JUST ONE word: dreamlike—and that’s not intended to be some hyperbolic paean to natural beauty, location, layout, course-conditioning or any other virtue of a golf course that could possibly be embellished with that adjective. Honestly, it’s not even an over-the-top description: I can’t think of a more precise, descriptive way of encapsulating the 27 holes I played on a breezy March afternoon at the Aamby Valley GC.
It helped that I was by myself. Unlike a lot of people (and like some others), I don’t mind playing alone. Sure, it takes the competitive edge off the game and, if you do happen to make an ace, then you can’t really get that accredited at the club. There’s no nassau to be won, and no one to appreciate your good shots. But a solitary game is, in a way, golf at its purest: man vs golf course. There’s no pressure besides what you decide to exert on yourself, and there’s certainly no gamesmanship. It’s almost meditative.
But I digress: coming back to the game in question, not only was I playing by myself, but was the only golfer—on a spring day tailor-made for the game—on the Aamby Valley GC. More on the course later, but it should suffice to say that even by the dispassionate standards of course-conditioning, the Aamby Valley GC would easily rank in the top five courses in the country. Add to that a spectacular natural location—on a sloping forested patch abutting a deep valley and encircled by low rolling hills; a complete lack of man-made sounds—silence except the chirping of birds and wind whistling through trees scythed occasionally by the sound of your golf club swishing through the air; a gem of a layout, one of the better ones by David Hemstock; and you’ll forgive me for gushing. If you dream about golf, as most of us do, then this is pretty much how that would pan out.
I was instantly reminded of a round I played under the Midnight Sun in Levi, Finland, very close to the Arctic Circle. The silence there was surreal because even the birds were quiet at night—but this came pretty close. The parallel seems to articulate better than the description, and I’ve had a go at both now. In all fairness, the sense of surreal isolation—heightened by the fact that you’re not in some wilderness but rather in a curated urban environment—is all-pervasive at the Aamby Valley. Here you are, in the middle of what seems like a strangely deserted township, a couple of hours from Pune (or Mumbai), replete with Finnish log cabins, neat tree-lined streets, even a lakeside promenade, and all the sports and hospitality facilities you would care to think of. Everything, except people, that is. The maintenance staff is present to be sure, but they go about their work in a discreet unobtrusive way. Every now and then, you hear the whirr of propellors and see a flying boat come in for a splash landing at the lake, bringing guests from Mumbai. This is high living all right.
So it comes as no surprise that the golf course is quiet on a weekday afternoon. I’m the only golfer on the full-fledged driving range where I decide to warm up, with perfect stacks of golf balls lined up in every bay. Rental clubs are available, as are carts, if you decide to use one—personally speaking, it’s a travesty not to walk this layout, but those who’re not in great physical shape ( the layout is a bit undulating to say the least!) might do well to at least keep a cart on standby.
Straight off the bat, even on the first tee, it’s apparent that the lack of rush on the course is no reflection of its calibre—that’s entirely due to its location and green fee. A round here needs pretty much an entire day, including travel from Mumbai or Pune. And at R5,000, it’s certainly not a cheap proposition. But the David Hemstock design, which has been around since 2003, is as immaculately maintained as any of the top-notch layouts in the country. Spread over 250 acres at an elevation of 2,700 ft, the course literally flows along the natural contours of the Sahyadri Ranges. The course, which was remodelled as a championship venue by PGA DC of Great Britain and Ireland, also has a PGA accredited golfing academy. And while it’s certainly not an easy layout to get about, I would proffer that it’s an ideal venue to learn the game. Besides the fact that you’re not likely to be on the clock and sandwiched between groups, the tight layout places a natural emphasis on precision over length, imparting an invaluable lesson to beginners. And there are five tees to choose from, which make it ideal for golfers of varying abilities.
If you do choose to play from the black tees, you’ve got just over 7,000 yards to contend with. The front nine is relatively dry and uses a series of intercrossing valleys to confound golfers off the tee—it’s impossible to discern the right line unless you’ve got a caddy advising you on the best way to approach the holes. The greens are pretty tricky as well and just planning to hit them in regulation doesn’t work well—you’ve got to aim for specific spots. The back nine, on the other hand, use a series of water bodies to amp up the challenge. Water comes into play no matter which tee you’re playing off and requires canny course management to negotiate.
The signature hole—the absolutely stunning 167-yard par 3 15th—is a deceptively difficult stunner of a hole with out-of-bounds lurking behind the green, and all along the left side of the fairway, and a low-lying trough short of the green. The trough makes the hole seem shorter than it is, and the crosswinds mean that you could be using anything from a seven-iron to a rescue. Don’t forget to walk to the left edge of the tee and peer down the chasm all the way down to the water body from where the township gets all its water.
The par 4, 18th is a fitting culmination to the course’s visual appeal with sweeping views of the township and, if you happen to finish in the evening, then the spectacle of the sun setting over the Koraigad Fort in the distance is likely to be your defining memory here.
Doesn’t mean you need to stop there though: the course is fully floodlit, although the lights are only switched on, provided there’s at least a couple of fourballs on the course. On this particular day I had to call it a day at dusk—and that’s the only thing that would have stopped me; 36 holes here: one round in the morning, and another after lunch, are par for the course at the Aamby Valley GC.
A golfer, Meraj Shah also writes about the game.
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