DLF Golf and Country Club in New Delhi, India, is host to the Hero Indian Open, and the Gary Player-designed 18-hole course is a site to behold.
The club is unlike any golf course on the planet, with a variety of features to create an other-worldly style of aesthetic and play. On the back nine, there's an artificial quarry with hundreds of shaped boulders to offer an intimidating look for many shots, including forced, elevated carries to green complexes.
It truly is a unique golf experience, and it elicits a response or an opinion on the course from every single professional in the field competing this week.
Aside from the artificial rock outcroppings, the other big standout feature is the unique bunkering.
The bunkers at DLF Golf and Country Club are very penal because of their depth (and some have massive growth on top of them). The design team achieved the depth with a concept called riveting. Riveted bunkers are created by using a material -- sod, masonry or something else -- to create a layered wall which is better fortified and more stable. Because the wall is more stable, the face can be steeper and deeper to be more intimidating. At DLF Golf and Country Club, the bunker faces were riveted with a process called geo-riveting to create a unique look like it was made with layered wood.
DLF Golf and Country Club is a bit controversial because the over-the-top look flies in the face of the modern minimalist aesthetic. However, a variety of European Tour players seem to love the club as a host.
Since it has become the permanent home of the Hero Indian Open, the views of the course have softened to some degree, as it becomes a more common occurrence to see the course played on the DP World Tour stage. Still, it remains a unique test in golf.
