Raian Irani:Golf needs the goverment

Free standing golf courses are a matter of the past. It’s time golf courses made by real estate tycoons are thrown open to the public. The President of the Indian Golf Union, Raian Irani shares while golf may not be at its optimum peak, there will be a shift towards more golf in the country as more golf courses are built and golf gets more substantial investment. In this candid chat with Golfingindian.com, Irani shares why there are several good reasons for promoting golf.

[Q] How does the 2014 golf season look to you? [/Q]

[A] The 2013-14 season has not been the best in recent years. The sluggish economy brought about by the policy paralysis of the previous government has not encouraged the golf industry, which is still perceived as a leisure activity rather than a sporting activity. We hope that the new Government will show the way and we are very encouraged by our Honourable PM Mr.Modi telling Japanese investors, during his recent visit there, that they can expect better golf courses in Gujarat, a fact that we hope he will replicate across the country. [/A]

[Q] There were concerns of the sport seeing a slowdown – are those well past us? [/Q]

[A] Golf needs substantial investment, particularly in real estate since every course needs a minimum 125 acres of land. Free standing courses are a thing of the past and so long as developers see value in building their assets around golf courses and thereafter throwing them open to the paying public, we should see signs of recovery. The golf ecosystem will develop around this, especially the retail market, which we see having a potential of Rs 2500 crores per annum. [/A]

[Q] We note the Indian Open is now a co-sanctioned event on Asian And European Tour, what does this do for Indian golf? [/Q]

[A] We think that this is a fantastic development for Indian Golf. This has taken a few years coming and now that it is here the exposure and quality of professional golf in India can only go up. All of us know that the next superstar will be from Asia and we hope that the Indian Open on the European Tour will spur Indian youngsters to be that next superstar. [/A]

[Q] How is IGU building the golf base in India? [/Q]

[A] Our goal is to have 500,000 Indians playing the game by 2020 . The IGU