Golf in Sri Lanka

A brief history of Golf in Sri Lanka...

There is evidence that a form of golf was played by the Dutch during their period of occupation of the island between 1656 & 1796. However, it was the British who brought golf, as we know it to the island. It was played in the 1860's or even earlier on the Galle Face Green the birth place of other British sports including cricket, horse racing and football. Along the military and plantation roads, which radiated from Colombo all over the island, organized sport also travelled. Golf courses were constructed in Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Galle , Ratnapura, Diyatalawa, Bandarawela, Radella, Kelany Valley, the Agras, Badulla and played in Jaffna round the fort and even in Anuradhapura where instead of bunkers the hazards were ancient monoliths and ruined temple pillars. Even after the last world war, there were a number of flourishing golf courses on the island. At the present, however, there are only three Championship courses, the Royal Colombo and Nuwara Eliya Golf Clubs, and the recently constructed Victoria Golf Club of Kandy.