Golf Needs Government and Corporate Support to Produce Champions, Says Former India No. 1 Golfer Indrajit Bhalotia

New Delhi: Indrajit Bhalotia became India’s youngest professional golfer at the age of 17. He got into the world of golf at a tender age of 4. In 2000, his Willis Southern Open Victory margin of 7 shots is one of the largest in the history of Indian and Indian Tour Golf. He has been India’s No: 1 golfer at one point of time in his career and has been in the Top 10 among the Indian golfers for 9 consecutive years. He is currently the owner of Pro-Touch Academy, which happens to be the largest golf academy of the country.

In an exclusive interview with India.com, Bhalotia- a pro since 1988 gave his insights about the current state of affairs of Indian golf, how it has evolved over the years, busting age-old myths and how government and corporate backing is important for the game to thrive here in India.

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

How did Golf happen?

Well, my father used to play and so I used to follow him around. I was around 3.5 years old when I started going with him to the golf course and that’s how it happened.

Golf is considered to be a costly sport, popular among the so-called wealthy masses and even termed as an “Old Man’s Sport”. What’s your take on that?

Unfortunately in India, I won’t say a rich man’s sport, it’s a sport where you have to be a member of a club or you have to be rich or if your parents are members of a club, because actually in India most of the clubs are private clubs. In America or Europe most clubs are public clubs which are owned by the Government or the states. What happens there actually we used to pay and play, it’s like going for a bowling rally where you pay a fee, do bowling and come back. So Golf is more accessible in other countries. In India, unfortunately 99% of the courses are either private courses owned by clubs where you have to a member or is an army course which have limited access to the public and that is the reason why Golf is not accessible in India. I won’t call it a “rich man’s sport” because a sport like say shooting or riding is much more expensive than playing golf. The only thing is the access issue here is a serious problem.

The second part of it, whether it’s an “old man’s sport” or not. Say a sixer hit by Chris Gayle is about 70m, golf ball hit by a professional golfer is about 300m, which is about 4 times, so it is like hitting as many sixes to cover the ground and that’s how a golf ball lands. Considering that, you can imagine the power and the speed, which you are pitching in that golf club. So definitely it’s not an old man’s game, but an old man can play. Even today, my father who is 84 years of age can’t afford to play cricket or football, but can go play golf. So anyone who says it’s an old man’s game is absolutely wrong, I would like them to actually come and try. An old man can easily play but in order to play you have to be physically very strong and have very high hands to it. It’s not easy to hit a golf ball 300m, you need to have the power to hit it that far.

How a budding golfer’s training regime should be like?

Like any other sport, a professional athlete has to work 8 hours a day, at least 6 days a week. You have to put in that much effort in order to achieve. You may not need that much of a stamina, but you must be physically fit and strong with a lot of hand speed, a lot of mental toughness where you should be able to control your mind and also some talent for sure. I believe up to a certain extent you can, but unless you have the talent you cannot be a World Champion, you have to be special. Firstly you need to have some basic talent and after that, there is no substitute for hard work.

How’s the Indian scene in the current scenario and how it has evolved over the years?

Well, very few youngsters had access to golf, when we were young. During the 70s and in the early 80s there weren’t many youngsters playing golf because of the accessibility reason, I told you. But in the last 20 years, a lot of clubs have started allowing children to come and learn golf and they are not members’ children. You know that a golf course requires about 100 acres of land and just to have five hundred people playing in that 100 acres doesn’t justify it. So a lot of private clubs across the country have actually opened up their golf course to youngsters, who are U-18 and as a result a lot of children have started taking up golf. There have been Indians in the top 100. We are yet to have someone like a Leander Paes or Mahesh Bhupathi, but we definitely have golfers like Jeev and Atwal where you can compare to a Ramanathan Krishnan or Vijay Amritsar who has been in the top 50-60 in the world. If you see the popularity of golf, I don’t see beyond a certain point it can become the game of the masses because the space required and opportunities in India has always been limited. But I think it will have another growth possibility of 15-20%. I would say there are about 100,000 golfers in India today, maybe a 20,000-30,000 more.

When it comes to competitiveness where does India stand right now in front of the rest of the world ?

Well, we do get a chance to compete in the Olympics. Our top golfers do normally hover around between 100-250 rankings in the world and once in a while, a Jeev or a Shubhankar Sharma or an Anirban Lahiri breaks into the top 100. The biggest challenge that it’s an expensive sport to compete in also. Suppose you’re going to play across the world you need to have a 3,000 dollars a week plus your air ticket. So there is an expense of 2.5 lacs per tournament. Say if you’re playing 20 tournaments a year then you’re spending about 50 lakhs. Only one or two Indians get sponsorships. So unless you have a sponsor or corporate backing I don’t see Indians doing well abroad.

Since we are all in the middle of a pandemic and if a golf tournament needs to be held, be it at an international level or something like which you have done with your Pro-touch Academy. So what are all the necessary bio-bubble protocols which needs to be there to ensure safe completion of a tournament?

India’s golf at this moment is out, there is no question of having it. What happens internationally is that players are tested prior to every tournament. You can’t really have a bio-bubble here, because it’s not a team sport. There are about 100-150 players competing in a tournament and along with them are 150 caddies. So there are 300 players competing shoulder to shoulder and then we also have the officials, so there are about 350 people in direct contact with each other. So in international tour right now, the PGA Tour and the European Tour is on folly and the world has now accepted it as a new normal. Cricket is the only sport, where you have a proper bio-bubble system compared to other team sports like football. India had one or two pro tournaments when the pandemic got a little less between the two waves and all the necessary testing was done to all the players and the caddies. India, now is going to be a bigger challenge to come and play a sport compared to Europe or America and I also think the vaccination is a big thing. So I don’t think India will be able to keep that space as of now.

We have seen the likes of Jeev Milkha Singh, Anirban Lahiri making a name at the international stage. Who do you think from the current crop of young players who can compete at that level?

I think the greatest Indian golfer for me is Arjun Atwal. He is the only Indian to win a PGA tour which is the greatest ever achievement. The second biggest achievement is Jeev Milkha Singh winning the Scottish Open and the third biggest thing is probably India beating Scotland in the World Cup. Out of the new crop, I think the most talented person is Shubhankar Sharma. I even played him and as a golfer I think he’s the most complete player among all the youngsters around.

With the advent of franchise leagues, Indian sports has reached newer heights. How’s the idea of a golf franchise tournament sound to you?

It’s been tried already in Golf and it has got a mixed response. Golf as a sport I’ll say is very similar to tennis and even tennis wasn’t that successful in the franchise system. To me, franchise sport or franchise leagues work more with team sport like football or tennis even Kabaddi and Hockey. But when it comes to an individual sport, I don’t think it will have that kind of an attraction.

You’ve been at the top of your game in your career, how was the experience like and who was your idol growing up?

Growing up obviously, my idol was Jack Nicklaus, he is the greatest golfer ever. From 1993-2002 I was in the top 10 in India for pretty much every year and at a point of time I was among India’s top 3 also. Afterwards, I had an injury and I stopped playing. I haven’t retired officially as of now but I still play.

During this dreading time, is the government or The Indian Golf Union doing anything for the welfare of its golfers?

I don’t think the government is really doing anything be it in any sport as such. There is no organized sector or industry association as such. You see all the coaches and players who are not really well off has suffered and are still suffering. It is very sad that there is no representation of the sport or fitness industry as an organized sector.

Can you elucidate on your “Golftrade.net” and “Champ for Life Academy”?

Champ For Life Academy is basically an education platform for athletes who want to quit their studies. We give them tuition there and give them enough notes to pass and we even provide golf and sports management courses, certificate courses in different fields like fitness and we even also do sports science. Golftrade.net is an online golf portal which covers news related to Golf, nationally and globally. It is India’s largest free golf classifieds and one-stop golf site.

Who are you placing your bets on in the WTC Final?

Obviously being an Indian, I’ll always back India. India has a better side I think. I believe the English conditions will suit our bowlers.

Thoughts On Sushil Kumar’s alleged role in the Chhatrasal Murder

It is one of the main reasons what our Champ For Life Academy focuses on. That is how to manage life outside sport because how you conduct yourself off the field is equally important to how you play on the field. It’s really unfortunate for the entire sporting community to see what has happened. Not pointing him(Sushil) but there are also athletes who fails to get a hold of their fame and money and that is what CFL (Champ For Life) focuses on, shaping athletes not only in the game but also in life.

Sir you are also a sports physiologist, so what’s your advise for athletes at this point of time?

It’s a very difficult time to stay focus for a regular human being. Obviously, an athlete has an edge to it because they are used to tough situations. Right now it’s very easy to lose focus and get frustrated as many have lost at least two years of their career due to the situation. Keeping in mind, they have to come back harder and better.

What’s the future for Indian Golf? What are you expecting?

I think Indian golf, compared to most other individual sports is doing well. The domestic circuit is good and hopefully, we’ll see many Indians doing well in the future. But we definitely need government and corporate support, it is the game where we need to produce some champions, there’s no doubt about that.

Interview By: Debayan Bhattacharyya