The Tollygunge Club ( Bengali: টালিগঞ্জ ক্লাব), popularly called Tolly Club, is a country club in India, located in Tollygunge in south Kolkata. Sir William Cruikshank established the club as an equestrian sports facility in 1895 to "promote all manner of sports". It is spread over , with a clubhouse that is over 200 years old.

History

The extensive grounds of the club were originally an

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plantation laid out in 1781 by the Johnson family, who were amongst the pioneers of the plantation industry in India. Later the grounds were to become a royal park at the heart of the princely estate established by the exiled family of

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

, the deposed ruler of

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

and the house which the Johnsons had built as their home became the garden house of the new Mysore Estate. In 1895, the entire property was acquired from the Mysore family by the Tollygunge Club Limited and the old Johnson home is today the club's clubhouse. Tollygunge Club hosts the Chaki Memorial Golf Tournament annually.

Natural surroundings

The club grounds boast an enviable collection of flowering trees and tropical plants, many of which have been brought from far afield as Australia and South America. These provide a natural sanctuary for a variety of exotic birds. Birds & Trees of Tolly, written by Kushal Mookherjee, explores these in greater detail.

Facilities

Food & Beverage

Restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

* Bar * Banquet (Party & Conference) *

Sporting Facilities

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

– 18 holes, par 70, . * Squash – 4 glass backed indoor courts. *

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

– 4 clay courts; 2 hard courts (all outdoor). *

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

– 1 Covered

pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

; 1 outdoor pool; 1 outdoor Jacuzzi * Riding – Horses and children's ponies available. Riding classes are conducted twice a day. *

Billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Cue sports, a category of stic ...

– 2 tables. Also, 1 pool table. *

Health Club A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, weight room and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise. In recent years, the number of fitness an ...

– Health and fitness centre with sauna and steam bath.

Other Facilities

* Bar & Catering – Airconditioned and Outdoor Bars. Indian, Chinese and Continental Cuisine. *

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

– Regular Bridge sessions in Bridge Room. * Cyber Cafe, Conferencing and Banqueting facilities. * Transcend at the Tolly – A salon in collaboration with L'Oréal Professional, Paris. * Ayurvedic Spa * Accommodation – 70 Air-conditioned double suites in Grand Stand, Tolly Towers & Tolly Terrace. * Food & Beverages – 4 restaurants, 5 bars, Wills Lounge, 3 banquet halls, Kwality Walls ice-cream parlour. * Spencers Convenience store

Affiliated clubs

* Calcutta Cricket & Football Club (CC&FC)

References

External links

Golf courses in IndiaThe Tollygunge Club
Sport in Kolkata Golf clubs and courses in India 1895 establishments in India Sports venues completed in 1895 {{golfcourse-stub