A 10-year-old sharing turf with a 75-year-old is a common sight at the greens of Chandigarh Golf Club (CGC) and Chandigarh Golf Range (CGR). The city is perhaps among the first that come to mind when discussing the sport\u2019s popularity.<\/p>\n
Besdies national and international events, local tournaments also draw enthusiastic participation from golfers. The city is also home to big names in the sport like Jeev Milkha Singh, Harmeet Kahlon, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Karandeep Kochhar, Aadil Bedi, Harinder Gupta, Akshay Sharma, Yurvraj Sandhu and Angad Cheema \u2014 all of whom have bagged the highest of the international and national fame. They have in turn inspired young talents like Krish Chawla, Nihal Cheema, Gairat Kaur Kahlon, her sister Rabab, Ojaswani Saraswat…and countless others.<\/p>\n
\u201cChandigarh has seen a massive response in golf. The youngsters are achieving new feats. At veterans\u2019 level, I must say the change arrived after the Covid-19 pandemic. The sport allowed them to enjoy Chandigarh\u2019s nature, interact with fellow golfers and play a sport that rejuvenates them,\u201d said one of India\u2019s most decorated golfers, Jeev Milkha Singh, who at the age of 53 is still in love with the sport.<\/p>\n
Singh is currently playing the Senior Open Golf, in Berkshire, England. Notably, however, his 15-year-old son, Harjai Singh has also picked up the sport and recently returned from the US Golf Tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was introduced to golf by my parents, and it was just another opportunity for me to develop my interest. Parents these days are well aware of the benefits of sport for their kids. I wish to see Chandigarh golfers achieving new heights,\u201d added the first player from India to join the European Tour in 1998.<\/p>\n
\u201cGolf is an aspirational sport and CGC has produced the best golfers for the country. The young generation is gets good exposure and the institutions like CGC and CGA are turning out to be a hub for sporting talent,\u201d added Harmeet Kahlon, international golfer and an Arjuna awardee.<\/p>\n
Aadil Bedi, 24, who represented India at the 2018 Asian Games and is a regular feature at the Asian and Profesional Tour of India (PGTI), also appreciated the increasing popularity of the sport. \u201cOur journey to playing on professional golf tours began at the CGA Range. As juniors, we represented it at numerous events, won a silver medal in 2023. My performances earned me recognition from the Administration \u2014 once for participating in the Asian Games, Eisenhower World Cup and for the National Games medal,\u201d said Bedi.<\/p>\n
\u201cCGA has provided not just a training ground, but a world-class environment to grow. Its facilities \u2014 including a modern gym, yoga centre, swimming pool, pristine putting greens, and a state-of-the-art driving range \u2014 meet international standards which helped Chandigarh to have a good golfing base,\u201d added Bedi.<\/p>\n
Speaking about their efforts to promote the sport, CGA president RK Pachnanda said, \u201cIt\u2019s our earnest endeavour to make CGA a Centre of Excellence by imparting the state of the art coaching by the best coaches to youngsters and all sections of society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Age is just a number<\/p>\n
More than the young blood, the city\u2019s veterans stand out when it comes to participating in golfing activities. As many as 35 have registered to be part of the the fourth edition of what has become an annual showpiece event, the Chandigarh Golf League.<\/p>\n
Brandon De Souza, tournament director spoke of the sport\u2019s evolution in the city, \u201cBack in 1960s, when I was young, golf was an \u2018old people sport\u2019. However, now golf has been revitalised in a big way, especially in Chandigarh. We started with 12 holes on the golf course, and now it has updated to 18 holes\u2014 a full course. I played at the Senior National Circuit in 1974. For two years now, I have been recovering from an injury, and wish to join the greens soon,\u201d said 63-year-old Ajay Johal, who is among the senior members of the club along with the likes of the 91-year-old Simran Singh and HS Mamik.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are nearly 131 members, who are above 75 years, registered with the club and still play golf. More than the sport, they enjoy the company of their friends. Simran, who is one of the oldest among us, still plays here which is always encouraging for the youngsters,\u201d said 82-year-old GS Kochhar, grandfather of professional golfer Karandeep Kochhar\u2014another international achiever from Chandigarh.<\/p>\n
The popularity of the sport is not only limited to playing or bagging laurels at national or international level, but also hosting some major championships. The CGC annually hosts Indian Golf Union (IGU) Samarvir Sahi Amateur Golf Championships, besides hosting PGTI events, putting city on the national golfing map.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 10-year-old sharing turf with a 75-year-old is a common sight at the greens of Chandigarh Golf Club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[12782,23695,23696,23697,23698,23699,23700,49,48,23701,622,12789,12790,82],"class_list":["post-30386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-chandigarhgolf","tag-golfchandigarh","tag-golfcommunity","tag-golfinglife","tag-golfinindia","tag-seniorgolf","tag-younggolfers","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cgc","tag-golf","tag-golftournament","tag-indiangolf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}