Royal Palm Golf & Country Club

Only four holes were initially in use when members of the Pakistan Railways Golf Club formed the club in 1912. A 9-hole layout was fashioned soon after and this course remained in play for over a decade until a full 18-hole track was inaugurated in 1928.

Mainland Husnain Pakistan Limited took over the club in 2001, renaming it Royal Palm Golf & Country Club, and it has never looked back since. LDR Consultants from Malaysia were hired to revamp the layout and this company duly completed a golfing makeover that quickly raised the ranking of the course to one of the best in the country.

Occupying a 140-acre triangular site that’s bounded by the Lahore-Karachi and Lahore-Delhi railway tracks on two sides and the Lahore branch canal on the other, the fairways at Royal Palm are routed around eight lakes, most of which come into play at some point in the round.

The 406-yard 6th (“Waterloo”) is rated the most difficult hole on the scorecard. A large fairway bunker lurks at the corner of the dogleg as the fairway bends left towards a sand-protected green that’s also fronted by water – good luck avoiding the hazards in pursuit of a four at this hole.

On the back nine, the 165-yard 13th (“Heart of Lahore”) is certainly not for the faint of heart, as tee shots must carry 140 yards of water before finding a heart-shaped, two tiered green that sits behind a heart-shaped lake.