Sri Lanka is relatively unknown in the field of Golf, but surprisingly
the country has three of the finest 18 hole courses in Asia. In fact the
association with golf is more than a century and the Sri Lanka Amateur
Golf Championship, which was instituted in the year 1891 follows the
British Amateur as the oldest national championship in the world. The
three courses are situated in
Colombo, Digana and
Nuwara Eliya,
Colombo
at sea level, Digana at 600 m and
Nuwara Eliya at an elevation of 2'070m have distinctly different terrain and climate conditions. This
contributes to the enjoyment and challenge as you could be playing golf in three different countries.
Although the golf tour is planned primarily for golfing, a city tour of
Colombo and a visit to
Kandy and its sights is included in the programme.
Kandy in particular is one of Sri Lanka's many highlights and should not
be missed.
The Courses
This course is 5'770 m long (par 71). A flat course with broad fairways which looks simple to beginners
but there are many water hazards and well guarded bunkers which quickly
change the opinion. The Royal Colombo Golf Club is easily accessible,
being 20 minutes drive from all first-class hotels in the city.
This course is 6'190 m long (par 73) a championship golf course designed by Donald Steel and inaugurated
early in 1999. The fairways are rather narrow in a hilly country side. Stately trees and avenues of coconuts lend the course an immediate air
maturity. Impressive natural outcrops of rocks are a distinctive feature and indeed a hazard of the course. The Victoria Golf Club is situated 25
km east of Kandy and 150 km from Colombo.
This course which is reputed to be one of Asia's finest is 5'520 m (par 71). The fairways are long and
narrow and bordered by fir trees and thick bushes. It demands skilful "position play" and the hilly terrain makes it essential that players
can cope with up-hill and down-hill lies. The Golf Club is 10 minutes.
