Victoria

Victoria was a once in a lifetime experience, designed during Donald Steel & company days. In a setting as breathtaking as any in the world, the challenge was to produce a course worthy of the glory of its surroundings. Golf gives access to some of the most beautiful places and, in the last twenty or thirty years, just about every landscape has been converted to accommodate new places to play. Swamps have been drained, mountains moved and deserts irrigated. This involves massive feats of engineering and open-ended budgets but Victoria was joyously different. It was an exercise in the old-fashioned way, using the land and working with nature at a tiny fraction of the cost.

Victoria
Victoria

A contractor from the UK started the local machine operators off with instruction with whatever machinery was available locally but the real heroes were an army of chosen recruits under the skilful eye of Tony Whitham who ensured that the course was largely handmade. Materials for the greens were dredged from rivers, drainage trenches were dug and finished more by hand than by machine. The planting of sprigs to grass the Bermuda fairways was another vital manual input.

With most new courses, playing areas are invariably pre-determined with precise boundaries and access roads marked. Clubhouse positions invariably pick themselves. At Victoria, options were far more wide ranging although much clearance work was necessary before hard decisions could be made. From the beginning, the need for housing development was established but it was soon obvious that the ideal locations for property would have been impossible for golf. That, at least, was one decision that was ready made.

Victoria
TrumpTurnberry

The real search was for space that needed little or no re-contouring to accommodate 18-holes of sufficient character, length and interest to provide an enjoyable test for all classes of golfer. Careful use of fine, established specimen trees was a method of avoiding too many fairway bunkers (In fact, only 8 bunkers greenside or fairway were originally included in the design and this has only risen to 11 since the course opened) and there was a desire, at all times, to exploit the full range of spectacular views.

Arrangements at Victoria meet most of the design criteria but the aim of an architect on any venture is to provide variety to his layout in order to balance the two nines as well as the overall end product. This applies to the visual aspects, the natural contouring and any introduced features that, if well conceived and created, look as though they have always been part of the scenery. If golfers are not uplifted by what they see at Victoria, they must be incredibly difficult to please. The course has received the award of ‘Best Course on the Indian Sub Continent’ on numerous occasions.

Victoria
Victoria