Reading about golf (Fore!, #94) was like a soothing spa for the tattered soul of an overseas Nepali. Today, I am not going to bother or worry about the Maoists or the number of incoming tourists. I am simply going to indulge myself in the pleasure of playing golf vicariously at the Gokarna Club in faraway Nepal.

The eventuality of golf tourism in Nepal is unquestionable. Kathmandu can be the Thailand of golf for South Asia, particularly India where the golf population is leapfrogging. South-east Asia has plenty of first rate golf courses but Kathmandu and particularly courses like Gokarna have an edge over these countries in that almost all courses in ASEAN countries are tropical in environment and landscape, but Kathmandu and Pokhara provide cool and comfortable weather condition as well as the magnificent Himalayan backdrop.

As a recreational golf player, I got hundred percent satisfaction shooting the white ball at the Gokarna Club. The green is on par with any first-rate course, the fairway is well-maintained, the ambience is unique, the food is excellent, and most of all the staff are helpful and polite. You are playing an international-standard golf course and yet by the time you finish the 18th hole you have probably experienced the flora and fauna of a small-scale national park and don't forget that you have also accomplished a day of trekking by walking the entire course. It's a win-win situation.

I am improving my game by practicing hard, and can't wait to be there soon. Jai Nepal! Jai Golf!

"Omar dai",
Taipei, Taiwan

. I'm writing to thank you for the article on golf; it was well-written and being an avid golfer, I liked it very much. I think you could have devoted some more space to the problems young professional golfers in Nepal face-there is only one tournament that they can play in the whole year round and they cannot afford to even play in India as they do not get any financial aid from the government or from business houses. I'm an amateur golfer myself and I feel for these talented young pros.

Tenzing aka Tiger Oops
by email

. Thank you for the coverage of golf in Nepal. It just might help open a few eyes among the authorities concerned to the word \'golf'. Golf isn't only a sport, but an integral part of the tourism business. This is understood all over the world, except in Nepal. Golf by itself will never make money. It is more like a bait to entice the tourist to spend more money while visiting a country. Tourism isn't just Mt Everest and Phewa Tal. Nepal has the best of everything: the scene, the weather and the costs related to building a proper championship layout; it has land and labour. The government has land, why can't it identify proper plots of land for golf course development and invite private investors in joint ventures? Golf does not need prime land, it needs adequate land. Golf in Nepal is considered a rich man's game. That's plain wrong. If it were true, why aren't all the politicians playing?

Sonny Shrestha, by email