Special Report by Rajlakshmi Retesh
October 10, 2013. Way back in the year 2000, Monica Tondon dragged herself to the Delhi Golf Course just to give company to his then thirty-year-old son who wanted to play golf. She never thought that soon she would get addicted too.
“When you start hitting the ball, the challenge is enticing. You want to get better and better, and it continues. Such is the charm of golf, you will return to the course for that extra mileage,” says Tondon.
At 66 now, Tondon is a regular at Delhi golf course. She also contributes towards the co-ordination and management of Ladies section of the course. For her, golf is a post-retirement leisure activity. She enjoys every bit of it and even regrets for not starting earlier.
Golf is fast becoming social and leisure activity among Delhi’s middle and upper middle class women. Many office goers and young mothers are taking up golf either to de-stress or to involve in the game for the sake of their kids.
Ashwini Pai Bahadur had seen her father play golf, but never thought of taking up playing until her children got involved into the game. An art gallery owner, Ashwini plays to de-stress and to be with her two kids, Arjun, 15 and Avantika, 12 who have taken up junior competitive golf.
“Golf is a great stress buster for working women. More women are taking up this game to have some personal time and space to relax,” says Ashwini.
It is not just women of Delhi, but also young girls here are drawn towards golf like never before. The Delhi Golf Club, which is celebrating its 50th year of ladies section, has recorded spurt in young girls from all sections approaching them to get involved in the game.
“Golf is an addictive game and now has caught the imagination of girls / ladies and boys across the board. Print Media and Television coverage have just added to its fascination,” explains Bubbles Suneja, Lady Captain of DGC.
Many believe that game of golf has become easy and approachable in past one decade. Equipment is readily available and with rising demand, the new golf courses have come up, and so is their accessibility. The new courses like DLF in Gurgaon, Jaypee Greens in Noida besides Old ones, are here to meet the rising need of golf facilities.
All this has contributed to addition of golf academies to train young and not so young talent. Romit Bose’s golf, Monisha Bindra’s Pro Golf academy, Chimmy’s golf academy ,Siverglades and some others have come up to cater swelling number of learners.
What do they say about Delhi? It’s where ‘games people play.’ For all these ladies, surely holds true!
