Mercara Downs Golf Club

Overview: Mercara Downs Golf Club is a mountain course in Madikeri, the hill capital of Kodagu, better known to many travellers as Coorg. The club's current website presents an 18-hole, par-70 course surrounded by valleys, rolling hills and tall trees. That setting gives the round a very different feel from the broad resort layouts of India's plains: the landscape is close, the ground rises and falls, and the surrounding greenery is part of the course's visual identity. A current 2026 South Zone Golf Tour record also confirms that the course continues to host organised competitive play.

History: Mercara Downs belongs to the long golfing tradition of Kodagu, a region whose connections with British-era plantation and hill life helped create an unusual environment for golf in southern India. The club describes the course as one of the area's oldest and places it within Coorg's broader tourist history, but the reviewed official material does not publish a single definitive opening year or original architect. Those fields are therefore left open rather than filled from repeated secondary claims. What is clear is the course's continuing club identity: the present organisation maintains the 18-hole routing, provides professional support and remains part of the sporting life of Madikeri.

Did You Know? The course's name points to its setting. “Mercara” is the older name associated with Madikeri, while “Downs” describes the rolling highland terrain on which the holes are laid out. The result is a golf destination where the elevation changes and views across Coorg are as important to the character of the round as the par-70 scorecard.