Tee brews: Putting enthusiasts draw up blueprint for an 18-hole golf course in Arunachal

Arunachal Pradesh is dreaming of golf. With a new airport at Holongi, just downhill from capital Itanagar offering daily flights to Delhi, a group of golf enthusiasts from the state-many of them retired army and navy officers-are drawing up a blueprint for an 18-hole golf course, the state's first civilian course.

Their bigger objective is to put Arunachal on the international golf map, with golfers from Japan and South Korea flying in to experience a course set amid the state's picturesque Himalayan landscape.

"Our plan is to create an 18-hole course of international standards, with foreign players flying down to play here. It could be a ₹400 crore project if we include allied facilities such as hostels, swimming pool, clubhouses and other amenities," says Major General (retd) Jarken Gamlin, an avid golfer from the state.


At present, Arunachal Pradesh has only one major golf course: a nine-hole course at the high-altitude Tenga Valley in West Kameng district, managed by and meant only for the army.

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Gamlin, the first military officer from Arunachal Pradesh to rise to the rank of major general in the Indian Army, hopes the state will take to the sport. He draws a parallel with the golfing cultures of Southeast Asia, which have produced some of the world's leading players: Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee and Atthaya Thitikul, and the Philippines Yuka Saso, for instance, are prominent names on the international golf circuit.

"If Southeast Asian nations can produce some of the world's top golfers, why can't we? We, the Arunachalee, have the same DNA," claims Gamlin, who is also vice president of the newly formed Arunachal Golf Association. He explains the irony: "Yes, it's a golf association without a golf course of its own."

DREAM COURSE

The association's president and former state minister, James Lowangcha Wanglat, outlines the progress so far, while acknowledging that the project has yet to receive the state government's approval. "We have so far earmarked 100 acres of land around the Holongi airport, and the landowner is willing to sell it to us. We will pay him in instalments," says Wanglat.

The association, he adds, is registered with the state government. Formal approval for the project and the allocation of initial government resources will have to come next.

Wanglat estimates that an 18-hole course would require 150-200 acres. "Yes, it might require some cutting of the hills after the architect designs the course," he says, adding that the proposed course would be designed to match the standards of leading golf courses in Thailand's Pattaya and Chiang Mai.

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Talks with a hotel entrepreneur are also at an advanced stage, he adds, for a world-class resort in the vicinity of the proposed course.

The bigger ambition is to turn Arunachal Pradesh into a new golfing destination for players from across Asia. "So many Korean golfers charter flights to Thailand to play golf because the country has built some of the best golf properties in the region. Once we have a course of international standards, Japanese and Korean golfers could simply fly to Arunachal, stay in a hillside resort and play golf," Wanglat says.

TEA TEES OF ASSAM

Golf in Northeast India is hardly a new pursuit. In Assam, over two dozen British-era "tea tees" golf courses tucked in sprawling tea estates-have survived the Raj and the shifting fortunes in independent India. Today, retired generals and bureaucrats, oil and tea executives, and their children share these historic fairways, keeping an old golfing tradition alive even as the government struggles to turn them into heritage-tourism assets.

For the past five years, Assam has also hosted the Borbhag Cup, an inter-club golf tournament initiated by Anirudh Goswami, son of a senior tea executive, who grew up around tea gardens. At the 2025 edition, held at the Misa Golf Course in central Assam, 97 players, including nine professionals, took to the fairways.

Among Assam's passionate golfers are Lt Gen (retd) Rana Kalita, former chief secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna and JC Pegu, a former income-tax officer who has played at the international level.

Arunachal, too, has its own fraternity of committed golfers. Besides Gamlin, several players from armed forces background, including Col (retd) Hemonto Panging, are regulars at courses across the region and beyond.

A question, however, crops up: will the dream course envisioned by a handful of golf enthusiasts in Arunachal Pradesh attract foreign golfers even if the state government funds it and helps maintain it as well? Several historic courses in Assam have struggled to attract international players.

"Playing golf is always associated with corporate networking. Unless an industrial ecosystem takes root and thrives in the region, it is unlikely that golfers will fly in simply to play a game," says a young golfer from the region, requesting anonymity.

According to Ajay Dua, former Union industry secretary and ex-president of the Delhi Golf Club, Japan's growing interest in the Northeast could eventually give golf a role beyond leisure. Japan, he says, has identified the region as an emerging area for business engagement. "And one of the hidden elements in that relationship could be that Japanese executives will also be able to play golf in the region," he says.

Dua has been to some of Assam's sprawling British-era golf courses. A civilian golf course in Arunachal Pradesh, Dua argues, could add a new dimension to the state's appeal for officers of the AGMUT cadre.

AGMUT means Arunachal, Goa, Mizoram and Union territories.

"If an officer is transferred from Delhi to Arunachal Pradesh, which is routine for AGMUT cadre officers, it's often considered a punishment posting. I feel a golf course could become a new incentive to attract and retain good officers in the state," he says.