Top 10 Golf Courses in India
India has one of the longest golf histories of any country outside Britain and the United States. The Royal Calcutta Golf Club, founded in 1829, is the oldest golf club in the world outside the British Isles — a Colonial legacy that the game has long since outgrown in a country of 1.4 billion people increasingly enthusiastic about the sport. Modern Indian golf spans a vast range of conditions: from the blazing summer heat of Delhi's parkland clubs to the misty hill station courses of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where temperatures stay cool year-round and the landscape bears no resemblance to anything a European or American golfer would recognise as their home game. The country now has several hundred clubs and a growing cohort of Tour professionals competing internationally.
1. Delhi Golf Club, New Delhi
The Delhi Golf Club is India's most prestigious and most architecturally distinguished course. Laid out in 1931 on the grounds of a Mughal-era hunting garden, the course occupies 220 acres of central Delhi and its fairways wind between ancient domed tombs, crumbling stone pavilions and Lodi-period monuments — there is no other golf course in the world where you play between 500-year-old Mughal architecture. Par 72, approximately 6,900 yards, the design has been refined over the decades but preserves the original character of a parkland course of genuine historical weight. Several of India's most important amateur championships are played here. The club is private, but visiting golfers from international clubs can often arrange access; green fees are in the INR 3,000–5,000 range.
2. Royal Calcutta Golf Club, Kolkata
The Royal Calcutta Golf Club is the oldest club outside Britain and Ireland, established in 1829 by the East India Company officers who brought the game to Bengal. The current course at Tollygunge, par 73, around 6,900 yards, was redesigned in the 20th century and is a mature parkland layout with substantial trees and well-paced greens. It remains the most historically significant golf institution in Asia and carries a character of worn grandeur that no amount of renovation can replicate. The club hosts the Amateur Championship of India. Visitor access is available with a letter from a home club; the colonial clubhouse is one of the finest examples of its type remaining in active use.
3. Bombay Presidency Golf Club, Mumbai
Bombay Presidency, founded in 1885, is Mumbai's oldest and most established golf club. The course occupies a compact site in the Chembur suburb, and at par 68, around 5,900 yards, it is not a long layout, but the quality of its Bermuda grass surfaces and the careful attention to conditioning make it the standard-bearer for Mumbai golf. The club is private and well-connected to Mumbai's business community; visitor access via letter of introduction from a home club is the standard process. The urban location — surrounded by the vertical Mumbai cityscape — creates a golfing atmosphere quite different from the Delhi or Calcutta clubs.
4. DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurugram
DLF is India's premier modern championship course, designed by Stephen Kay and opened in 2009 in Gurugram (Gurgaon), the business satellite city south of Delhi. Par 72, approximately 7,300 yards, it was designed to international tournament specification and hosted the Indian Open on the DP World Tour for several years. The course is parkland in character but uses contemporary design vocabulary — bold contouring, waste areas, tiered green complexes — rather than the colonial naturalism of the older Delhi and Calcutta clubs. It is the natural home of corporate golf in the Delhi National Capital Region; society bookings are available at published rates.
5. Ootacamund Gymkhana Golf Course, Ooty, Tamil Nadu
Ooty — as it is universally known — sits at 2,240 metres in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu, and its golf course is among the most atmospheric in Asia. Founded in 1896 by colonial planters, the course plays through tea estate terrain and eucalyptus forest with views of the surrounding hills. Par 68, approximately 5,200 yards, it is short and the altitude does add some distance, but the narrow fairways cut through dense vegetation and the mist that descends most mornings make scoring genuinely difficult. The condition of the Bermuda rough is deliberately challenging — this is a course that respects traditional values of difficulty. Green fees are very modest; the hill station climate makes Ooty viable year-round.
6. Coimbatore Golf Club, Coimbatore
Coimbatore Golf Club occupies a central position in one of Tamil Nadu's major industrial cities and maintains a well-established 18-hole course of par 70, around 5,800 yards. The layout is relatively flat parkland, well-conditioned for a city course, and the membership base drawn from the city's textile and manufacturing industries has sustained the club's infrastructure through decades of urban development pressure around it. For golfers transiting through Coimbatore on the way to Ooty or Kodaikanal, it provides a convenient full round. Visitor access is straightforward with handicap proof.
7. JWGC (Jolly Golf Club), Delhi Region
JWGC is among the contemporary Delhi-region clubs that have expanded India's golf infrastructure significantly in the 21st century. Its 18-hole parkland layout is maintained to solid standards and attracts a membership drawn from Delhi's professional and diplomatic communities. Par 72, around 6,500 yards, it represents the modern Indian club model: professionally run, internationally aware in its conditioning standards, and increasingly competitive in the amateur tournament circuit. Visitor access is available through standard booking channels.
8. Chikmagalur Golf Club, Chikmagalur, Karnataka
Chikmagalur sits in the coffee-growing hills of Karnataka at around 1,100 metres, and its golf course combines the hill station character of Ooty with a more gently undulating terrain. The 9-hole course plays through coffee estate land with the aromatic forest characteristic of this region; it is not a long or technically complex layout, but the setting — mist-covered hills, the smell of coffee blossom in season, complete absence of urban noise — is deeply restorative. The area has developed as an eco-tourism destination and the golf course benefits from this broader hospitality infrastructure.
9. Sports Authority of India Golf Course, Bengaluru
The SAI Golf Course in Bengaluru is administered by the Sports Authority of India as part of the country's national sports development infrastructure, and it serves as one of the primary development courses for India's junior and elite amateur programmes. The course provides an accessible, government-supported option for developing Indian professionals and serious amateurs. At various times it has hosted national championship events. Green fees are among the lowest available at 18-hole courses in Bengaluru, making it the entry-level option for new golfers in India's Silicon Valley.
10. Cosmopolitan Club Golf Course, Chennai
The Cosmopolitan Club in Chennai is one of Tamil Nadu's premier multi-sport clubs, and its golf course provides the Chennai business community with a well-maintained option in a city that otherwise lacks the density of golf clubs found in Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru. The 9-hole course plays on flat terrain within the club's grounds; it is modest in ambition but consistent in conditioning and forms the natural base for Chennai-area corporate golf. The club's other facilities — swimming, tennis, social dining — make it a full-service destination for the Tamil Nadu professional class.
Planning an India Golf Trip
India's best golf season varies by region: Delhi and northern courses are at their best October through February, avoiding summer heat; the hill station courses of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are good year-round. Visiting golfers should carry a handicap certificate and a letter from their home club when approaching private clubs. Green fees range from INR 500 at government courses to INR 8,000-plus at premium championship layouts. The logistics of Indian golf travel reward advance planning — club access protocols, driver-and-car arrangements for course-to-course travel, and accommodation near the priority courses all benefit from local knowledge. Open the map to explore India's full range of golf facilities by region.