As well as the chance to win some amazing prizes, we’ve marked the milestone by taking a contemporary spin on many of the features that appeared in our launch issue back in November 2008.

Related: Take our 2017 Reader Survey and win BIG!

The most obvious replication starts right up front where Dubai amateur sensation Rayhan Thomas steps out of the shadows of U.S. singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake to deservedly earn his second Golf Digest ME cover within a year.

The 17-year-old Indian, now up to a career-high 23rd place in the latest Amateur World Golf Rankings (WAGR), also stars in our bumper 30-page “9 for 9” feature which celebrates nine pivotal contributions to the local game during the nine years we’ve been in print.

Inside, we explore what’s next for Thomas, both from a swing and career progression standpoint, while reflecting on his world record-tying birdie blitz during last month’s MENA Tour event at Dubai Creek and his unforgettable Jnr Presidents Cup debut.

Timberlake might have taken the most prominent piece of real estate in our first issue but the key story inside was the impending launch of the Race to Dubai. Ninety nine issues later we sit down for a fascinating one-on-one with a needle-shifting powerbroker from the first issue. The chat with David Spencer is as illuminating as those purple socks he rocked in the subsequent photoshoot.

We’ve also given Thomas’ coach, Justin Parsons, the full treatment. The Northern Irishman is Dubai’s coach to the stars – and not all of them golfers with some neat pictures of cricket demigod Sachin Tendulkar and Hollywood A-lister Will Smith included.

Former Open champion Darren Clarke makes a plea for greater support of the MENA Tour and we meet the character behind the kandura that is Mohamed Juma Buamaim. You also won’t want to miss the fascinating interview with Peter Harradine as the always outspoken Dubai-based Swiss architect opens up on the curse of the contemporary “Championship course” designs.

One of our favourite reflections is a before and after equipment test with Jumeriah Golf Estates 3.8-handicapper Philip Sharpe. We won’t give too much away but you won’t believe the results the Cobra Golf tragic achieved when we got him on the X-Golf simulator at eGolf Megastore.

With a swing tip from UAE PGA champion Cennydd Mills and previews ahead of the Ras Al Khaimah 2017 Golf Challenge and European Challenge Tour’s season-deciding NBO Golf Classic Grand Fina in Muscat, plus the LET’s Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open at Saadiyat Beach, you’ll go a long way to find more in-depth local coverage.

Throw in tips from Butch and Claude Harmon, tuition features penned by newly crowned PGA Tour Player-of-the-Year Justin Thomas and world No. 5 Jon Rahm and an amazing “Shots I can’t explain” piece from Jack Nicklaus, and our 100th issue is, well, one in a hundred.

Grab your copy today and get winning!

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From its decor to the stunning location, everything about the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort is unique when it comes to a UAE getaway
By Robbie Greenfield

Abu Dhabi has made plenty of international headlines over the last few years for its growing status as a golf destination. This is impressive on two levels. Firstly, as a market it’s still extremely young. Abu Dhabi Golf Club put itself on the global map with the launch of its championship 10 years ago, but Yas Links and Saadiyat Beach Golf Club have only been open for fi ve and six years respectively. In that time, both have won a glut of awards.

So golf in Abu Dhabi is new, and it’s also currently limited by number. Abu Dhabi City Golf Club and its sand course, Al Ghazal, are both integral to the emirate’s golfi ng heritage, but only three courses attract tourists from overseas.

The par 4 16th at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club is as difficult as it is eye catching.

The general consensus from experts is that you typically need at least double that (and preferably more) to boast a golf destination with global appeal. Yet Abu Dhabi has gotten there with three, helped by two key factors. One is the quality of its hotels, and the other is the terrifi c standard and variety of its three championship golf courses.

There are plenty of global golf destinations that offer dozens of courses that all bring a dose of déjà vu to each tee shot. In Abu Dhabi, you have a classic desert layout with 10 European Tour championships under its belt (not to mention a Westin resort on site), an Arabian answer to a traditional links course that has been ranked inside the world’s top 100 by many of the world’s most respected publications, and Saadiyat Beach Golf Club itself, perhaps the ultimate expression of golf resort luxury. Together with the stunning St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, which overlooks its sixth and seventh holes, it’s a mouthwatering package.

Whenever I visit Saadiyat Island I have to remind myself that I’m still in the UAE; even more so when checking into a place like the St. Regis. This is proper five star fare, with a beachfront vista to match. In early summer the sand is almost blindingly white, the Arabian Gulf a brilliant shade of turquoise. As you walk out onto the beach, a noticeboard informs you of when dolphins and turtles were last spotted offshore. From the vantage point of a shaded wicker cabana, this could easily be Barbados. And it’s one of the harder spots from which to embark on an afternoon round of golf.

There was no escaping the onset of summer heat during our May date with Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, but the club is well equipped to deal with the discomfort of temperatures in the 40s. With a light breeze blowing off the coast, it was nothing a few cold towels couldn’t correct.

Saadiyat Beach Golf Club is one of those courses where it’s straightforward to play, but difficult to actually score. You have to be fairly wild off the tee to miss the landing areas on most holes, but the swales that surround the greens are continually challenging. And then every so often you run into a hole that’s just plain tough, like the par 3 sixth, or the par 4 eighth. The former quite cruelly offered me a glimpse of the cabana I had willingly abandoned to contest a scrappy match with PGA professional Clinton Norris, but the beauty of this course is that it has enough scenic distractions to take your mind off any questionable standard of play. Golfing escapes in the UAE don’t come any more relaxed.

The post Stay & Play : St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort / Saadiyat Beach GC appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.