Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Here author Rodney J. Bogg, the Middle East’s foremost golf historian, charts the rise of the iconic Dubai landmark 

“Hey big spender”. Those immortal words were hammered out by Welsh singer Shirley Bassey to more than a thousand VIP guests, headlined by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and more than a thousand VIP guests, on a starry night in January 1993. It was a fitting climax to the opening party for the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, a party that has gone down in the annals of this remarkable city as “The Party of the Century”.

Related: 25 facts to celebrate the Creek’s 25th birthday

Two days earlier the golf course had been tested by four of the world’s leading golfers in an opening tournament – the Dubai Creek Challenge – which was a curtain raiser to the 1993 Dubai Desert Classic. Isao Aoki, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, and Severiano Ballesteros competed over the back nine holes in front of a crowd of several thousand, many of whom were probably there to see the new course as much as the stars.

Is there a tougher, or more picturesque closing stretch in Middle East golf than the 17th (pictured) and 18th at DCGYC?

The course had been designed by the same course architect as the Majlis at Emirates Golf Club – Karl Litten – but on a very different site, with just a flat piece of land on the banks of the creek to work with. But work with it he did and the result was lauded by everyone who played it in the coming months.

From the outset the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club was far more than just a golf course. As the name suggests it housed the first inland marina in the region, with berthing for pleasure boats of all sizes, plus a workshop and the first chandlery in Dubai.

The Dubai Creek Golf Academy was the first of its kind – totally dedicated to teaching golf and bringing new people into the game –  a remit that continues to be fulfilled today, especially in the introduction of so many UAE Nationals – young and old – to golf.

The iconic clubhouse taking shape.

And then there was – and still is – the clubhouse.

Driving into the property today is like entering a hidden valley, with palm trees and bougainvillea lining the entrance road between half-hidden villas, bringing one to the lush fairways of the golf course, the richness of the Marina, the stone lined entrance to the hotel, all reflecting the amazing expansion that the club has seen over the past 25 years. But the highlight of it all is still the fabulous multi-tiered clubhouse which sits majestically overlooking the entire property.

Brian Johnson’s iconic building has received more awards, plaudits, and publicity than virtually any building in Dubai – the Burj Al Arab and Burj Khalifa apart. Voted Best of the Best by Golf World in 1997, it must surely be the only golf clubhouse to appear on its national currency, thanks to its unique – but classic – architectural style based on the design of the lateen sail of the traditional racing dhows that were such a thrill to watch sailing along the coast.

The island green on the 14th in build.

The first brochure published about the club was called “The Creek” (a name by which it is now affectionately referred) – with the tag line ‘More Than Just Golf’, which it certainly was even before the hotel and the 92 residential villas were added in 2005.

The hotel sits on a site that hosted some of the finest parties ever held in Dubai, including five Dubai Air Show Gala Dinners – headlined by such stars as Barry White, Stevie Wonder and Rod Stewart – Shopping Festival openings, and concerts featuring the likes of Roger Waters, Asha Bhosle and Sir Elton John.

Enjoying a prime location the envy of any sports resort in the world, the Creek took full advantage of its good fortune and created some of the most exciting restaurants in Dubai. Over at the Yacht Club – its design based, like the clubhouse, on a nautical theme, this time the prow of a luxury cruiser – the Aquarium with (at the time) the first floor-to-ceiling aquarium in Dubai drew seafood lovers to its location overlooking the marina, while the Boardwalk became one of the city’s ‘must do’ experiences in every travel brochure, often serving in excess of 1000 covers on its wooden decks overlooking the sparkling waters of the creek.

Boardwalk dining at DCGYC.

Despite all this, the Creek is still a golf club, and has over the years hosted numerous international tournaments. In 1994, following the success of the opening tournament, the European Tour held its pre-Desert Classic exhibition match at the Creek for the second year, this time as the Reebok Challenge, featuring Isao Aoki, Fred Couples, Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer, and Greg Norman, who, despite going straight onto the course after flying in from Tokyo, won by three shots over the back nine.

For three years between 1994 and 1996, the Creek played host to the Asian Tour, the US$500,000 events becoming he third ‘major’ on the rapidly developing tour. Despite the name of the tour, the Gadgil Western Dubai Creek Opens produced two winners from Australia – Robert Willis and Adrian Percey – and one from South Africa, Paul Friedlander.

But it was the 1999 and 2000 Dubai Desert Classics that really put Dubai Creek on the map internationally, when the tournament moved from its traditional home on the Majlis course at Emirates Golf Club, to the tighter fairways of The Creek. Intended to demonstrate to the world that Dubai had more than one world class golf course, and to show off the ‘new’ Dubai skyline to the world, those Desert Classics were beamed to millions of household television sets around the world.

Enjoy a post round dip.

The two Desert Classics produced two first-time Tour winners in David Howell and Jose Coceres, but received most of its publicity for two other reasons – the USA-Open style rough which Course Superintendent Ken Glover produced in response to the Tour’s request to toughen up the course, and Director of Golf, Peter Downie, who nearly created the biggest upset in European Tour history when he led the field halfway through the third round, and actually threatened to win the 1999 Classic.

Argentina’s Jose Coceres won the 2000 Dubai Desert Classic at The Creek before the European Tour event returned to sister property Emirates G.C. where it remains.

After the Desert Classic moved back to its traditional home on the Majlis , the Chairman decided that the time had arrived to develop the hotel that had always been intended for the property. Although this took away the lucrative concert site, the advent of the Park Hyatt Hotel and the 92 residential villas – and the subsequent re-design of the golf course to accommodate them – changed the Creek from a golf and yacht club to a fully-fledged resort.

The Park Hyatt Dubai is regarded as the perfect luxury city centre retreat, with its stunning architecture, world-class cuisine, personalised service, and excellent facilities, including one of Dubai’s leading spas – the award winning Amara.

Opening fireworks.

The hotel and villas may have made the Creek the complete resort in physical terms, but it is still an abstract quality that continues to make Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club such a special place – something that has become known as the Creek Culture.

From the day it opened under the Chairmanship of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the Creek has gained a reputation for its warmth and welcoming feeling, excellent service, and its friendly staff, much of the credit for which must go to the early management team, and especially front man Downie, whose expression “This is not a practise round, the tournament’s today” became the motto that defined the entire Creek operation.

The Creek is a Middle East landmark for more than just the world class golf on offer.

Today, under the excellent stewardship of wasl, DCGYC continues to develop – always dynamic, always changing, but always charming – and always focussed on His Highness Sheikh Mohammed’s vision
of a world-class resort, which personifies Dubai and its cultural heritage.

While January’s celebrations may not equal those of the opening party, you can be certain that the celebrations will nonetheless be typical of this fabulous resort – classy, friendly, and a credit to Dubai.

The par-5 10th hole.

The post Creek chic – Celebrating a Middle East icon appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. turned 25 in January and has a big celebration planned this month. As the iconic venue celebrates its Silver Anniversary, here are the top 25 facts over its eventful history.

Related: Creek chic – Celebrating a Middle East icon 

1. In 1989, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, devised the idea to created a spectacular development on the banks of the creek waterway.

2. Marina berths were also in short supply in 1990, so Sheikh Mohammed decided to add a 199-berth marina to the project.

3. On September 2, 1990, the first earth movers of Al Naboodah Contracting began the first part of the construction phase.

4. Brian Johnson, who had also designed Emirates Golf Club, envisioned the incredible clubhouse. The design is based on the shape of the lateen sail of the traditional racing dhows. To win the contract, Johnson asked a model maker to produce an eight inch model for one hundred English pounds – which helped him beat the competition. His business partner then suggested the idea of a reflection pool round the outside that helped the building appear as though it was floating. The Yacht Club design was created to resemble the prow of a luxury cruise liner.

5. Karl Litten designed the original golf course. He had complete freedom to design the 18 hole course, the Par-3 course and practice facilities.

6. The interiors were designed by Lars Waldenstrom (father-in-law to European Tour star Thomas Bjorn) and company Swedish Design (now LW Design).

7. On Tuesday. January 26, 1993, four of the world’s leading golfers took part in the Dubai Creek Challenge; Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els and Isao Aoki, to mark the first professional tournament held on the course. Each was rewarded with a beautiful Persian rug, appointed by Chairman, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.

8. The prestigious club was unveiled by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on January 28th, 1993.

9. Its design is historic, with the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club clubhouse featured on the 20 Dirham banknote.

10. The club has hosted some iconic concerts in its history. From the very first opening evening performance from Shirley Bassey, to Tom Jones, Shaggy, Bollywood stars Aamir Khan and Preity Zinta, the Russian State Ballet, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart and Roger Waters. However, the most famous concert in its history was in October 2002, when Elton John wowed a crowd of 14,000 – even His Highness Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan flew in from Abu Dhabi to meet one of his favourite singers.

11. Charitable efforts have always been a part of Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. The Big 5-0 Golf Tournament in Aid of Children was held for 13 years and raised over AED 8 million for SPARKS (Sport Aiding Research for Kids).

12. Fishing tournaments have remained popular in the Dubai Creek Marina – in one tournament a participant claimed to have hooked a barracuda. Halfway through weighing, it broke from the scale and broke in half – it was frozen and had been picked up from the fish market on the way in from a fruitless day of fishing.

13. Boardwalk’s iconic deck is made of handcut Australian Jarra wood, cut on site and fitted to perfection.

14. QD’s was originally a swimming pool – its wooden deck was installed over the top of it.

15. The Dubai Desert Classic was held at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club in 1999 and 2000 – the former won by David Howell and the latter by Jose Coceres. The tournament returned back to Emirates Golf Club in 2001 where it has remained ever since.

16. Between 2003 and 2007, the course saw significant redevelopment – notably the building of the Park Hyatt Hotel which opened in 2005, construction of residential villas and a course redesign led by European Golf Design and advised by Tour player Thomas Bjorn. Fellow professional Darren Clarke suggests, “The course has improved massively, and is a much better test of golf. It has matured superbly and is now a really great course for events such as the MENA Golf Tour.”

17. Since 2007, Seawings has operated a regular service from the Creek serving 35,000 people a year.

18. The Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Golf is Christopher May – previously he was General Manager at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club.

19. Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club has been a proud supporter of Emiratization, with many colleagues progressing through the ranks at the club including Mona Ahmed Khamis and notably Abdulla Al Noon who is the current Club Manager.

20. Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club has always put a priority on junior development. Indeed when the UAE’s Junior Development programme was introduced in the mid-90’s, the Creek was the first Club to sign up for it. Now, with initiatives such as Tee It Up, which operates an outreach of free lessons for schools, the sport of golf is reaching more Emirati and expat Dubai residents than ever before.

21. Rayhan Thomas is perhaps the most notable player to graduate from the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club Academy system, going on to play in the MENA Tour and winning the Dubai Creek Open at just 17 years old. In 2017, he equalled MG Keyser’s course record of 61. During that historic round, he also equalled the world record for number of consecutive birdies in a professional tournament (nine).

22. Dubai Duty Free CEO Colm McLoughlin is the only golfer to have been honoured as Captain of both Emirates Golf Club and Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club.

23. The original Yacht Club had a restaurant called Aquarium, but as tastes changed there was a desire to vary up the offering, so Casa de Tapas replaced it. The floor-to-ceiling aquarium was removed and the fish were all rehoused at Atlantis – The Palm.

24. In 2010 the Dubai Creek Marina welcomed the first annual Dubai Pre-Owned Boat Show which brings thousands of visitors – some looking for a boat to buy and others enjoying the variety of attractions on offer to the Dubai Creek Marina.

25. Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club still has 21 founder members and 15 founder colleagues who joined the club in the first year of opening.

The Creek’s iconic clubhouse is surely the only one in golf featured on a banknote.

Christopher May, Chief Executive of Dubai Golf
“The Creek is very, very special because it’s like a haven in the middle of the city. The club has always been very welcoming to members and guests alike and the friendly welcome you receive is something that really makes it stand out from other places around the world. The team have worked hard to develop market-leading facilities, including award-winning restaurants and the championship course is a must-play for any golf fan. I’m really proud to be part of the Creek team and to be here as part of this 25th Anniversary celebration.”

Abdulla Al Noon, Club Manager at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club
“It is thanks to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed’s incredible vision over 25 years ago that Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club has become the world-class destination that it is today. We strive to create an environment that the UAE can be proud of and I think 25 years of exceptional service is worth celebrating. I hope that my children will come and enjoy golf here and celebrate the 50th anniversary one day.”

The post 25 Facts to celebrate Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s 25th Birthday appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.