Sri Lanka though a renowned leisure destination for its mesmeric hill country, exquisite beaches, and fascinating cultural attraction of ancient cities and shrines is not a destination that readily comes to mind for a golfing holiday. If you look up the Sri Lanka Map you will learn to your delightful surprise that you can easily fit in three fabulous golf courses of all Asia located at three elevations.
- The Royal Colombo Golf Club is at sea level.
- The Victoria Golf and Country Resort tucked in the Kandyan hills at Digana are at 600m.
- The Nuwara Eliya Golf Club is at 2070m.
You can easily make it to the Royal Colombo from any of the hotels in Colombo Sri Lanka or from the Sri Lanka Beach hotels.
The Victoria Golf and Country resort is perfect if you happen to be in Kandy on you Sri Lanka tour and staying in any of the Sri Lanka boutique hotels. As for the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club, any all inclusive Sri Lanka tour will include a visit to ‘Little England’.
The association of golf with Sri Lanka is more than a century old. The Sri Lanka Amateur Golf Championship was started in the year 1891 which after the British Amateur is the oldest national championship in the world. Your Sri Lanka Travel Agent or tour operator would be more than happy to accommodate you.
The Royal Colombo Golf Club
The Royal Colombo Golf Club, Sri Lanka: This course is 5,770 m long (par 71). A flat course with broad fairways which looks simple enough however with many water hazards and well guarded bunkers. The Royal Colombo Golf Club is easily accessible. It is a 20 minute drive from any of the star class class hotels in the city. RCGC is the home of the Sri Lanka Golf Union, the governing body of Golf in Sri Lanka and only answerable to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrew’s in Scotland. There are only sixteen other Royal Clubs in the world which are older.
Victoria Golf Club
Victoria Golf Club, Digana, Sri Lanka: 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 a little narrow in the hilly terrain in the country side. Majestic hard wood trees and avenues of coconuts give the course an aura of old world charm in the tropics. The natural outcrops of rocks are a distinctive feature and considered a hazard of the course. The Victoria Golf Club is 25 km away from Kandy.
The Nuwara Eliya Golf Club
This course 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.