It?s a lazy Sunday morning, but you are in a hurry. You want to be the early bird at the golf course 15kms away from home. The drive is going to take a while. Then you remember…now you?ve moved into this spanking new apartment complex that has an exclusive golf course for its residents. You slow down. After a good 45 minutes you amble down to the green stretch. You are ready to play in your, backyard?
Homes around a golf course are the latest buzzword in Indian realty?s super premium housing segment. A regular day for a golf home dweller would mean an early morning stroll near the greens before taking on the business world. And on a holiday, it could be a long game under a wintry sun and a lazy lunch with the family in the club house next to the golf course. Could life get any better?
A growing trend
King-sized apartments with swimming pools, individually designed interiors, underground parking facilities and video door phones have become a thing of the past. Savvy developers are now turning to golf, which has become synonymous with the lifestyle of the rich and famous. According to industry sources, residential dwellings built around a golf course are estimated at $15 billion and growing at 35% annually. ?Having a residence next to or around a golf course adds a lot of value to the apartment, adding approximately 20-25% to the total value of the property,? says Ashish Jain, managing partner, Architects Bureau.
Architecturally speaking also, a golf course is a treat for the eyes and gels extremely well with a residential dwelling. ?According to the normal building bylaws, while building a residential complex, one has to leave 40-50% of open/landscape area. And I always recommend to my clients to have a golf course, if not an 18-hole one, but a 9-hole one. But it also depends on the total land available,? adds Jain.
Target buyers
As of now, real estate developers are confident that golf villas will be snapped up by NRIs and wealthy local residents too. However, those who would rather opt for the conventional setting have the option of acquiring a home away from the greens, which puts a little less burden on their pockets. For instance, a villa around the golf course at Karma Lakelands in Gurgaon, will be valued at Rs 10 crore, while the one away from it could fetch anywhere between Rs 7-8 crore.
Omaxe has kept the interests of existing, former and interested golfers in mind while developing its golf theme township in Raipur. ?This township is for environment friendly people who seek a unique living environment where they can live and fulfill their passion,? says Rohtas Goel, CMD, Omaxe Ltd. And who are the takers? ?Golf cities make an attractive preposition for NRIs and HNIs, who together constitute 50% of buyers in this premium housing segment,? says Kunal Banerjee, president, marketing & corporate communications, Ansal API.
That golf is both a sport and a networking forum is old news. It?s just that now everyone is jumping on to that bandwagon, while earlier only the elite did. ?This game has changed over the years and also the people coming to play this sport. It is not just restricted to the elite class now,? says retired Colonel KKK Singh, in-charge of maintaining the golf course at Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida. ?Signature golf courses are no longer to be found only in the West. With the game gaining popularity, India too now boasts of many world-class signature golf courses. The course has seen a tremendous response and popularity amongst people as our memberships are constantly rising,? says Manu Goswamy, DGM ? Sales & Marketing, Jaypee Greens.
Maintaining the greens
?It?s like being in a vacation home,? says Jain about living in a complex that boasts of a golf course. But proper maintenance of these rolling greens still remains a big question. ?The Indian variety of the grass used in golf courses across the country does not suit golfing conditions. Present day golf has become very competitive and the variety of grass that grows vertically is best suited for a proper golf course,? elaborates Singh. Indian grass grows in a horizontal fashion and requires constant care and maintenance and also doesn?t allow speed in the game. ?Exporting the vertical growing variety of grass, found in the United States, does not work because of the extreme temperature variations,? says Singh.
And to take good care of the grass, ?it requires four to four-and-a-half lakh gallons of water in extreme hot conditions. Also, one cannot use ground water to water the grass everywhere, as it is illegal. And treatment of sewage water is an expensive process,? says Singh. However, none of the project owners was willing to reveal the exact amount required for the maintenance of the golf course. ?A proper 18-hole golf course requires 150 acres of land. And with escalating land prices and the expensive water treatment process, one can imagine the extensive costs of maintaining a golf course,? added Singh.
Ground reality
It?s not just playing the game that residents prefer to spend their time at. At Jaypee Greens for instance, not all residents play, even though almost 60% of the apartment owners have free membership. ?We have quite a number of people at the training academy, within the apartment complex, who learn the basics of the game first, as amateurs can spoil the grass of the course. Moreover, if a person is working for almost 10 hours a day and travelling, one can hardly expect them to spend their spare time at the course,? informed Singh, who observes that it is generally retired persons and foreign travellers on holiday who play the game. But looks like even the busybodies are taking time out to tee off, considering they are betting their money on playing golf at, well, their doorstep now.