Know your Royal Ranthambore BT Golf venue: Prestige Golfshire Club

Adjudged India’s best golf course at the 2024 World Golf Awards besides a host of past such honours, the international management company Troon Golf-run and maintained 18-hole, par-72 Prestige Golfshire Club championship course offers an interesting challenge, and is a regular venue on the women’s professional tour. It will also host a major event in late April pitting men and women professionals playing for a combined Rs 2 crore prize purse. 

Situated in the shadow of the fabled Nandi Hills in the Devanhalli area outside Bangalore, the Golfshire course was developed over 275 acres on a mixed model. Designed by British architect Bob Hunt and opened in 2011, the sprawling and picturesque course has since gained a reputation for its testing design and impeccable maintenance that can often leave conflicting emotions in the hearts of golfers pitting their skills against the layout. 

Hunt has used the landscape well especially its contours besides the presence of lakes and ponds to create a track that mixes the characteristics of a parkland course and a links-style one. Overlooking the course are the Nandi Hills which house a medieval fortress and is a popular weekend retreat.  

“The Golfshire Club Course measures over 7,000 yards from the championship tees but offers golfers of levels the ability to play from five tee options. Employing the undulating contours of a links course and a distinctive bunker style, this golf course offers a natural beauty and an uncompromised golfing experience," according to the club's website. 

Over the years, Prestige Golfshire has become a popular venue for amateur and corporate tournaments besides holding some of its own including a club league and the Prestige Masters Series. 

Of special interest at the Golfshire layout are the first and eighth holes on the front nine which set the tone for a golf adventure. The first is a fearsome Par-4 with an island green and the eighth requires you to tee off over an arm of the adjoining Karehalli Lake that has been incorporated into the layout. The red ladies' tees though take the lake out of the equation as they are planted well down the fairway. So you either have to be long off the tees or accurate as there are any number of water bodies or hazards waiting to dent your scorecard. 

The back nine has its own set of traps and challenges and by the time you reach the 19th hole, it will be a merited and well-earned break thanks to the streams, lakes, deep bunkers and stony run-off areas. 

“It’s a very amateur friendly golf course and the great thing about this course is that it's one grass, from tee to green so it’s very easy to manage,” Golfshire general manager Declan McCollam, a former PGA professional, said. 

Course facts 

Par 72, Yardage 7,004 from Black tees, 6,515 yards from Blue tees, 5,525 yards from Red tees. 

Front nine (from Blue tees): Hole 1: 403 yds par-4, Stroke Index 1; Hole 2: 173 yds, par3, SI 17 ; Hole 3: 563 yds, par-5; SI 5; Hole 4: 402 yds par-4, SI 3; Hole 5: 494 yds par-5, SI 11; Hole 6: 166 yds par-3, SI 15; Hole 7: 343 yds par-4, SI 13; Hole 8: 317 yds par-4; SI 9; Hole 9: 368 yds par-4, SI 7. Total 3,207 yards. 

Back nine (from Blue tees): Hole 10: 393 yds par-4; SI 8; Hole 11: 393 yds par-4, SI 10; Hole 12: 370 yds par-4; SI 18; Hole 13: 549 yds par-5, SI 4; Hole 14: 345 yds par-4, SI 6; Hole 15: 180 yds par-3, SI 14; Hole 16: 500 yds par-5; SI 2; Hole 17: 200 yds par-3, SI 12; Hole 18: 379 yds, par-4, SI 16. Total: 3,309 yards.