Founded on June 24, 1876, the Bangalore Golf Club is the second oldest in India. It also has the distinction of hosting, with Madras, the oldest inter-club tournament in the country, which started in 1878 and is played alternately in Bangalore and Madras. In the days when railways and aircraft were still things of the future, golfers, often travelled as much as 300 km on horseback and in bullock carts to participate in the tournament. The bar at the Bangalore Golf Club has some interesting memorabilia tracing the history of the club. The par 71, 6,650 yards, 18-hole course started with browns, which were later converted to greens. Scarcity of water is a major constraint in the area and the course has very few water hazards. Besides trees and deep ditches, the major hazard on the course is the Bangalore crow, which often picks up the ball, mistaking it for an egg. It is, therefore, not surprising that the logo of the Bangalore Golf Club depicts a crow with a ball in its beak.

Though the fairways at the Bangalore Golf Club are fairly dry and sandy, the greens are lush and well manicured. Drives have to be well planned to avoid the rocky parts of the fairway, where the ball tends to veer off and change direction. The greens are invariably trapped by large bunkers. A large number of flowering trees, which include the colourful gulmohar, palm and eucalyptus, are planted along the tight fairways. The course is remarkable in that 18 holes have been deftly packed into just 60 acres of land.

The second course at Bangalore is more recent, and came about after the government recognised golf as a major tourist attraction and acquired 126 acres of land near the airport for the Karnataka Golf Association. Peter Thompson, the internationally known golf architect, was chosen to design the course, and nine of the 18 holes have already been laid out. The length of the existing course is 5,900 meters at par 72, the same nine holes being played back.