BT Golf Bangalore: Know your venue Prestige Golfshire

Situated in the shadow of the fabled Nandi Hills in the Devanhalli area outside of Bangalore, the 18-hole, par-72 Prestige Golfshire Club championship course offers up an interesting challenge to regular as well as occasional golfers.

Spread over 275 acres as a mixed development, the course designed by British architect Bob Hunt opened in 2011 and since then has gained a reputation for its testing design and impeccable maintenance that have resulted in more than a few awards.

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.

Over the years, Prestige Golfshire has hosted a number of professional golf tournaments and is a busy venue for amateur and corporate tournament besides holding one of its own.

The first time I played it was a disaster but over time, we have become friends, the course and self though there are still jitters on the first hole and the eighth, where you tee off over an arm of the adjoining Karehalli Lake that has been incorporated into the layout.

The ladies of course have it easier as the red tees are planted well down the fairway, taking the lake out of the equation. 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.

Prestige Golfshire is run by the international management company Troon Golf and amongst its long list of awards is one by designating it as being India’s best.

“It’s a very amateur friendly golf course and the great thing about this course it that its one grass, from tee to green so it’s very easy to manage,” Golfshire general manager Declan McCollam told me some years ago. Friendly for him, yes, considering the burly Australian is a former PGA pro.

Course facts: Par 72, Yardage 7004 from Black tees, 6515 yards from Blue tees, 5525 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 3207 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 3309 yards.