Indrajit Bhalotia – Clubs need to encourage young golfers

29 June 2018: Indrajit Bhalotia is an ace professional turned coach. A couple of decades ago, the golfer, popularly called IB, was among the best golfers in the country. He is a reputed coach now, well regarded by several young aspirants seeking a career in the game. Indrajit caught up with Golfing Indian in this exclusive interview.

GI: Golf is at an inflexion point in India. What do you think is the role of coaches in keeping up this momentum?
Indra: More than the role of coaches it’s the clubs that need to support junior golf outside their member’s children.  All the private clubs have a long waiting list, so one becomes a member pretty late in life.  Their children have already grown up hence the average golfing population age is going up steadily. Clubs need to encourage youngsters outside the regular member’s children if the game is to keep growing

GI: There are some exciting developments in the form of recent international victories in the Asian and European Tours. There is also a sense that we lack depth as it is only a handful of players thriving in the big circuits. Your thoughts?
Indra: The guys who are playing outside are the ones who have sponsors or can afford to play or have taken a significant risk.  We have to have Corporates like Hero and Take to come forward and support our golfers.  It can cost over two lacs to play a single event in Europe, and without sponsors, not many can risk it

GI: Technically, how do you rate the quality of coaching inputs in India? How far are we from matching up to international standards?
Indra: We are already there.  Our coaches are amongst the best in the world.  We have Jesse who trained Subhankar and Divecha who has taught Anirban.  Our golfers need to go out there and trust our coaches.  Further golf is no rocket science and there is no secret that a foreigner can give which we can’t

GI: Which are the courses in India that are fit for international competition based on difficulty and overall quality?
Indra: We have DLF,  KGA, JP Greens which I would rate as the top 3.

GI: Among the emerging golfers, who do you think are candidates for a breakthrough in the next couple of years?
Indra: I have played with some of the top players in the world and did with Subhankar.  He is a class apart.  If given an opportunity Honey Baisoya has tremendous potential

GI: What do we need to do to strengthen junior golf in India?
Indra: I have already replied to this question but we need to take golf to the grass root levels.  Tournaments need to be on public holidays so children can participate and we need to make heroes out of our top players.  In Bangladesh, the life of Siddikur Rahman is a lesson in schools.

GI: With the Open Championship round the corner, how do you rate the chances of Anirban Lahiri and Shubhankar Sharma?
Indra: Both the boys have worked into contention at the highest level and they need to get a couple of good breaks and a few putts to drop.  I would put my money on Subhankar to have a top 20 finish.