Iconic courses, great company and a memorable weekend experience — the second Golf Digest Middle East Play & Stay had it all on Yas Island last Friday and Saturday. Golfers from all over the UAE, from Ras Al Khaimah to Dubai and Al Ain, gathered in the nation’s capital for a sensational tournament over 27 holes at Yas Acres Golf and Country Club and Yas Links Abu Dhabi — we even had a birthday party!

From their arrival at Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi – Yas Island on Friday afternoon, the multinational mix of contenders were treated to a slice of luxury, many with partners and family along for the ride.

Once everyone was checked in, we were off to the newest arrival on the UAE Golf scene, Yas Acres. With the vast majority of the mixed-ability competitors having never played the nine-hole course, it helped level the playing field.

“The fairways are a bit different to what we are used to down at Tower Links and a bit tighter and scarier,” said first-timer Richard Abson-Bennett as he closed out his round. “But it is beautiful out here. It is stunning and a really impressive venue.”

Fellow Acres rookie Adam Griffiths also hailed the course and set-up. “Really enjoyable, it is a really nice course and it suits the needs of all levels,” he said. “Can be quite forgiving and also rewards good shots. We have been well looked after and this has been well put together.”

With nine-holes under their belts, it was back to Crowne Plaza to be wined and dined at an evening brunch at Stills Restaurant & Bar, allowing the guests — with families who enjoyed the facilities at Crowne Plaza including kids, wives and one very-soon-mum-to-be joining the fun — to chill and get to know one another ahead of Saturday’s etch-in-the-memory afternoon. The following morning we were off to the iconic Yas Links — home of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship — a course that would test golfers of all abilities.

And so it proved with some playing the best round of their lives (see: one of the husband-and-wife duo Dennis and Karen, but we won’t say which), while others were struggling with the demands of the true links-style course.

“The courses have been amazing and how it has all been put together was amazing,” said birthday boy James Dean at Yas Links’ famous 17^th hole. “We had a great time with a great bunch of lads last night and we are looking forward to the next one.”

Playing partner James Finnigan added: “It was two tremendous venues. Acres — which most of us were playing for the first time — was superb and here [Yas Links] is just sensational. A delight to be here.”

Dan Coad was quite succinct as he said: “Thanks to Golf Digest for organising. This must be an annual event from now.”

Thankfully, everyone was still friends and ready to relax at Hickory’s in the Yas Links clubhouse for the prize-giving ceremony.

Overall winner Craig Vance was relishing his 2024 Dubai Desert Classic pro-am spot, and even earmarked his dream playing partners.

“It was my first experience at Acres and it is a great golf course. I will be back to play it again. It is challenging enough for all. The overall experience was tremendous and even the wife is happy so everyone is happy.”

After claiming top prize of a spot in the 2024 Dubai Desert Classic Pro-Am as gross stableford winner on 53 points, Vance admitted there was still room for improvement “I am very glad to win, he said. “It was a top day on Yas Links and a top weekend overall. My score should have been better as I hit two sprinkler heads on the greens but it was a brilliant weekend and can’t wait to play the Pro-Am. My dream partner would be Rory McIlroy or Jon Rahm, but regardless I am thrilled to be here and to be there.”

Winners list and prizes

Day 1
Nearest the pin: Dan Coad (two-ball at Yas Acres)
Longest drive: Dan Nicholson (two-ball at Yas Acres)
Day 2
Nearest the pin: Colin Davies (two-ball at Yas Links)
Longest drive: Dan Nicolson (two-ball at Yas Links)
Overall
Division B (HCP 15-28): Colin Davies (VIP Saturday hospitality for two at 2024 Dubai Desert Classic)
Division A (HCP 0-14): James Finnigan (VIP Sunday hospitality for two at 2024 Dubai Desert Classic)
Gross winner: Craig Vance — 53 points (spot in the 2024 Dubai Desert Classic Pro-Am

Golf Digest Middle East would like to thank Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi – Yas Island, Yas Acres Golf & Country Club, Yas Links Abu Dhabi and Viya Golf for their partnership to make the weekend a success.

The post Golf Digest Middle East’s Play & Stay on Yas Island is a winner appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

SPONSORED CONTENT: Great golf is guaranteed in Dubai and the Radisson Hotel Group has the other half of a memorable stay and play or golfing staycation in the emirate luxuriously covered.

Open 24/7, the Radisson Blu Dubai Media City and the Park Inn by Radisson Dubai Motor City are both within close proximity of the emirate’s top courses and offer special green fee rates to many of them as part of their world-renowned hospitality.

Stay and play packages are available from just AED 450 per person including hotel stay, green fee, transport to the golf club, complimentary drink and club storage. Rooms can be twin, single or suite depending on preference and swimming pools are available at all three hotels to help relieve the aches and pains of a day on the fairways.

Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Media City
For visitors keen to experience the No.1 course in the 2020 Golf Digest Middle East Top-10 Courses ranking, Radisson Blu Dubai Media City is a perfect base. Karl Litten’s fabled Majlis layout, home to the European Tour’s annual Dubai Desert Classic each January, is a short taxi ride away. You can also savour night golf under the floodlights of The Faldo, the Majlis’ sister course at Emirates Golf Club, or test your game at a course designed by another of the game’s biggest names, The Montgomerie. With the shopping & nightlight of Dubai Marina a mere hop and skip away as well as award-winning Italian restaurant Certo and Sports bar ICON on-site, Radisson Blu Dubai Media City has it all.
Instagram: @RadissonBluDMC

Park Inn by Radisson Dubai Motor City
With a replica race car bolted to the ceiling in the lobby, motor racing art at every turn and views of the final bend and down the home straight at the Dubai Autodrome from most rooms, the theme of the Park Inn by Radisson Dubai Motor City is unmistakable. But this is a hotel for golfers as much as for the dedicated petrol head.

Dubai Hills Golf Club, Jumeirah Golf Estates, the Els Club Dubai,  Arabian Ranches Golf Club and Trump International Golf Club Dubai are all within 15 minutes of the hotel. With the hotel offering special packages and great rates at the courses it is the perfect place to stay with a group of friends or just your favourite foursomes partner and comes with the added bonus of Motor City’s plethora of cafes and restaurants on your doorstep.

Stay & Play golf packages are available from AED 450pp including one night stay and tee time at The Els Club.
Instagram: @ParkInnDubaiMotorCity

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A great golf escape needs a stay as impressive as the course you choose to play. Al Mouj Golf and the Kempinski Hotel Muscat hit the spot, as Golf Digest Middle East editor Kent Gray discovered.

As the host of a $1.75 million European Tour event and a podium placer in Golf Digest Middle East’s biennial Top 10 courses ranking since the club’s inception, it’s strange that Al Mouj Golf remains one of the region’s best kept golfing secrets.

But that is exactly what the Greg Norman-designed desert links remains to UAE-based golf tourists despite increasingly revered global reviews.

Along a two-kilometre stretch of pristine coastline, flanking the Indian Ocean and with the stunning Hajjar mountain range as it’s inshore backdrop, Al Mouj Golf gives little away to the Majlis at Emirates Golf Club and Yas Links in Abu Dhabi, the only clubs above it in the most recent Top 10 list.

At 7342-yards, the 18-hole championship course is Oman’s first links course, a rugged, windswept brute of a layout which is as strategically challenging as it is beautiful. The outward nine features a pair of particularly memorable par 3s, the first to a partial island green, while any par on the 9th with its intimidating over-water tee shot and approach to a green guarded by the Gulf of Oman is to be celebrated. The excitement level – and shot-making examination – ratchet up a level on the homeward nine, particularly at the par-3 11th hole which plays directly out to sea and the 12th and 13th holes, a par-5 and par-3 combo that play adjacent to the coast and require as much to clever course management as they do pure ball striking. Then there’s the 18th, as picturesque – and daunting – a closing hole as you’ll anywhere in the region, a hole where every shot risks ending up wet.

Throw in a teaching academy and floodlit driving range, a floodlit par-3 nine-holer with impossibly perfect greens, a fully-equipped pro-shop and a restaurant to complete the experience, and it’s little wonder some of the game’s biggest names rave about Al Mouj Golf.

“I’d say it’s the best course I’ve played in the Middle East,” says European Tour winner Eddie Pepperell, not a man prone to hyperbole. “Al Mouj is a must play if you’re ever in Oman.”

Chris Wood, who narrowly missed out on the inaugural Oman Open title to Dutchman Joost Luiten in 2018, echoed Pepperell’s sentiments. “It’s a bit of a mix between a links and a desert course,” said the lanky Englishman. “The design is really good and there are so many players saying the same things. It’s in perfect condition and the practice facilities are awesome too.”

They’re doing good things for the future at Al Mouj Golf too, led by Australian course superintendent Steve Johnson. The club recently won the IAGTO Sustainability Award for Community Value and Johnson again earned high praise for the presentation of the playing surfaces when American Kurt Kitayama won the 2019 edition of the Oman Open in February.

It makes you wonder what else is needed to lure UAE-based golfers to the Muscat gem given the close, cost-effective stay and play adventure just a 70-minute flight from Dubai? With the new Muscat International Airport now operational and just a seven-minute drive to the golf club, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more convenient golf holiday option in the Middle East, not to mention worthy secondary courses nearby. Of course, the perfect golf escape needs a stay as impressive as the play, which is where the elegant new Kempinski Hotel Muscat comes into play.

Just a further eight-minute taxi drive west of Al Mouj Golf, the 310-room luxury beach resort offers a spectacular mix of modern Omani architecture and the sultanate’s famed hospitality.

After a memorable round, we retired to the luxury of our spacious and stunningly appointed superior room (complete with marble-clad bathroom) to soak up the sunset over the Gulf of Oman, much like the European Tour stars that followed us to the Oman Open’s official hotel. The views across the resort pools were enhanced by a flock of birds engaged in a mesmerising dusk inspired dance overhead. We could have stayed on our balcony for hours but there was so much to explore in the hotel and beyond. With state-of-the-art facilities, world-class restaurants and bars and a fully-equipped fitness centre, the Kempinski Hotel Muscat is the perfect accompaniment to Al Mouj’s truly world-class golf offering. The hotel is also ideally positioned for some post-round exploring on foot around the nearby Wave Muscat, Oman’s first master-planned community which sparkles between the Wave Muscat Marina (and some excellent non-golf activities) and Al Mouj Golf.

With so much world-class golf on our doorstep in the UAE, it is easy to look beyond the Middle East for any golf escape. But for wow factor at play and rest just a hop and a skip from Dubai or Abu Dhabi, you’ll need to go a long way to beat this Muscat combo for quality.

The post There’s now a stay to match the quality of Oman’s must play, Al Mouj Golf appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Little arm-twisting is required when a stay and play invitation pops into my inbox.

Fancy some golf and a night or two at the Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa? That’s the hotel on the doorstep of Abu Dhabi Golf Club, the luxurious sanctuary for golf’s best early season field each January and the course they market as the ‘The Home of Champions’, right? Okay, let me think ab…Yes please!

Why not take a detour to our sister property Saadiyat Beach Golf Club on the way down from Dubai and play their annual Gourmet Golf day. You already had me at ‘stay and play’ if I’m honest but that sounds mouthwatering. Count me in.

Just one thing, there seems to be something amiss here with this otherwise tempting itinerary. I can find no mention of golf on The National course where Tommy Fleetwood won the 12th Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship a few weeks back. I’m not so sure I want to emulate Tommy’s mullet and I’m absolutely certain I can’t play golf like the Englishman. But I’d love the chance to try on the Peter Harradine-designed course. Any chance?

A whiz-boing of emails confirmed my disappointment. I’m down to play Abu Dhabi GC’s nine-holer, secretly referred to as the Garden Course but officially known as ‘Holes 19-27’.

I feel so close and yet so far from the European Tour course when I eventually arrive at the Westin to meet the already checked-in family after being well and truly fed and watered during a grand afternoon at Saadiyat Beach GC. Eighteen holes on a European Tour venue or half as many on a course with no real name. Ah well, beggars can’t be choosers I suppose.

Fast-forward to the following evening after a relaxing day by the pool and its time to get this half round of golf out of the way. Out of the way…how wrong I was.

The floodlight ‘19-27’ course which is a hidden gem beyond the driving range.
(Main Image) The 25th hole on Abu Dhabi GC’s nine holer can play anywhere from 165 to 88 yards.

Holes 19-27 (seriously?) is a not so little gem. From the black tee tips it measures 3341 yards and is home to some truly memorable holes – the picturesque, slightly downhill par 3 21st hole (the 3rd to the rest of us), the par 4 23rd hole which doglegs left around a lake and the island-style green on the tiny par 3 25th the best among them.

I could easily have looped the course over and over but a cold wee caddy and a dinner date on The Terrace back at Abu Dhabi Golf Club (tasty fare and even better service) mean we’ll definitely come back another time.

For a golf addict, nothing can beat 18-holes on a course that regularly hosts the European Tour’s best. But our stay at the Westin was a timely reminder that precious family time needn’t be golf free time. A fractured left pinky finger precluded the little one from playing but with forward tees offering nine holes from just 2530 yards, this is an ideal course for families with golf rookies or for nine more after your Fleetwood impersonation act. Mullet optional. We’ll definitely hit the range next time too – Mum and Dad were super impressed with the well-organised Future Falcons junior coaching we spied from our hotel balcony while sipping coffee the following morning, and junior more than a little intrigued.

Fairways offers international dining

With six dining outlets including ‘Fairways’, the resort’s all-day restaurant with live international food stations, and golf for all levels, the Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa is proof you don’t have to travel far for a great stay and play.

For more info, visit westinabudhabigolfresort.com

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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.

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A world class course and one of the best weekend vibes in town make the Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa an essential summer visit
By Robbie Greenfield

This was a far cry from the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

Standing on the first tee of the National course on a balmy April afternoon, we were accompanied by an energetic soundtrack from not one but two enormous sound systems to our left. One was overseeing festivities at the famous Westin brunch (“pretty much the best in town,” my PGA professional playing partner Clinton Norris informed me) while a rival group of party-goers were getting in on the act with what looked like a giant South African braai on the lawn formerly occupied by January’s championship village.

It wasn’t quite as surreal as watching Gary Stal beat Martin Kaymer from 10 shots back, but it certainly made me wonder whether I had chosen the wrong way to spend my Friday afternoon. Particularly since Clinton beat me 4&3.

Golf can be an all too serious game at times, but when it comes to having a good time, the Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa and the adjacent Abu Dhabi Golf Club may be the best one-two punch combination in town. A constant hive of energy even in the summer months, the Westin does everything well, with great dining outlets offering quality and a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere in equal measure.

As for the golf course, it is a stringent test each January for the best players on the European Tour, but when the rough retreats and the tee boxes return to positions where us amateurs can actually see the fairway we’re trying to hit, the National becomes a much more fun course to play. Furthermore, the changes they’ve made to the course over the years have unquestionably improved it. Some great courses lose their charm when given a makeover, but the powers that be behind the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship have been careful not to alter the fundamental character of the National course. There’s more water in play now yes, but on the flipside there’s also more green to aim at.

Our trip started in Dubai behind the wheel of a brand new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé, which quickly established itself as my favourite of the cars we have driven in the Stay & Play series. When it comes to automotive beauty, BMW is perhaps not the first name that springs to mind, but the Gran Coupé is stunning. Its sleek, muscular frame gives the strict impression of a car that means business, but clambering into the driver’s seat does not require you to be a contortionist, as with smaller sport coupés.

Comfort and space are prioritised alongside performance, meaning you get the best of both worlds, with the BMW 435i Gran Coupé sprinting from 0 to 100 km/h in just 5.5 seconds. This car feels like its barely moving at 140, such is the smoothness of the ride.

Upon checking into the Westin, I discovered that the hotel is not the only place in the vicinity that knows how to serve up a culinary treat. Abu Dhabi Golf Club lays on one of the best buffets around on a Thursday night, with a live barbecue serving up everything from juicy steak to king prawns and accompanied by live music and a shisha.

At the resort itself, you can book yourself in for a session at the Heavenly Spa, lounge by the pool or loosen the belt buckle and ready yourself for a tilt at the Fairways brunch. Your only issue, in fact, might be finding enough time to allocate to a game of golf.

The Course
As host venue of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship since 2006, the National course at Abu Dhabi Golf Club has undergone many changes and improvements to its layout to become one of the most respected tracks on the European Tour. The most recent of these alterations saw water brought more into play on holes two, four, 12 and 16.

The Car
The new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé combines the sleek look of a two-door coupé with the functionality provided by four doors and expansive spaciousness, including a wide access luggage compartment that can comfortably accommodate a couple of sets of golf clubs. It’s a beauty to look at with performance to match.

The Resort
The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa is offering a Summer Stay & Play package which includes one night in a Deluxe Room, breakfast and one green fee at either Abu Dhabi Golf Club or Saadiyat Beach GC for just AED 600

For double occupancy the price drops to AED 475. Bookings can be made at: westinauh.info@westin.com

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Tackling an underrated course, high tech shooting range and the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class in Abu Dhabi’s second city
By Robbie Greenfield

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Sore hips, trembling hands and a score of 107. Yes, I could easily be describing one of my recent rounds of golf, but for once I was quietly smug about shooting more than 100. After all, this was the Al Ain Shooting Club rifle range and the targets did seem impossibly far away.

“Could be better. Acceptable if you’re a beginner,” was the verdict from Captain Atef Seoudy, a man who has shot for his country in not one, but two Olympic Games. It seemed that in this instance, 107 was equally as inept in shooting as it is in golf, which left me wondering whether it was time I gave up on target sports that require a steady hand and unwavering concentration.

At least Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting and Golf Club’s PGA professional Tom Buchanan was enjoying himself. The Scot posted a final score of 10-under  par in the MENA Tour Championship to qualify for this month’s Dubai Open, but I still think his one-sided victory in our clay pigeon shootout produced a wider grin of satisfaction.

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A luxury twist to Muscat’s golfing double-header
By Robbie Greenfield

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For the UAE-based golfer, Muscat is making an increasingly strong case as a front rank golfing getaway choice. It’s close enough to be reached via a short hop on Fly Dubai, yet far enough away to offer an escape from the norm. Oman is different with a capital D. Neither of its two top golf courses are remotely like anything you will play in the emirates, and nor is the magnificent Chedi hotel like any five-star property in the UAE.

You may not quite get the slick, polished golfing experience that is so expertly served up in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but both Almouj Golf and Muscat Hills possess considerable charm and a rugged quality, while at the same time featuring two wildly different playing experiences.

Greg Norman’s Almouj Golf is the undisputed king of this coastline, having arrived with a bang on Golf Digest Middle East’s official Top 10 course ranking last December at No.4. The easiest comparison to make would be with Yas Links in Abu Dhabi, but there are certainly some key differences. The manmade dunes on Greg Norman’s creation are even more imposing than Yas’, and its exposed location makes Almouj the breeziest course in the Middle East. Still less than two years old, the club have already hosted a Challenge Tour event and the playing surfaces, while spongy in places, are continuing to mature into a linksier test.

We took an early morning Friday flight from Dubai late last month and had already made time for a tasty breakfast and a bucket of range balls before pegging it up on the first tee at 11am. It really is that easy. Of course, it helps when your transport from the airport to the course arrives in the form of a Chedi-branded Mercedes, just one of the customised services the hotel offers to the ever-growing number of golfers heading to Oman.

As part of the ‘Tee off in Style’ package running until the end of the year, golfers can make use of the Chedi’s renowned Spa and Health Club. In the company of the frighteningly athletic Health Club manager, Milos Padjeski, our group discovered the full, depressing limitations of our levels of flexibility, together with muscles and joints we never knew we had, during a stretching routine designed to increase balance and mobility.

Almouj Golf is the undisputed king of the Muscat Coastline.

You’ll need all the help you can get on both Almouj Golf and Muscat Hills, because neither venue is too kind on the type of wayward shots we were hitting. At the former, deceptively thick rough and even more impenetrable native areas provide an excellent hiding place for a Pro V1, while the dramatic rocky wadis at Muscat Hills are not the place to go foraging after that skewed approach shot.

In the UAE, taking a cart can feel like a guilty pleasure at times, but on this terrain you may not make it back to the clubhouse without one. Muscat Hills’ layout makes great use of several impressive ravines, with the 10th green seemingly carved out of the front of a jagged wall of rock.

After a pair of golf courses that pack a physical punch, the incredible tranquility of the Chedi is the perfect respite. Landscaped gardens, soft lighting and the understated class of the Asian-inspired architecture combine to make this 21-acre hideaway the ultimate in luxurious privacy. Choices abound, from a variety of pools including the longest anywhere in the Middle East (at 109 metres) to a full range of dining options.  the Japanese cuisine at the Long Pool was mouthwateringly good, which is just as well since none of us had enjoyed the rare taste of a birdie.

The post Stay & Play: The Chedi / Almouj Golf / Muscat Hills GC appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Discovering a magnificent palatial retreat just 50 minutes from bustling Dubai, behind the wheel of the new Porsche Macan Turbo
By Robbie Greenfield

Ras Al Khaimah has been enticing UAE golfers up north for over 10 years with its pair of very enjoyable and largely underrated courses, Al Hamra and Tower Links. With the addition of the spectacular Waldorf Astoria a little under 12 months ago, the emirate has accelerated from hidden gem to resort heavyweight as impressively as the latest addition to the Porsche stable moves through the gears on the open road.

Later this year, the Waldorf and Ras Al Khaimah’s golf courses will play host to the first ever ‘destination’ grand final in the Xerox Corporate Golf Challenge and having experienced the wonders of this hotel first hand, we can attest that the successful qualifying pairs are in for a treat.

From the moment we were handed the keys to the new Porsche Macan Turbo, this trip ticked every conceivable box for the high-end luxury golf retreat. Porsche have developed a sportscar for the compact SUV market, and the result is a versatile beast with looks to kill and enough room in the trunk for a couple of sets of clubs. Straining at the leash through the customary Sharjah traffic, the Macan Turbo’s 3.6 litre V6 biturbo engine packs frightening power. We escaped the sluggish urban crawl and the car leapt into its element, making short work of the old Emirates Road as the towering red dunes of Ras Al Khaimah rushed by on either side.

Porsche actually chose the Waldorf and the sweeping roads of Ras Al Khaimah as the location for the Macan’s Middle East launch a few months back, and it’s easy to see why they were drawn to a property that has brought a little Great Gatsby to the embodiment of a sheikh’s palace. Looming over the golf course and flanked by three helicopter landing bays, it is unmistakably Arabic in both style and stature. But it’s only when you step into the lobby that you gain a full appreciation of the Waldorf’s extraordinary opulence. This is a place where the decorations – whether that be a towering Arabic clock or a diamond and sapphire encrusted peacock – run into the millions of dirhams apiece. For the cost of the entire enterprise, you can add three more zeros onto those figures. And it shows.

In Peacock Alley, which reimagines the glitz and finery of the original Waldorf Astoria in ‘roaring twenties’ New York, two sweeping staircases converge on a private after-dinner cigar lounge, while afternoon tea (not to mention the famous Waldorf Salad) can be enjoyed in any one of the cozy enclaves set back from the main atrium.

The only drawback of a weekend break here is that it will be difficult to squeeze in a table at all of the hotel’s award-winning restaurants in a single visit. Perhaps the most intriguing of these is Marjan, which serves Middle East cuisine with a twist courtesy of resident celebrity chef, Joe Barza, and UMI, a Japanese dining experience that offers some of the best sushi and tepanyaki dishes in the country. Steak lovers will gravitate to Lexington Grill, while Azure is the aptly named eatery that serves poolside Mediterranean dishes and aperitifs.

While the emirate of Dubai is certainly the most established golf destination within the UAE, it is only in Abu Dhabi, on Saadiyat and Yas Island, and here in Ras Al Khaimah, where you can find five star resorts of this quality and scale that service a championship course to match on site. As a result, you get that seamless transition from hotel lounging to golf mode, where a shuttle waits to whisk you to Al Hamra’s clubhouse just a few hundred yards away. The club has just enjoyed the busiest 12 months of operation since it opened way back in 2006, and the Waldorf, together with other surrounding properties that are contributing to a tourism boom in Ras Al Khaimah, have played a significant part in this recent success.

Like other Peter Harradine layouts in the Middle East, it’s a course that is easy to score, but difficult to score well on, thanks to several watery holes that will test your shot-making to the full.  The par 5 18th is a beauty, running adjacent to the lagoon and requiring two long hits to get home in two – which is more than we managed during an error-strewn round. When the rest of the weekend is this perfect, playing good golf on top of that was clearly too much to ask.

The Course
Like Saadiyat Beach in Abu Dhabi, Al Hamra Golf Club has benefited hugely from the completion of the five star resorts that flank the course. Now receiving a steady flow of golfers from these properties, the club has enjoyed its busiest year to date. Another enjoyable Peter Harradine design, there are no hidden surprises on the 18-hole layout, but no shortage of hazards.

The Car
The Porsche Macan Turbo belies its Sport SUV class with frightening performance, reaching 100 km/h in just 4.8 seconds and topping out at 266. It boasts the sleek lines of a sports car without the cramped interior, the practicality of an SUV without the clunky handling. This excellent addition to the Porsche stable is the full package

The Resort
Legendary hospitality meets Arabian opulence at Ras Al Khaimah’s Waldorf Astoria, which celebrates its one-year anniversary over the summer. Panoramic views of the golf course, the Arabian Gulf and the Al Hajar mountains greet guests from each one of the 346 deluxe rooms and suites, while a stunning selection of bar and dining options include the famed Peacock Alley, Lexington Grill, Marjan and L7

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