For the ladies, ‘club’ is the watchword

The South India Ladies Golf Association (SILGA) ran an annual event attracting good number of entries from all the four states in the south and even from outside but the tournament went to Bengaluru, a cooler and more competitive venue.

SILGA was formed in the 1980s and the ladies had tournaments for close to three decades. Though the SI event was taken out of their backyard, the ladies have not stopped their routine activity, club golf. 

There are quite a few veterans, who started the association during the 1980s, who still play on the Cosmo and Gundy courses every Wednesday afternoon but their major worry is that the next line, the youngsters, are not coming up. 

Malini Srinivasan, one of the founder members of SILGA, said before the 1980s ladies golf was on with the foreigners, who stayed back in many companies, showing a lot of interest.

“But there was no proper association and that came only in 1977 when the captain asked me form a committee,” recalls Malini, who still plays but not regularly. Initially, there was a tournament, the Challenge Cup and then in 1980 the Madras Open, which SPIC sponsored, was held. 

The local club tournaments were held on every Wednesday, the first two weeks on the Guindy course and next two on Cosmo. “There were 14 to 15 active players then, working women, students and housewives,” said Malini and recounted the many events when she played alongside former actress and dancer Vyjayanthimala. 

“In fact, we went to Ooty and Kodai for tournaments but now we have retired and play only over nine holes,” adds Malini, who was captain of the club for many years. 

Malini says the ladies generally preferred the Cosmopolitan Annexe course at Nandanam to the one in Guindy because it is picturesque. She said the turnout was dwindling over the years and the South Indian Open could not be held during the mid-2000s.

“Of course, Bengaluru showed a keen interest because the climate is good and they have some lovely courses,” added Malini. 

Jayashree Bharath, who captained the women’s teams from Chennai rued there are no big players now in the city. 

She said during her time, Lalita Balasubramanian was a good player from Chennai as she competed in many national events. Jayashree said though the Cosmo course is more attractive, she found the Guindy course challenging for the players.

“The roughs, the fairways and the wind make it a competitive course,” says Jayashree. 

She felt the absence of youngsters dented the sport in the city. “Even now, the Korean women (wives of the expats in companies here) play a lot on Cosmo but somehow they don’t interact with Indians because of the language problem,” says Jayashree.

All said and done, the ladies still enjoy their Wednesday and whatever little ‘club’ activity they get on the greens in the city.