The new lush green tee at the 18-hole course of Patna Golf Club looks inviting on Monday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

On many a misty morning this winter, enthusiasts can tee off in style on international-standard revamped greens of Patna Golf Club.

The 98-year-old club with 18-hole golf course has finally got a new putting green.

A putting green is an area of very closely trimmed grass on relatively even, smooth ground surrounding the hole, allowing players to make precision strokes on it. With the new putting green facility, the golf club has now altogether 15 greens spread over the lawn.

Members of Patna Golf Club said the new green has been developed on international standard. “We have tried to add many obstacles to the green so that it could be raised to international standard. For example, there is a sand track near the green, which is a big hurdle for the player. We are also developing an artificial water body near the green to add challenging factor to it,” said Tapan Ghosh, captain, Patna Golf Club.

Ghosh added that around Rs 3 lakh had been spent on the development of the new green. “Patna Golf Club arranged special grass from Calcutta — christened Calcutta Doob grass — for the new green. It took us around nine months to develop this. First, we made a deep hole in the course and stone was put into it. Then grass was planted with variety of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides being used on the grass to keep it perfect. Creating a new putting green was not a very easy task,” he said.

Deepak Prasad, a member of Patna Golf Club, said he was happy to find the new putting green at the golf course.

“I have played in some of the best golf courses across the world, including St Petersburg Golf Course, and so I can say that this new green at Patna Golf Club is completely matching the international standard. The 14 greens, which were present in this course till date, did not match international standard.”

On one hand, the 98-year-old club has been able to add a new putting green facility successfully but on the other it is finding difficulty in completing another ambitious programme — a guesthouse for golfers on its campus.

“We have still not been able to manage funds for the guesthouse, which would be a G+1 structure. We are trying to get funds from the corporate houses for the guesthouse,” said Ghosh.

He added that because of not having a guesthouse, the club was not being able to get itself affiliated to other golf clubs of the country.

“If Patna Golf Club gets affiliated to some particular golf club in other state, then golfers of the state, who are the members of Patna Golf Club, do not need to pay Rs 2,000-2,500 per day for playing in that particular club, which is otherwise necessary for playing in some other golf course,” added Ghosh.