Editor’s Note: This month’s Living Golf sees Shane O’Donoghue travel to India. Watch March’s episode here.
The European Tour traveled to 27 different countries in 2017, playing on some of the most difficult courses in the game, illustrious venues like Valderrama in Spain and France’s Le Golf National.
But none of these can lay claim to possessing statistically the hardest hole on Tour last year.
That is the par four, 461-yard par four at DLF Golf and Country Club, home of the Hero Indian Open.
With an average score of 4.6, it played 0.6 shots over the par of the hole. And it’s not just the numbers that make this hole and this course so compelling.
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The DLF Club was built in 1999 in the new financial hub of Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi.
With the contemporary business parks and luxury apartments that have risen up over the past two decades, the city reflects India’s modernization.
The golf club originally boasted an 18-hole course designed by the late, great Arnold Palmer. But Palmer can’t stand in the way of progress.
It’s owners, Delhi Land and Finance, one of India’s biggest property developers, wanted to update and modernize its facilities.
In 2012, they ripped up nine holes of the Palmer course and employed another legend in the game, Gary Player, to design an 18-hole 7,654-yard Championship layout.
”The new course has large land forms, undulating fairways and greens, two large lakes and unique style bunkering,” says Mr Aakash Ohri, DLF Senior Executive Director of Business Development.
”This is unlike any that exist in the region and a new golfing experience. It is now a true championship course rated as one of the most difficult, with a slope rating of 155.”
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Last year it began hosting the Hero Indian Open, the first time the professionals laid eyes on the 14th hole.
Originally designed as a 550-yard dogleg par four with a 250-yard carry to a narrow fairway, the European Tour was forced to move the tee up to measure a mere 461-yards – such was the difficulty of the hole.
When CNN Living Golf recently filmed at the course for March’s special on Indian golf, host Shane O’Donoghue did well to make a six on the hole.
”It’s such an intimidating driving hole from that back tee,” he says. “An absolute beast, which requires a perfect shot right to the left-hand side with a tiny bit of fade and hope to land it in a very narrow area, where you can attack the green.
“The approach is very demanding also, given the upturned saucer of an elevated green, with run offs that really place a premium on a high approach that can land softly.
“It demands the big tee shot, which is risky, but it’s the only way to guarantee a second shot with a lofted club. It’s a card wrecker!”
The Hero Indian Open will be played at the DLF Golf and Country Club between March 8 and 11. Expect high scores on the notorious 14th.
