Royal Palms introduces golf under floodlights

Here comes the reason to cheer for golf enthusiasts in the city as the concept of night finally comes here. The facility is open to Royal Palm club members as well as public.

Royal Palms Estates, which owns and operates a 18-hole championship golf course at Goregaon in Mumbai, has introduced night golf in the city. With this, the country gets its fourth golf course offering night facility. There are two such courses in Delhi and one in Bangalore.

Royal Palms has thrown open its 110-acre golf course with playing facility open till 1 am by lighting up 9 holes with floodlights.

The 9-hole course stretching over 2.5 km has been lit up with special golfing flood lights on both sides.

"The main focus is to involve more people with the game which is known to be associated with rich people. Mumbai has only 1,200 golfers. It is a very small niche market. We are providing open access to the public and to those who do not know the game, we are offering to teach them too," said Dilawar Nensey, joint managing director, Park Plaza Royal Palms.

During the day, the course offers 120-140 rounds of game. And with the night concept being introduced, there will be 40 additional rounds possible.

For the time being the promotional charges have been kept at Rs 850 per shift, which may later go up to Rs 1,100. "No timeframe has been fixed for the promotional activity, but we may seek actual commercial charges only after 45 days. On February 4, the course will be opened to the general public," Nensey added.

On lighting up the rest of playing area, Nensey said it depends on the demand and this option remains open for us.

He further said, "I think the 1 am deadline is an appropriate one. Moreover, it is not like a disco. People have to go to work in the morning."

"Though the government, both the central and the state, is considering to extend the time limit to 3 am, but opening the golf course till the wee hours does not seem reasonable," he added.

Royal palms has invested Rs 1.1 crore for the night golf facility. "We do not see the investment being recovered in 3-4 years. It is basically a long term planning to bring more people to the game," said Nensey.In Mumbai, there are three more golf courses at Chembur, Mahalakshmi and the US Club (Navy Nagar).