By GolfDigestME.com
Located within the boundaries of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Safaa Golf Club was opened in August 2009. Since then, Mohawarean Specialized Golf Services (MGS) has maintained and operated this private club.

Created by European Golf Design, Safaa Golf Club provides golf instruction delivered by PGA professionals, ranging from a junior academy and introductory adult tuition to lessons for more advanced members.

The club is a bio-diverse environment that is in the process of obtaining GEO Certification. That accreditation would be a Saudi first. Safaa Golf Club also hosts groups from the university campus and schools for environmental awareness education, bird watching and walking groups when the course is closed for play.

For more information please contact Rory Heath
Mob: +966-56-789-8828, Email: rory@mgs.sa

BE AT 1 SERIES:
Tame ‘Sea View’, stroke index 1 at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club
Tame the 15th, stroke index 1, at The Els Club Dubai
Tame the 5th, stroke index 1, at Tower Links Golf Club
Tame the 15th, stroke index 1, at Yas Links Abu Dhabi
Tame the 7th, stroke index 1, at Dubai Hills Golf Club
Tame the 12th, stroke index 1, at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club
Tame the 13th, stroke index 1, at Al Zorah Golf Club
Tame the 10th, stroke index 1, at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club
Tame the 5th, stroke index 1, at Abu Dhabi Golf Club
Tame the 5th, stroke index 1, at Arabian Ranches Golf Club

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The post QUICKSHOT: Safaa Golf Club appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 12th hole at Royal Greens comes after a nice stretch of birdie holes and certainly tests all levels of golfer. At 459-yards off the championship tees, this par 4 is a long, skinny and slightly uphill hole where an unfavourable left to right prevailing wind will push any errant tee shot into the desert and, even worse, out of bounds if you are not careful.

If you are successful in finding the small fairway by avoiding the well-placed fairway bunker, then there will be a long iron, perhaps even a fairway wood, into the extremely undulating green that has severe run offs. Dave Sampson from European Golf Design certainly wanted to test every element of your game at the 12th. –with Kent Gray

Tee shot: An elevated tee allows golfers to visualise their tee shot. However, the strong left to right wind seeds doubt … do you aim left and let the wind bring the ball back, or play a draw of the tee into the wind? Moreover, the fairway bunker at 250 yards off the tee is perfectly placed on the right and will catch a slightly wayward tee shot; forget reaching the green in two from there. If you are able to find the fairway or even the first or second cut of rough, you’ll have a chance of reaching the green in two but the odds will still be against you.

Approach: Accuracy and precision is key to your approach shot and anything on the green in regulation is a job well done. While there are no greenside bunkers to avoid, sometimes you wish there was to help stop the ball rolling down the severe run offs. If your approach shot falls short, goes left or right then you are left with a very difficult chip shot to try and save par.

Closing out: The 12th hole gets even better once you’ve finally reached the green. Welcome to one of our most undulating greens on the course which tends to slope away to the run off areas. That makes hitting any approach shot close difficult.  The three-tiered green allows many ‘interesting’ pin locations for our members and guests with everyone looking forward to hearing the ball finally drop and moving over the par 5, 13th hole.

BE AT 1 SERIES:
Tame ‘Sea View’, stroke index 1 at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club
Tame the 15th, stroke index 1, at The Els Club Dubai
Tame the 5th, stroke index 1, at Tower Links Golf Club
Tame the 15th, stroke index 1, at Yas Links Abu Dhabi
Tame the 7th, stroke index 1, at Dubai Hills Golf Club
Tame the 13th, stroke index 1, at Al Zorah Golf Club
Tame the 10th, stroke index 1, at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club
Tame the 5th, stroke index 1, at Abu Dhabi Golf Club

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
The Middle East’s 18 favourite holes
The Middle East’s best par 3s
Top 10 Golf Courses in the Middle East: The Class of 2020

The post BE AT 1: Tame the 12th, stroke index 1, at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Tim Lobb on his latest design near the great pyramids of Giza, the business and life lessons passed down by the late, great Peter Thomson and how modern golf equipment is making his work more challenging than ever before.

By Kent Gray
When you’re a part of a design firm founded by five-time Open champion Peter Thomson, it’s inevitable that your contribution to modern course architecture might take a while to be truly appreciated by the general golfing public.

Tim Lobb’s stocks are certainly on the rise after the unveiling of NEWGIZA on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, earlier this year. Poignantly the final project of Thomson, (Ross) Perrett & Lobb, the 18-hole layout in the shadow of the Giza pyramids, one of the Seven Great Wonders of the World, opened to widespread acclaim.

But the expertise of the Melbourne born and raised, Surrey-based architect has long been known by the biggest names in the course design and renovation game; they don’t anoint you vice-president of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects, as the 49-year-old recently was, by mistake.

Lobb’s reputation has been hard-earned, firstly with European Golf Design and then though 12 memorable years and countless projects with Thomson, Perrett & Lobb, a company wound up in 2016, roughly two years before golf lost Thomson when the Hall of Famer died in June 2018, aged 88.

Finalising the same hole during the construction phase of the new course. Photograph by Kevin Murray Photography

Chief of LOBB + PARTNERS since 2016, Lobb says the reaction to the opening of NEWGIZA has been “incredibly flattering and comes as a huge boost”. Not that he has time to rest on those laurels; construction has just started on another Egyptian course on the shores of the Red Sea at Soma Bay in Hurgada while the historically-focused renovations of courses such as Tandridge, Burhill and Huntercombe, layouts originally designed by some of the greatest architects that ever lived, are privileged projects for Lobb.

Regnum Ankara Golf and Country Club, a new 18-holer in Turkey, is set to open next year while Lobb’s contribution to golf in the Middle East is a waiting game; masterplans for new 18, 36 and 54 hole developments in Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE – including Dubai Golf City – are on hold but only the strike of a pen from adding to his legacy.

Lobb took time out from his busy schedule to talk to Kent Gray about his changing design philosophy, lessons learned and the challenges anew for the game, and by default course designers, ahead.

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How were you introduced to the game?
My father introduced me to golf as he is a keen golfer. I first played on a public course in Melbourne called East Malvern Golf Club aged 10 and later became a member at Riversdale Golf Club as a teenager. I spent many hours playing and practising there.

You play off single figures. what level did you play the game to?
The best I ever got to was a three handicap. I dreamt of playing professionally but thankfully realised pretty early that I was nowhere near good enough.

Barring your own creations, what’s the best course you’ve played?
Probably the best courses I have played are Cypress Point Club, Chicago Golf Club, Royal Melbourne (West) and Kingston Heath Golf Club. I just cannot give my all-time best but it’s maybe the first mentioned.

And the best destination for golf in the world?
I would say either the Melbourne sandbelt or the London heathlands. Both destinations have amazing golf courses very closely located together and a stone throws away from two of the best cities in the world.

What led you down the path to course architecture?
I first became interested when I was about 16 when my home club (Riversdale Golf Club) was being renovated by Peter Thomson. I took a great interest in the process and activated my dream of becoming a golf course architect.

Your career included a stint with European Golf Design. What influence did this have on your future design philosophy?
Jeremy Slessor, Managing Director of European Golf Design, offered me a position in 1998, which I was very thankful for and thrilled me immensely. The high level of detail and the exposure to large scale international golf developments was fantastic. Working with master-planners in a multi-discipline consultancy team was just what I had hoped to do and got my brain thinking big.

Is there a single course architect, past or present, who has inspired you?
For the past architects, it would be Harry Colt as I have been exposed to a lot of his very naturalistic work in the UK. Of the modern architects, it would have to be Pete Dye as he really set the tone for innovative design ideas.

You were with Ross Perrett and Peter Thomson as Thomson, Perrett & Lobb up until 2016. that must have been an amazing 12 years?
Working with Peter and Ross really was a fantastic time and we created some courses that we are proud of. NEWGIZA was the first contract we signed as TPL in 2005. The project took some time to be fully realised but the result was worth the wait. Peter, Ross and I always tried to be at The Open Championship together every year. We had two Opens at St Andrews which was very special as we would always visit Peter, Mary and the Thomson family for morning tea at their house just a few minutes walk from the 18th green. Over a morning cup of coffee, we discussed the days golf ahead and just enjoyed each others company, always with some wonderful stories from Peter.

Ross Perrett, Peter Thomson and Tim Lobb at Thomson’s house in St. Andrews during an Open Championship meet up.

What’s the best advice Thomson gave you?
Quite simply Peter always said ‘be yourself Tim’, which is pretty simply advice but so fundamental in business and in life.

What was he like as a designer, business partner and friend?
Peter always had a non-fussy approach to golf course design with a clear strategic message to the shots being executed. He was always very supportive of our business and was so proud to be part of a company that was pioneering golf into new territories around the world as well as working in established golfing regions. Peter, Mary and all the Thomson family were very welcoming and our families always had a wonderful time, whether it be in the UK or in Melbourne, Australia. A lot of treasured memories.

We know a fair amount about Peter Thomson but less about Ross Perrett. tell us what he brought to the table and how he has helped your career?
Ross and I first met in 2002 and prior to the forming of TPL. Ross is a fully qualified landscape architect, building architect and super talented artist. Ross has an incredible skill of interpreting personalities and welcoming their ideas and thoughts, to allow for full originality and expression. Ross and I worked very closely together for all our years together which instilled the importance of creativity within the full design process.

If you are a lover of golf and ancient history, it doesn’t get much better than newgiza does it?
NEWGIZA has been an incredibly rewarding project to work on as a designer but more so as part of the construction implementation team. Throughout the design process, we worked very hard to retain and incorporate the pre-existing limestone quarry heritage of the site in the design. The vertical quarry excavations are seen regularly throughout the golfing journey. We tried to design a course that looked very dramatic yet played very friendly for the golfers. In our view we want all the golfers to be able to get off the tee with ease so as to enjoy the fine approaches into the large and undulating greens we created.

The elevation changes at NEWGIZA, including on the 6th hole, are dramatic. Photograph by Kevin Murray Photography

As a designer, you must have been fascinated by the Giza pyramids?
We visited the pyramids on many occasions as they are the most amazing structures viewed up close. We were adamant that the pyramids should be part of the golfing experience and worked hard with sightlines, angles and elevations to ensure visibility of these grand structures from the golf course. In the end, we found the sweet spot from the 4th hole, which is a par 3 playing steep into the quarry base with the pyramids as their backdrop.

What can visiting golfers expect from the golf experience at NEWGIZA?
We are very pleased with the end course at NEWGIZA because we were involved from day one, literally the first stroke of the pen on paper with the client to start the masterplan. The course fits very well within the overall development and I think we achieved our goal of creating a truly Egyptian golfing experience. With the quarry site conditions, our semi-desert landscape strategy and connection with the pyramids we hope that visiting golfers will remember NEWGIZA long after they leave.

You’ve just started construction on a second course in Egypt at Soma Bay in Hurghada. What sort of layout will we eventually see there?
We are starting construction of a second course at Soma Bay in Hurgada, to sit next to the existing Gary Player layout. We plan to build a ‘resort’ style 18-hole course which will certainly promote family/ holiday golf. We plan very few bunkers – less than 10 – on the course and want to incorporate interesting ground contours with native grasses cutting into play to form the playing strategy. The Red Sea will be visible from every hole and the course will range from 4600 yards to 6600 yards and be a par 71.

It must be satisfying to be working in relatively undeveloped regions for the royal and ancient game?
Throughout my career, we have been fortunate to create golf courses in regions where golf had not existed. This pioneering work has its challenges for sure but with education and passion of the local community, great results can be achieved.

Is there a country you’d really like to leave your design imprint in?
We have been looking at some potential projects in Mauritius and that certainly is one beautiful spot. There are some exciting plans for golf in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which we would love to help evolve.

You’ve been quoted saying building a links course from scratch is on your bucket list? Is links golf your favourite form of the game?
I love all golf courses that sit softly in their own landscapes. Playing links courses can provide the most raw and sustainable golf course experiences.

The best links course you’ve played?
Tough question… I’ll go with Royal County Down.

When will we see a LOBB + PARTNERS Design in the UAE?
We would love to fully open a LOBB + PARTNERS golf course soon in the UAE. We’d also be very pleased to work with clients who like our style.

The trio onsite at Golf City near the new Trump Dubai; 12 holes are in play but the project is on hold.

Adam Scott recently bemoaned courses that are getting longer and longer, saying they don’t faze the game’s top players. conversely, many courses have been designed for owners with ambitions to host pro events so are too tricky for the majority of weekend warriors. how do you strike a balance?
When a client says to us that they want to host a major professional tournament on their course, we sit them down first and say ‘are you sure?’

The gap between professional and amateur golf has never been so great. To strike the happy balance we ensure a variety of teeing locations which have different distances but maybe, more importantly, a diversity of play angles. Greens should be quite large to accommodate regular pin positions as well as the tight ‘Sunday’ pins.

How do you deal with criticism of your work?
Some people like coffee in the morning and other tea – everybody is different and their opinions of the subjective golf course design can be varied. We always appreciate feedback and criticism is part and parcel of our business as what we are designing have no pre-set solutions or formulas. Thankfully we don’t receive regular criticism but a thick skin sometimes is needed.

It’s hard picking favourites but if we really pressed your for your most memorable new design, what would it be?
Gosh, that is a tough one because all the projects are memorable for different reasons. Most certainly NEWGIZA is right up there because of the complexity of the design and difficulty of the build. Carya in Turkey came out really well because we laid it out in a mature pine forest. Similarly, Linna Golf in Finland, which I did with EGD was with wonderful clients set in a mature and hill pine forest – a joy to work on.

And the renovation project?
We are working on many Top 100 golf courses in the UK and pleased to be part of a movement which is looking to restore the valuable landscapes within these beautiful heathland courses of Surrey and Berkshire. Our clients include St Georges Hill G.C., Woking G.C., West Hill G.C., Worplesdon G.C., Huntercombe G.C. and The Berkshire GC. We are working hard to leave a sustainable landscape and golf course strategy for future golfers.

The renovated 1st at famed St. George’s Hill.

Where do you see golf course architecture going in the foreseeable future, especially with no end in sight for the advance of ball and club technology?
The future surely must be driven by sustainability, whether it be environmental, economic or to maintain sustainable participation levels. As golf course architects we have a strong role in shaping the future with innovative, creative and interesting golf facilities for experienced golfers as well as total novices. The ball is going way too far and having a negative impact on tournament play but I don’t think it is having a major effect to the regular golfer.

If you were the boss of global golf for a day, what would your first directive be?
Speed up the game of golf. It is S-L-O-W-L-Y killing the game.

In a perfect world, would you prefer to design a course harmonising with the natural surrounds or work with a blank canvas like many of the desert courses here in the UAE where shifting sand isn’t such a big deal?
A site with a natural flair for a potential golf course is, of course, a joy to work with, though creating golf features with machinery and creativity is also enjoyable. To make flat ground interesting and unforgettable as a golf course is quite a challenge and a source of achievement as well.

How has your design philosophy changed from when you started in the profession?
I first started in the golf design world in 1995 with Australian Ted Parslow. In the early days, we didn’t think so much about the number of bunkers or maintenance impacts of our designs. Certainly, now I would say that we are designing far less bunkers than we used to and thinking about other golf features like run-off zones around greens and interesting ground contours to deflect or gather golf shots. Of course, sustainability has also become more of a driving force in the design process now.

What would your elevator pitch be to a prospective client looking to build a course, say in the UAE?
We love to work with passionate owners to deliver outcomes which explore all design scenarios and innovate the game of golf even further.

Golfers are pretty fanatic characters. are you always thinking about course design?
When I play golf I try and switch off from design and enjoy the game. At home, I try not to think about golf design.

What do you do for fun after hours?
I enjoy running and going to the gym, though I really do need to lose some weight. As a family, we enjoy travelling and regularly go to Asia and Australia to see our families and friends. Cooking and enjoying a glass or two are also passions and best enjoyed with friends.

What’s the best experience – golf-related or otherwise – that has been a direct result of your work?
Watching professional golfers play a tournament on one of your courses is pretty interesting to watch and sometimes puzzling on how they approach the course – very rarely going for a risky shot. Anonymously sitting in a locker room or clubhouse of a course you’ve designed listening to people talk about the course is also really interesting and always a learning curve.

The post TIM LOBB: Beauty by Design appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
For golfers the world over, a duck hook is a disheartening scourge to scorecard happiness. In Dubai, The Duck Hook is something altogether more appealing.

The Emirate’s newest golf course opened to great fanfare and rave reviews late last month and it wasn’t just the eminently playable and immaculately presented European Golf Design layout that warranted those worthy plaudits.

The 45,000sq foot, Arabian-themed clubhouse at Dubai Hills Golf Club is an elegant accompaniment to a course sure to attract global attention, especially with the iconic Burj Khalifa serving as an almost constant backdrop.

A gentle fade to the right through the lobby at Dubai Hills G.C. is the aforementioned The Duck Hook, a British-inspired bar complete with views beyond the 18th green and six big screens on the walls to watch the latest golf or big game after your round.

Related: 9 Questions for Dubai Hill’s general manager Elliott Gray

Legend has it the name is the work of the restaurant operator’s marketing team lead by Niki Walsh, who wanted an esoteric golfing term that would also have a wider, playful appeal for non-golfers too. JRG have taken the name and run with it, going to town with the quacky theme in a space tastefully adorned with duck paraphernalia at every turn, even the artwork on the walls. You’ll certainly know where you are as you debrief your round, hopefully, minus any of those roped, right-to-left scorecard wreckers of your own.

Play a little draw through the lobby and you’ll happen upon Hillhouse Brasserie, an upmarket boulangerie by day and fashionable international brasserie by night with an open kitchen serving concept dining sure to tempt even the most discerning palate. Together they can serve 400 covers in eateries sure to be popular with members and visitors alike.

Elsewhere, the clubhouse offers everything Middle East golfers have come to expect from a five-star golf facility, achieved with contemporary sophistication but thankfully minus much of the over-the-top opulence of neighbouring clubs.

Golfers will drive beneath the clubhouse to find the bag drop before parking and entering the clubhouse through the upstairs lobby for check-in and directions to the locker rooms. Inside you’ll find the usual amenities including a sauna and steam room, the latter perhaps to ease any aches and pains after a session in the members’ only gym next door, kitted out with the latest, touch-screen TechnoGym equipment which can track your progress and build a profile to ensure you get in even better golf shape.

On the way out to the buggy drop, there is a fully-stocked Golf Shop offering the latest Ping rental clubs for visitors. A nice touch in the new golf carts is a USB port to charge your inevitably flat rangefinder or cellphone – you’ll want plenty of battery to snapshots of all the memorable holes you’re about to tackle.

A short drive from the clubhouse you’ll find The Golf Academy at Dubai Hills G.C. set to open in January. It will come complete with two, roller-doored, indoor teaching studios that open out onto the range, like the one at Troon Golf sister property Arabian Ranches Golf Club.  Already in play are two fantastic short game areas, a driving range ring-fenced by a neat little par-3 course and arguably the biggest practice putting green in the Middle East – all 1780 square metres of it. Members should have no issue with their lag putting at Dubai Hills G.C., plus a ready escape from any blessed duck hooks in The Duck Hook.

The post Instantly hooked by Dubai Hill’s new clubhouse appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray  |   Photographs by Wayne Gray
“The ideal hole is surely one that affords the greatest pleasure to the greatest number, gives the fullest advantage for accurate play, stimulates players to improve their game, and never becomes monotonous.”

Alister MacKenzie departed this life 84 years ago, long before Dubai discovered golf and longer still before Dubai Hills Golf Club began taking shape on the drawing board at Berkshire-based European Golf Design. But if he could, the revered British architect surely would doff his Tam o’ Shanter to this utterly impressive addition to the emirate’s concentration of world-class golf.

WIN! A four-ball to play Dubai Hills Golf Club

With the majestic Burj Khalifa serving as an almost constant companion, Dubai Hills G.C. will open next month with not one but a compilation of memorable holes designed to deliver gratification to the masses.

Prepare to be wowed by an outward nine that somehow manages to get better and better and a finish set to produce the type of theatre Dubai Creek’s 17th and 18th holes are famed for. Many a friendly match will come to a watery crescendo here.

In between, there is never a hint of strategic staleness or aesthetic repetition. Dubai Hills G.C. isn’t one of those must-play courses where a handful of holes and an iconic backdrop disguise what is really a slog to be endured rather than enjoyed. Instead, it is eminently playable by offering generous landing areas off the tee and approaches that demand more in craft than they do to brute force.

The stunning 8th is a par 5 that keeps coming at you.

It’s one course-fits-all accomplishment for which designer Gary Johnston deserves genuine acclaim.

Indeed, Johnson has delivered on his brief in spades, producing a layout that will set aflutter the hearts of regular birdie markers while keeping more modest ball strikers interested with its open fairways and welcoming approaches.

Club members will become comfortable with shots played from all manner of rumpled lies while the gigantic green complexes ask for creativity with wedge and putter in hand without requiring the touch of a tour pro, a prerequisite to enjoyment on courses nearby.

There are ample places to donate a wayward Pro V1 or two, including six man-made lakes. It’s a course that will lull you into a false sense of security if you’re not careful as the aforementioned closing holes did to the author. Thankfully Dubai Hills G.C. has a solution if you are “stimulated” to seek remedial work on your game in the form of a contemporary Golf Academy. MacKenzie would approve.

The greens and villas at Dubai Hills Estate are impressively proportioned.

Location, Location, Location

First impressions count and Dubai Hills G.C. does its grand entrance well. Already mature roadside landscaping greets visitors as they indicate off Al Khail Road at exit 65 (Al Marabea’ St, East) and weave their way towards the clubhouse at the leading edge of a rapidly expanding development.

The 45,000sq foot, Arabian-themed clubhouse and carpark surrounds were taking final shape when Golf Digest Middle East played in June but the playing surfaces were already in top condition, including a big practice putting green beside the first tee that is so cleverly positioned you to wonder why other clubs haven’t thought of it.

Dubai Hills’ 1st hole is what all good opening holes should be, a relatively gentle start without being a complete pushover. It’s 396 yards from the black tee tips (all measures herewith are from the championship tees) but like every hole at Dubai Hills G.C. offers four other options with the par 4 just 252 yards from the forward-most green tees.

A gentle fade will get you underway without calamity and leave the ideal look into the putting surface. It also promises your first uneven fairway lie, a clever and deliberate outer perimeter defence to the course’s generously proportioned greens. Given most of the Paspalum Platinum grassed surfaces can be reached with mid to short irons (providing, of course, you selected the starting blocks on the 1st that match your ability rather than your ego), it’s a subtle way to keep things interesting.

Things ramp up on the 2nd where you play across a shallow ravine to a par 3 where a bunker presented at right angles to the tee protects 80 per cent of the wide, undulating green. You have the first real strategic decision to make on the tee of the following par 4 where a deep desert baranac splits the fairway in two and offers a brilliant risk-reward conundrum. The bigger hitter will be tempted to fire right and directly at the green; it is just drivable but promises scorecard tears if you miss high right or deep left into the craggy fairway divide. The more prudent play is to position your drive out to the plateaued fairway on the left, leaving little more than a flick with a wedge over the aforementioned baranac to a green that will see its share of three-putts even if you do reach in regulation.

The 6th is a driveable par 4 and definite birdie chance.

Iconic Signature

By now you are getting a feel for Johnston’s strategy where a short approach on one hole gives way to a longer test of accuracy on the next. Enjoyment levels ratchet up accordingly, especially when you swing around to the left for the first par 5 (see p36) and are encapsulated with those hero shots of the Burj Khalifa. The world’s tallest building seems an awful long way in the distance but the 5th hole, at 540 yards, will tease big hitters to have a pop in two. The more strategic option is to lay up short of the right hand fairway bunker with your second shot to avoid a fiddly little shot from the tightly clipped swale that guards the green, along with a smattering of the 83 bunkers that shine bright around the layout with their crushed marble imported from Oman.

Designers don’t do signature holes (they lavish equal amounts of attention on every hole) but Johnston is rightly chuffed with how the 6th turned out. It’s a drivable par four – every good course should have at least one – played slightly uphill to a backdrop of villas. With a gaggle of four fairway bunkers and curvy contouring around the green, this is a dreamy hole (main image p40) and could result in back-to-back birdies if you’re striking it sweetly.

You’ll take par at the uphill 7th and run, and do so even more gleefully on the 8th which features the course’s first water hazard hugging almost the entire right hand side of the gently dog-legging par 5. There are actually seven tee areas on this 604-yard behemoth, a hole that just keeps coming at you and is best approached from the left for obvious reasons. Mind you, any bailout will leave a potentially slippery, downhill chip back towards the water; take in the boulder work while you’re over there plucking your ball out of the water – the impressive, hand painted shotcrete work around the partial island-style green was done by Imagineering, the team behind the waterfall on Earth’s 18th hole at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Just when you thought the outward nine couldn’t possibly get any better, water awaits on the par 3 9th along with a horseshoe of teeing options. A bailout area to the right of the green will see plenty of action, especially from those tempting fate from the 220 yard tips.

The 9th, 220 yards from the tips, is the most picturesque of Dubai Hills’ memorable par 3s.

At The Turn

Dubai Hills G.C.’s homeward nine doesn’t quite measure up to the heights of its outward companion but perhaps that’s because the front nine was constructed nearly three years ago, not to mention that it is truly outstanding. The back nine, more desert links, will mature once the trees grow and barren horizon on several holes is granted definition by more of the gargantuan villas that populate the established parts of the 119-hectare property.

It’s not that there aren’t any holes MacKenzie wouldn’t enthuse over. The 13th affords views of the Burj Khalifa from the tee and has undertones of Arabian Ranches’ 13th hole thanks to a lone Ghaf tree that stands guard to the left hand side of this par-3, while the 16th is another fun par-4 with a split fairway.

You could easily be lulled into a false sense of security on the back nine as the author was until he stepped upon the 17th tee and duly sent two uncooperative spheres for a swim. Played into the prevailing wind, the 203-yard par 3 shares a lake with the previous hole and its watery, right-sided defence will be a magnet to all but the purest of strikes – or massive bailouts left that will serve only to bring the water back into play again.

Indeed, walk off with a three-four finish at Dubai Hills G.C. and you’ll likely be at or very near the summit of any monthly medal leaderboard because like its predecessor, the closing par 4 is an absolute brute.

Dubai Hills G.C. wanted to differentiate its finale from the par-5s that predominate the UAE golfscape and Johnston has achieved this by conjuring up a 485-yard finish that demands a solid drive and an equally crisp approach into a peninsula green. There’s magnetic bunkering front right that looks like it’s cut tight to the green but is actually a clever optical illusion. That and water right are set to provide plenty of entertainment for those watching on from the impressive clubhouse terraces. Any par here will be richly applauded.

No two lies are ever the same at Dubai Hills G.C. thanks to its rumpled fairways.

Joy Is

Exceptional golf is the norm rather than the exception in the UAE and Dubai Hills G.C. doesn’t let the side down.

Johnston might not be a household name but the 39-year-old is already highly regarded among his peers. It comes as no surprise that the stunning Montgomerie Maxx Royal, a layout carved out of the forest in Antalya and home to the European Tour’s Turkish Airlines Open, is among his designs, nor that he was commissioned to upgrade famed Prince’s Golf Club in Sandwich, a regular Open Championship qualifying venue.

Coincidentally, ground has just broken on European Golf Design’s next Dubai project near the new Al Maktoum International Airport. Johnston says ‘Emaar  South’ will be more in the style of Arabian Ranches Golf Club and if the Scotsman’s Middle East debut is any indication, we can’t wait to play it.

Dubai Hills G.C. isn’t as challenging as Earth at JGE or Yas Links in Abu Dhabi but then it never intended to be. This is a members course that strikes just the right balance between challenge and playability.   

Shots of the so-called signature holes back-dropped by the Burj Khalifa are guaranteed to go global and wow even expats spoiled by so much great golf, perhaps sufficiently so to have some reconsidering their memberships elsewhere across the emirate. Golf is meant to be fun and Dubai Hills G.C. serves that up for scratch markers and those more accustomed to scratching it around. MacKenzie would definitely approve.

For membership inquiries, please email info@dubaihillsgolfclub.com.

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