SLUMDOG GOLFER: A Day at Kodaikanal Golf Club

Most days on the golf course are eventually forgotten (thanks be to God), but not a day at Kodaikanal. The course was built originally in 1898. They have pictures from the 1920’s on the wall in the clubhouse and you can feel the ghosts of British colonialism everywhere.

A family of monkeys on the first tee tells you part of this story. A fence around the first green to keep off the wild boars says more. The scorecard told me that we get free drops from “fresh excreta”. This was supposed to make me feel better but did not. Whose “fresh excreta” was not clear to me.

The only way to really describe it is to take you through my day at Kodai, short for Kodaikanal, a resort city in the mountains. I use the word ‘resort’ with reservation.

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