Know your Royal Ranthambore BT Golf Venue: Panchkula Golf Club

The fourth leg of Royal Ranthambore BT Golf 2023-24 will be played at the par-72 Panchkula Golf Club on Saturday, December 16 providing a new venue for the revived tournament in its second season.

The links-style Panchkula course now in its 20th year, a relatively new arrival but has become a fixture on the professional tour for men besides providing a testing track for amateurs of all levels. It was renovated and upgraded in 2009 by Golf Design India.

Conveniently accessible from Chandigarh and its satellite cities, the 7,000-plus yard PGC course is laid out along the banks of the Ghargar River, which breached its banks in July and caused heavy damage especially to parts of the back nine and driving range area. Swift restoration however has seen the course back on its feet and it even hosted a PGTI tournament – the Haryana Open in end-October.

The course itself is a long and rambling track that is framed by the foothills of the Shivalik Range on one side and the river on the other. Wind too is a factor as it blows through the year and proximity to the hills and the river valley means it can often affect ball flight. On the back nine, finding water can play on the mind a great deal while thick roughs flank the course all the way,

At the same time, the fairways and greens at their best make the Panchkula Golf Club course a delight to play on. While the soft fairway turn encourages ball-striking, the greens are large and true. Says the club website, “Reckoned to possess amongst the finest of greens in the Chandigarh region, the Tiff dwarf grass has recently been sanded to make the greens true holding and fast. The undulations to the greens, which are cut to 3.5mm, add the distinctly West-style, design to the greens.

“The greens are large and spread to an average that meets international standards. Rolling, undulating fairways carpeted with a velvety Bermuda grass lend themselves to soft divots that often fly in one piece when the ball is hit solidly with the wedges and the short irons. Flat, evenly-mowed tees allow golfers to feel comfortable while setting up their stance.”

The 18 holes follow the standard distribution of four par-5s, four par-3s and 10 par-4s and particularly on the front nine, the wide fairways that are in some cases laid in parallel give scope to err and recover. This luxury though is not so easily available on the back nine which is narrower and more demanding in terms of accuracy.

Panchkula Golf club course

Total length: 7,170 yards (blue/championship tees), 6.639 yards (white tees), 5,975 yards (gold tees) and 5.025 yards (red tees)

Front nine (from white tees): Hole 1 322 yards, par-4; hole 2 201 yards par-3. hole 3 346 yards, par-4; hole 4 233 yards, par-3; hole 5 555 yards, par-5; hole 6 298 yards, par-4; hole 7 573 yards, par-5; hole 8 455 yards, par-4; hole 9 403 yards, par-4.

Back nine: Hole 10 345 yards, par-4; hole 11 299 yards, par-4; hole 12 543 yards, par-5; hole 13 134 yards, par-3; hole 14 415 yards, par-4; hole 15 551 yards, par-5; hole 16 362 yards, par-4; hole 17 161 yards,p14-3; hole 18 453 yards, par-4.