However, most will admit it is always a memorable treat to head abroad to play a foreign course for the first time. This can be a lengthy and expensive undertaking, if a keen golfer is looking east to Asia, or west to mainland Europe or the United States.

But for those on a tighter schedule (and budget), there is a real treat you may not know about only a short hop away in Oman.

A 50-minute budget flight will take you from Dubai to Muscat International Airport, which is quite literally on the doorstep of one of the Middle East’s best golf clubs — Al Mouj Golf. 

Sutton Motorsport Images

Set amid the glamorous new Wave complex on the outskirts of the city, Al Mouj is a wonder to behold set in what almost feels like a wildlife park — a walk around the course is worth it alone to admire the natural lakes and reserves and the flora and fauna that comes with that. Al Mouj has more than 170 bird species throughout the year, from flamingos to eagles, that call this green oasis home, adding to an unforgettable experience on an iconic course.

Al Mouj, Oman’s first links-style course was conceptualised by former world No. 1-turned-course-designer Greg Norman when he visited the area in 2006. The club opened its doors in 2012 alongside the Wave resort’s hotels, residences, marina and luxury retail outlets. 

The club incorporates an award-winning 18-hole championship course and a flood-lit nine-hole track — both designed by Norman.

The Championship Course is a treat from the first hole to the last and — as Head Golf Professional Marcus Casey says: “Every hole could be a signature hole on another course. All 18 are a perfect challenge, there are no fillers here” — it is difficult to pick a standout among this collection on the Indian Ocean coastline.  

Sutton Motorsport Images

With the Hajjar mountains flanking the opposite side of the sea, Al Mouj has nine holes either side of the clubhouse along a two-kilometre stretch. While the lengthy course has no shortage of challenges — water (lakes and sea) is in play on eight holes, while every hole bar the fifth is heavily protected by deep bunkers and rough — in true links style, the wind whipping off the sea in the afternoon makes things even tougher. 

While distance is one factor, strategic placement is of more importance as the approach shots can take on a whole new degree of difficulty if you are out of shape off the tee. 

Al Mouj has played host to the DP World Tour’s Oman Open since 2018, with past winners including Joost Luiten, Kurt Kitayama and Sami Valimaki.

While each hole offers its own unique challenges, if pushed, the standouts are the short fifth, which demands a carry over water to reach the green 150 yards away, the gorgeous 11th which carries straight downhill to the coastline and the Indian Ocean, and the iconic par-4 18th, where players must play across the Indian Ocean itself to safely reach the fairway from the black tees.

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Where to stay

Kempinski Hotel Muscat
Located five minutes from Al Mouj Golf in the modern community of the same name, sits the luxurious Kempinski Hotel Muscat beach resort. The hotel features 310 rooms and suites, and can also accommodate corporate meetings and events. You will not go hungry with 11 restaurants and bars onsite offering a global range of culinary treats. There are two main swimming pools, plus a kids pool and club, tennis courts, various outdoor and water sport activities, a spa and even an in-house bowling alley.
kempinski.com/en/muscat/kempinski-hotel-muscat/

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Other things to do

Photo by Matt Smith

Visit Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Back in 1992, the then Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said al Said, decreed the nation must have a Grand Mosque, and construction began at the end of 1994 and took six years and seven months to complete. The wait was worth it as what is now the major landmark of Muscat and dominates the skyline is a 420,000 sq m beautiful building that blends history and culture with a hint of modern architecture that can accommodate up to 20,000 worshippers at one time. Open to visitors, appropriate dress required.
sultanqaboosgrandmosque.com

Tour the Old Quarter
At the eastern tip of modern Muscat, away from the shimmering glass and Royal Opera House lies the Old Quarter. A short journey on new roads carved through the mountain takes you back in time to narrow bustling street, mountaintop 16th-century forts and 500-year-old city walls, and the must-see warren of the massive, ancient Mutrah Souk.

Go snorkelling
Al Mouj Marina offers all kinds of see trip, from dolphin spotting to fishing and overnight island camps. But top of the list has to be a day trip to go snorkelling. A 35-minute boat trip to the Daymaniat Islands with Captain Fahad’s Daymaniat Shells boat tours company will take you to two spots for hour-long snorkelling experiences, where the sealife sights include turtles, rays, moray eels, clown fish — even blacktip sharks and a variety of marine creatures and corals.
daymaniat-shells.com

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A WEEK IN IRELAND SERIES
DAY 1: The K Club
DAY 2: Lahinch
DAY 3: Dromoland Castle
DAY 4: Mount Juliet Estate
DAY 5: Druids Heath

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

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 Muscat and Al Mouj Golf a must-see for golfers looking for a change of scene appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The club incorporates an award-winning 18-hole championship course and a flood-lit nine-hole track — both designed by ‘The Shark’ — and Al Mouj has quickly established itself as one of the best golf courses in not only Oman but the Middle East over the past decade. 

Along with the coastal views, the backdrop isn’t too bad either as the  Hajjar mountain loom large over a course that has made great use of the natural dunes to shape the terrain into a firm favourite of many top golfers. 

With 10 years under their belt, the management at Al Mouj are marking the occasion with a number of celebrations alongside a members ‘Anniversary Trophy’ competition, and an Individual Stableford tournament on October 22, which is open to all.

A WEEK IN IRELAND SERIES
DAY 1: The K Club
DAY 2: Lahinch
DAY 3: Dromoland Castle
DAY 4: Mount Juliet Estate
DAY 5: Druids Heath

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

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 A Wave of celebrations as Al Mouj Golf in Muscat, Oman, gears up for its 10th anniversary appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Josh Thornton
Al Mouj Golf is famous for its lengthy par-5s which require several well-struck blows if you are to walk off the hole with a par or better. A problem that many of our members and visitors face when playing these long holes is the second shot where the ball is sitting on a flat part of the fairway. You’ve got the green light to have a go at the green but it’s a tough call deciding whether to sacrifice distance and play several iron/ hybrid shots safely down the middle or pull out a longer and riskier fairway wood. If this conundrum sounds familiar, then you’re not alone. Let’s look at what you can do to improve your ball striking with fairway woods ‘off the deck’ to bring birdies, or better, into play.

Centre of Gravity
As well as the correct ball position (aim for a ball inside your leading foot), your centre of gravity is key to crisp fairway shots. In a golf context, it’s a complicated term but can be simplified as a description of where your weight moves to during the swing. For fairway woods, your weight must move more to the front leg at the point of impact, around 80 per cent (see main right). It’s critical that your hips turn to create this weight movement, not sway from side to side.

Put this all together and you have an angle of attack that allows a positive impact with the ground, without taking a large divot, that will send the ball sailing towards a green that once used to feel out of reach. —with Kent Gray

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Josh Thornton is a PGA teaching professional at Al Mouj Golf. For more information, visit almoujgolf.com

The post VIDEO: Flush your fairway woods appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
With Frenchman Alexander Levy the highest ranked player in the field at No. 62 in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), the new NBO Oman Open offers fading stars and lesser lights the chance to shine.

Paul Waring and Matthew Southgate duly obliged Thursday, the Englishmen grabbing a share of the lead in the $1.75 million European Tour event with seven under 65s.

Both went bogey free around the majestic Al Mouj Golf layout but Southgate’s card was illuminated by an ace on island green 5th. The seven iron dunk from 165 yards was the 29-year-old’s second hole-in-one inside a month after he binned a nine iron on the par-3 7th at Emirates Golf Club during last month’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic; it was also the second ace on the historic day in Muscat after German Marcel Siem holed out from 162 yards on the 13th moments earlier. In a bizarre coincidence, the caddies of both players are twin brothers – Gary and Guy Tilson. 

Southgate and Waring lead by a shot from Dutchman Daan Huizing who hit the first shot of the championship and just 65 further strokes to cash in on a special invite having played four of the five Challenge Tour events previously held at Al Mouj, including a T-10 at last November’s NBO Golf Classic Grand Final.

Ryder Cupper Andy Sullivan and fellow Englishman Callum Shinkwin were a shot further back after 67s while Matteo Manassero’s name was a welcome sight among a group of six players on 68.

Waring, the world No. 251, will be relived with his fast start after a challenging beginning to 2018 which has seen the 33-year-old miss three successive cuts en-route to Muscat after opening the wrap-around season with a T-41 effort in Hong Kong before Christmas.

Paul Waring

The 2005 English amateur champion played last season on a medical exemption after wrist and shoulder problems but also enjoyed a career-best campaign, finishing 60th on the Race to Dubai rankings and saw light despite the unwanted weekends off.

“I’d missed three cuts on the spin but I didn’t feel like I’d played badly to miss them. I didn’t feel too far away,” Waring told EuropeanTour.com after a round that included a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th (he started at 10) and birdies on all four par 5s.

“It was definitely a bit of a glide. I played some of the best golf I’ve played for a little while. I actually missed a few chances, which sounds ridiculous. I did hole a nice one on one from 30 or 40 feet which is nice to keep the momentum going. I’m really happy with that.”

Southgate’s early form hasn’t been much better than Waring’s. Ranked 163rd in the latest OWGR, he missed the cut at the SA Open and in Abu Dhabi before T-57 and T-62 finishes in Dubai and Kuala Lumpur.   

It was a good day for this guy ?

Shoots 65
Makes a hole-in-one
Takes the first round lead pic.twitter.com/rIK3woah9R

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) February 15, 2018

The Southend-on-Sea professional provided one of the stories of 2015, coming through all three stages of Q-School to regain his card after surgery for testicular cancer just months earlier. More recently Southgate has been in the news for cruelly incurring a four stroke penalty at the DAP Championship during last September’s Web.com finals, a freak incident that ultimately cost him a PGA Tour card.

Putting on the 15th at Canterbury Golf Club in Ohio, his ball was struck by a leaf that blew across the green, nudging the ball off line ever so slightly.

Southgate finished the hole, but made a huge error in the process as he should have placed his ball back to its original location and replayed the shot without penalty. Instead, by continuing the hole, he was handed a four-stroke penalty – two for playing from the wrong spot and two more for signing an incorrect card.

Here’s the incident:

Golf is hard … especially when you’re playing for a @PGATOUR card. pic.twitter.com/SoyWo6X01q

— Web.com Tour (@WebDotComTour) September 24, 2017

Sullivan, T-6 in Dubai and T-17 in Malaysia, is trending nicely as he looks to September’s Ryder Cup in Paris. The 31-year-old concedes complacency crept in after he slipped to 62nd place in last year’s Race to Dubai standings following back-to-back top 20 finishes in 2015 and 2016.

He achieved just two top-10s in 2017 but is determined to get back to the top after the high of qualifying for the 2016 Ryder Cup in Hazeltine.

“I think it was just a bit of complacency,” he told EuropeanTour.com. “I got to the Ryder Cup pretty early and achieved everything in really quick time and you just don’t realise how hard you have to work to maintain these things. I’d be guilty of that and of not quite performing how I wanted to.

“Since DP World we’ve put the hard work in and it’s nice to see it coming back to where it was so early. I didn’t expect it to happen quite so quickly.

“Once you’ve played one Ryder Cup you don’t want to miss another one, it’s so special. My first one was in America and obviously we got humped but the whole experience is so awesome, being a part of that team, you just don’t want to miss another one.

“One of my goals is to try and force my way into that team. I know it’s going to be difficult and I’ve left myself a lot to do but that’s where I want to be again.”

Levy, for the record, signed for a one-under 71 Thursday, as did Andrew “Beef” Johnston.  Shubhankar Sharma, the 21-year-old Indian who leads the 2018 Race to Dubai after wins at the Joburg Open and Maybank Championship in the past two months, finished with a 73 despite a near tap-in eagle on the par-5 12th.

It was a tough day for the local hopes. Al Mouj teaching professional Steven Troup (SCO) is tied for 128th overnight after a 77 while Oman national team amateur Azaan Al Rumhy carded an 80. Bahrain amateur Nasser Yaqoob was on +13 after an 85.

The post Southgate, with an ace, and Waring lead in Muscat after 65s appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Jebel Sifah GC is the 9-hole epicentre of a seaside and yacht-dotted residential/resort community by the same name, 65km southeast of Muscat, Oman’s capital city. Managed by Troon International, the desert-links was designed by Harradine Golf whose principal architect Peter Harradine is the antithesis of many of today’s contemporary course designers.

While developers elsewhere continue to unveil overly difficult behemoths in a foolhardly attempt to lure tour events and/or to future-proof their investment against the advances of club and ball technology, Harradine’s design philosophy has long focused on the physical ability (or relative lack thereof) and potential enjoyment of “average players”. The first pictures of Jebel Sifah clearly illustrate the fun factor Harradine desires.

Wide fairways, large greens and the absence of “useless” fairway bunkers promise aesthetically pleasing, resort-style golf where the natural topography has been cleverly enhanced to offer a strategic challenge.

The par 36 layout, which can be stretched from its forward-most tees at 2,843 yards to a championship standard 3,634 yards from the tips, is easily able to be toughened with greens that offer “easy, difficult and very difficult pin positions”. The use of a second set of pins on each of the nine greens can also transform the course into a par 72, 18-holer.

Sweeping Gulf of Oman views, natural wadis and a majestic Al Hajar Mountain backdrop complete the alluring picture at Harradine Golf’s first seaside offering.

“Surprisingly and for once, the client did not want a monster ‘championship’ layout but a resort course that would be fun for average players that are, after all, the backbone of the golf industry,” Harradine Golf said.

“Two holes play towards or along the Indian Ocean [Gulf of Oman] and the nearby mountains provide a dramatic and constant backdrop. Play is also interesting thanks to a continuous breeze from the sea that often changes direction, obliging difficult club selection [decisions] and playing strategy.

“Despite the topography, the course is rather flat and a pleasure to walk, which is not always the case with courses on real estate projects as they often have great distances between the greens and the next tees.”

Harradine Golf praised the developer, Muriya (a joint venture between Orascom Development Holding and Omani master developer Omran) for heeding its recommendations regarding the safety limits of the real estate that fringes the course.

“The stylish houses are therefore unobtrusive around the course as it meanders through and around wadis, which are filled with torrential water during the few but violent rainfalls. The complete sub-surface is composed of big and small calibre gravel, which ensures rapid drainage during those storms.”

Set along five kilometres of natural coastline and spanning 6.2 million square metres, Jebel Sifah is a premium destination that is home to a burgeoning multinational community. Easily reached by car or water taxi from Muscat, the development boasts an array of affordable luxury villas and apartments with stunning sea, Marina or golf views. The freehold residences, which entitle all nationalities to residency in Oman, offer a contemporary lifestyle to a diverse range of homeowners including Europeans, Americans, Indians, Omanis and GCC nationals.

Head Professional Gavin Campbell is on hand to deliver advice from a golf shop stocked with a wide variety of golf brands such as TaylorMade and Adidas. The golf course also offers players a chance to break from the mould with a game of FootGolf on its own dedicated grounds.

Jebel Sifah’s acclaimed Marina is no more than 50 yards from the golf shop. Additionally, the development is home to excellent dining, entertainment and leisure outlets, in close proximity to the Sultanate’s natural wonders. The Sifawy Boutique Hotel, another major component of Jebel Sifah, has launched new Stay and Play packages to provide golfers with the ultimate convenience when hitting the greens. Based on two golfers sharing, the packages include twin room, breakfast, ice cream at lunch, dinner with first beverage and 18 holes per night’s stay. Rates are OMR136pn (Jan 18 – May 18 and Sep 18 – Dec 18) and OMR90pn (Jun 18 – Aug 18) all taxes included. Golfers can also enjoy the Nine & Dine packages offering a three-course meal at the popular The Bank Beach Club. Rates are OMR25.

Green Fee (18-holes) rates are OMR20 for visitors or OMR17 for residents, inclusive of a golf cart, two bottles of water, tees, towel and scorecard. Resident fees apply to golfers living in Jebel Sifah or staying at the Sifawy Boutique Hotel.

www.jebelsifah.com
Email: golf@jebelsifah.com
Shop: +968 2474 9193

The post Travel Guide 2018: Jebel Sifah appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Representing Team Boyo Malaya, Mokhaza (pictured above with Titleist cap alongside Onside Sports Steven Munro) and Razak carded a seven-under-par 65 around Almouj Golf course in Muscat to win the betterball strokeplay event by two shots.

Tenzin Tsarong and Fiaz Riaz (Team Mohamed Riaz) finished second but it was a close run thing on countback with five other teams also signing for -5, 67s.

Mokhaza and Razak will be joined at the 36-hole final at Dubai’s Jumeirah Golf Estates by Almouj’s gross winners, Allan Middleton and Lynn Casey (pictured right in main image above). Playing for “Still Game”, Middleton and Casey posted an even par 72 to earn their place in the City Tower Real Estate Cup division on the Earth course at JGE from December 16-17, 2017.

The post Almouj duo Mokhaza and Razak qualify for XCGC appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.