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The course is set in Sri Lanka’s central mountains right
on the shores of the Victoria Reservoir. It blends into a splendid landscape of
rolling terrain and undulating hillsides with a beautiful backdrop of the Victoria
Reservoir. Vistas of palms and stately trees are punctuated by natural outcrops
of rocks. The impressive natural outcrops of rocks are a distinctive feature and
indeed a hazard on the course. It is a challenging and unforgiving course featuring
narrow fairways with lots of thick roughs and trees. When your shots are in roughs,
it is deep and hard to hit the next shots well. You must drive the fairways in
order to hit the greens on regulations. It is the second newest of the four golf
courses in Sri Lanka. Completed in 1999, it was the first to be built in 100 years.
The course Located 550 meters (1800 ft.) above the sea level, so the weather is
little cooler than Colombo. |
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| A par 4
with a left dogleg. The second shot is uphill. The view of the hole seen from
the green is superb. |
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A very short but charming par 3.
You hit the tee shot while you look over the Victoria Reservoir on the right.
You can aim for a birdie because of the short distance. The green is small, elevated
and surrounded by a forest, and if you miss it, a bogey is very likely. |
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| A slight dogleg to the left, a
long par 4. A signature hole that is challenging as well as exhilarating. The
tee shot faces a monstrous downhill. The landing area off the tee is limited as
trees on both sides hang over the narrow fairway, requiring both accuracy and
distance. A creek crosses the fairway 300 – 330 yards from the tee. It is downhill
to the creek and slightly uphill beyond it. The second shot is demanding as well.
One needs to aim the green around 200 yards away hitting from a downhill lie.
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| A slight
dogleg to the right. The second shot is downhill. You can’t see the landing area
of the second shot which is a drawback. However, the green and its surroundings
are beautiful. |
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A testing par 3. It plays slightly
downhill to hit onto the green in a jungle. This hole is beautiful, too. |
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| A dogleg to the left, downhill
par 4. Combined views of the green, the Victoria Reservoir & Mountains behind
the green create a very beautiful picture. |
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A sharp
dogleg to the right. There is a ravine 270 yards from the tee, so a long hitter
can’t use a driver. The fairway further turns to the right 100 yards in front
of the green. The third shot is slightly uphill. The green and its surrounding
are charming on this hole, too.
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A long
par 4. The tee shot is downhill and the second shot is uphill. The green is narrow
and two bunkers in front right of the green are in play. |
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It
is a 30-minute ride from Kandy and a 3-hour-30 minute ride from both Colombo and
Colombo International Airport. You can alternatively charter a seaplane (air taxi,
about US$150 per person, minimum of 4 passengers and the maximum of 8 and land
onto a big lake near the golf club. The journey time is mere 30 minutes and it
lands on the adjourning lake of the golf club, followed by a 5-minute taxi ride.
３spacious chalets are available and they are in the course. The blue tees,
the longest tees, can only be used in pro’s tournaments. But I asked the caddie
master to allow me to play from the blue tees by telling him that I am a single
handicap player and that was good enough for him to allow me to play. The yardage
sticks are not up to the center of the greens but to the front edges of the greens,
which should be paid attention to.
The
caddies were well trained. Besides caddies, one ball boy per flight sticks around
the landing areas of shots and locates the balls. Advanced players may not need
him but beginners surely appreciate him. Sri Lanka has 4 golf courses.
The population is 17 million people. The largest city is Colombo where 5 million
people live and Kandy close to this golf club comes second where 2 million people
live.
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3rd hole seen from the green