Gymkhana Club, Chennai

The Gymkhana Club is one of the two 18-hole golf courses in Chennai, India. It was established in the 1884. The club boasts of one of the oldest golf courses in Asia. In 2009, the then Governor of Tamil Nadu Surjit Singh Barnala released a coffee-table book, 'The Glory Years,' commemorating 125 years of the Madras Gymkhana Club.HistoryIn April, 1884 that a select gathering of distinguished colonial gentleman founded the "Gymkhana Club" on the Island grounds. It was then that Brig. Gen. Johnson formulated the objectives and rules of the club and christened it the "Gymkhana".Early membership of the club, was reserved for the Garrison members, British executives and some of the blue blooded members of the Indian gentry. Sports and Games all started, when a tent was put up in the open grounds, where polo and pig sticking was played. The sea change in the club, however, came about, when the Raja of Venkatagiri donated a Grand stand.Now from Polo and pig sticking, the club moved on. Cards, Polo, Rugby, Tennis, Golf, Trap Shooting were played by the members with gusto. Further, the South Indian Rajahs nurtured the club with generous donations for buildings, billiards tables and polo ponies.The history of the club is, for the most part, intertwined with the history of India. With the onset of the First World War, calling for an ordinance to expel all the German members of the club, only for the club to later find out that most of its German settlers had erstwhile fled away. With the Indian woman gaining more and more prominence, the club now passed an ordinance to allow Independent women to become members of the club.A bowling green came up, along with a ball room in the paddock. Dance nights concluded with grand suppers, where starlit pictures of couples dancing in the moonlight were taken by the photographers The Club was alive and radiant, and in due course was facilitated with its swimming pool. It was in this same pool, a few years hence that a special event Major Sammy Lee, Olympic Diving Champion, performed at the Gymkhana treating over 500 members to an unforgettable diving exhibition, It was around this time that the club kitchen was upgraded with an Ice making plant, Ice – cream machine and a deep freeze cabinet.