BGC is the oldest golf course outside of the British Isles. Established on a summer evening on June 24th of 1876, the land was previously used by an army regiment as a rifle range & training area. The course started with a 12 hole design & was transformed many a time, the last being a redesign in 2000.
The annual tournaments between BGC & the Madras Gymkhana club (started in 1878) are the oldest inter-club annual matches anywhere in the world. In 2002, the fully redesigned course was opened & had the distinction of being one of the few courses in India that pioneered the use of recycled effluent water for irrigation of trees, fairways & greens. During the redesign, the brief was to accommodate a 18 hole course in a 60 acre plot ( a rather tight squeeze), with a minimum of criss-crossing & without cutting a single tree.
Phil Ryan, a gentle, soft spoken civil engineer turned golf architect, who has vast experience working across Asia, finally came up with a “new plan” which gained universal acceptance. The new plan set in a totally restructured & landscaped course, that is tight & calls for a premium on accuracy with the huge tree cover & is a treat to play. Of the total cost of nearly INR 40 mn, 90% was generated from the internal resources of the Club & the rest by generous donations from industrial houses & individuals. The course currently plays to a 6118 yardage from the men’s tees as a Par 70, 18 hole course. BGC, along with Bangalore Club, is one of the oldest & prestigious social clubs in Bangalore, with few thousand elite members.
source: http://bgc1876.com/