’s stellar projects as it lives up to its ethos and USP of ‘Sustainability’, which focuses on an eco-friendly way of constructing and maintaining golf courses.
The Sustainability umbrella consists of four aspects – water utilization and management, landscape & ecosystems planning, energy & resources utilization and effects on people & communities.
As SGDC India director and CEO Anit Mehrotra explained to SportzPower in an exclusive interaction, the DGC would get flooded easily over the last 40 years as it is located in a low-lying area. However, with the installation of 15 recharge wells and an automated irrigation system, the course was reconstructed in such a manner that no golf game will face any interruption because of a wet surface.
The presence of a drainage system that is linked to a catchment area, helps collect and save water during the rainy season, which can be used further for irrigation and maintenance. The process is also easier with no trees being cut. This saves the environment. SGDC’s template is now being used by the Delhi government for its other future golf projects.
Mehrotra can be seen as a man with an eye for the future, courtesy his expertise. He was involved heavily in the construction of the ITC Classic Golf Course in Haryana during his tenure with the top hotel chain. The course was designed courtesy Jack Nicklaus, a legend of the sport, and is India’s first 27-hole golf course which meets all international standards. Its success has made Mehrotra set the US Golf Association as the benchmark for all the company’s projects.
Having worked with designers of different repute and proficiencies, he points out that hiring a designer to conceptualize a basic golf course costs anywhere between $250,000 and $500,000, while specialized, high-end ones tend to charge between $1.5 million to $2.5 million.
A world-class 9 or 18 hole course can work out to anywhere between Rs 7.5 million to Rs 25 million per hole to be made, depending on the quality levels of the golf services on offer. So the cost of delivering a top of the line 18 hole course? According to Mehrotra, up to Rs 400 million at the top end.
SGDC has worked with Australia’s Ross Parrot for the Qutub Golf Course while another design company from the country, Pacific Coast Design was chosen for the Kashmir Golf Course (KGC) in Srinagar and Raipur Golf Course, both of which have a tremendous significance for SGDC.
Located in Srinagar, the KGC was destroyed in the 2014 floods but was reconstructed in 2017 as an 18-hole course. While the Raipur Golf Course is the first 18-hole golf course to be developed in Central India and is expected to be ready by 2019, courtesy a public-private partnership. The plan was so impressive that Mehrotra claims it also found investors from Japan and Korea.
Mehrotra believes that states such as Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are positive about wanting to follow the Chhattisgarh model and nurture professional Indian golf players who would go on to win Olympic and other international honours.
These two projects alongside the Thenzwal Golf Resort in Mizoram have caught the eye of other government authorities and corporates across the country, as the company has successfully ventured outside its comfort zone of Delhi, UP, Punjab and Haryana.
Thenzwal is the first golf course that an Indian state would come up with under the Ministry of Tourism’s ‘Swadesh Darshan Scheme’, with Graham Cooke Design of Canada chosen to conceptualize it. SGDC’s project management and design co-ordination along with irrigation design, supply and installation will ensure that the course is completed later this year, having begun work in December 2016.
This is quick speed considering that on an average, the process of developing an 18-hole golf course from signing a contract to its completion, takes anywhere between 24 and 28 months, according to Mehrotra. This also takes into account client acceptance and designer specification requirements. It is this efficiency that makes SGDC believe it can be the one-stop shop for golf infrastructure needs in India by the end of 2018 itself, already having a monopolistic 80% market share in the golf course construction business in this market.
Being the pioneers of Indian golf course development in the 15 years of its existence, SDGC has found itself co-ordinating with other state governments and authorities with Mehrotra also happening to be on the board of directors of the Golf Industry Association.
In collaboration with Ken Research, SDGC came out with a detailed 150-page report in 2016 which garnered a positive response from the ministries of Tourism, Finance, Sports and Commerce. A similar report will be presented next year.
In 2015, around 105,000 people aged 18 and above were surveyed taking up golf in the country with the highest growth witnessed in participation of junior golfers. The total value that golf has contributed to the Indian economy stands at a whopping Rs 22 billion. To have 12,989 jobs created during this period and having a Rs 2.4 billion wage and income value on aggregate, is a shot in the arm for the future of Indian golf, asserts Mehrotra.
On the other hand, SGDC is working with private players across the country for their real estate projects such as Godrej in Greater Noida, Lotus Greens in Noida, Hiranandani in Mumbai and to add to that, Cochin International Airport.
However, it will be an understatement to brand SGDC as a purely golfing company. It has ventured into cricket as well, working in tandem with the BCCI on a contractual basis for the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, PCA Stadium in Mohali and the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi, all of which continue to host international and IPL matches. With world-class infrastructure in all these stadiums, Mehrotra claims that Rs. 35-40 million were spent on an average. This is partially due to the fact that upgrading training facilities was made a top priority and seeds grown from hybrid grass were used.
It also has built a tennis court in Ranchi, expanding to 7,200 square feet that had cost approximately Rs 2.5 million to be constructed.
SGDC’s progress story has shown that infrastructure has an understated yet crucial ability to build a sporting revolution. For Mehrotra and team, it isn’t about just piling on the numbers but creating a significant impact especially at the ‘grassroots’ level.
If it has so much to its credit in 13 years of its existence, the next 13 are likely to see monumental changes in the industry, making it an interesting space to watch out for.
