For the third time we’ve included a ‘Readers’ Choice’ section where you can have your say on the top courses and the region’s best performing clubs.

Best of all, your valued opinion could win you a pair of season passes to the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic where defender Bryson DeChambeau is one of six Ryder Cuppers confirmed for the $3.25 million European Tour event at Emirates Golf Club from Jan. 23-26.

Entry is easy but you need to be quick. Simply rank your five favourite courses in the region in order of preference from 1-5 (one being your absolute favourite) from the drop-down menu below.

RELATED: Top 10 Courses: 2018 Readers’ Choice

Please also select your favourite 9-hole course, Clubhouse, the club with the best F&B and the club that provides the best overall Service, as prompted.

We’ll draw one lucky reader at random to win a pair of season passes to the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Entries close 5pm, Thursday, November 7, 2019.

Make sure to share with friends to increase your chances of watching DeChambeau and co. for FREE on the Majlis at Emirates G.C. in the New Year.

Good luck and thank you again. We value your opinion!

[gravityform id=”49″ title=”false” description=”false”]

The post VOTE & WIN! Last chance to have your say in the 2020 Top 10 Courses Readers’ Choice Awards appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

This is our fifth biennial ranking of the best golf courses in the Middle East, and for the second time, we have broadened our scope to include a range of excellence that exists beyond the boundaries of 18-hole layouts. Unsurprisingly, these categories were just as hard to separate as the courses themselves.

This is a region that excels both on and off the course. The amenities are among the best in the world and the service is exemplary. Of the six nine-holers in the Middle East, not one doesn’t leave us pining for its imaginary second nine. As for the category of Best Clubhouse, there is scarcely one that doesn’t combine arresting architecture with a seamless blend of comfort and convenience.

We sifted through the views of our panel and tallied the reader votes to arrive at this, the final list of winners and runners-up. The very best of the best in a region that consistently sets its own international benchmark. – RG

[divider] [/divider]

[divider] [/divider]

[divider] [/divider]

[divider] [/divider]

•  BACK TO 2018 TOP 10 LIST
•  MEET THE 2018 PANEL
•  2018 READERS’ CHOICE

The post Top 10 Courses: 2018 Best in the Middle East appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Golf writers, accomplished amateurs, seasoned UAE PGA Professionals and MENA Tour players comprise our 23-person panel
*N.B. Panelists attached or affiliated to a certain club did not submit a rating for it

[divider] [/divider]

How Our Panel Ranks The Courses

The Golf Digest Middle East ranking panel of 23 experts judged the courses on seven criteria, each on a scale of 1 (unacceptable) to 10 (absolute perfection). The categories, which we have adopted from the U.S. edition’s tried and tested methods and modified to fit the specific conditions in our region, are as follows:

1  Shot Values
How well does the course pose risks and rewards and equally test length, accuracy and finesse?

2  Design Variety
How varied are the golf course’s holes in differing lengths, configurations, hazard placements, green shapes and green contours?

3  Resistance to Scoring
How difficult, while still being fair, is the course for a scratch player from the back tees?

4  Memorability
How well do the design features (tees, fairways, greens, hazards, vegetation and terrain) provide individuality to each hole, yet a collective continuity to the entire 18?

5  Aesthetics
How well do the scenic values of the course (including landscaping, vegetation, water features  and backdrops) add to the pleasure of a round? Is peripheral construction an eye-sore?

6  Conditioning
How firm, fast and rolling are the fairways, and how firm yet receptive are the greens?

7  Ambience
How well does the overall feel and atmosphere of the course reflect or uphold the traditional values of the game?

ARRIVING THE FINAL SCORE
For each course, we total the average scores in each category, double-weighting the Shot Values category, to arrive at a final average score out of 80. As a reference point, Augusta National was 2015’s top ranked course in the U.S, averaging 72.15. Our top course scored 65.32.

[divider] [/divider]

•  BACK TO TOP 10 2018 LIST
•  READERS’ CHOICE 2018
•  THE BEST IN THE MIDDLE EAST 2018

The post Top 10 Golf Courses in the Middle East 2018 – Meet The Panel appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

There might be nothing more subjective in golf than the ranking of courses. Designs that captivate some golfers will leave others unmoved. The greens that you love to putt on, your playing partner might loathe; the holes that you remember, they may quickly forget. How fond a golfer is of a certain course may come down to nothing more than how well they last played it. Happy memories are easy to hold when you’ve broken your personal best score, and by the same token, even the loveliest of course will lose some of its lustre if you’ve endured a bad round.

Our ranking of the top 10 golf courses in the Middle East is the only one of its kind and an undertaking that we pride ourselves on tackling as fairly and methodically as possible.

But we have continued the tradition that we started back in 2011 of giving our readers the opportunity to have their say, too. Through an online voting form, almost 500 readers of Golf Digest Middle East listed their five favourite golf courses in order. We tallied the results, and the Readers’ Choice Top 10 is published here.

Each course received a score of 25pts for a first place pick, 18 for second, 15 for third, 12 for fourth and 10 for fifth.

Two of the top three clubs remain the same, with Abu Dhabi slipping out, the Creek sneaking in and Yas Links moving up a spot to second. The famed Majlis retains its position as the Readers’ favourite, the home of the Omega Classics matching its top-ranking as judged by our panel. Elsewhere, Doha Golf Club, Trump International Golf Club Dubai and Al Zorah Golf Club in Ajman make debuts on the list. With nine of the 10 courses here located in the UAE, its reputation as the golfing capital of the region remains unchallenged. – RG

Kevin Murray

Kevin Murray

Kristina Nabieva

Kevin Murray

Paul Severn

Kevin Murray

Steve Carr

Kevin Murray

David Cannon

[divider] [/divider]

•  BACK TO 2018 TOP 10 LIST
•  MEET THE 2018 PANEL
•  THE 2018 BEST IN THE MIDDLE EAST

The post Top 10 Courses: 2018 Readers’ Choice appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

For the second time we’ve included a ‘Readers’ Choice’ section where you can have your say on the top courses and the region’s best performing clubs.

Best of all, your valued opinion could win you a pair of season passes to the 2018 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Entry is easy but you need to be quick. Simply rank your five favourite courses in the region in order of preference (from 1-5) from the drop-down menu below.

Please also select your favourite 9-hole course, Clubhouse, the club with the best F&B and the club that provides the best overall Service, as prompted.

We’ll draw one lucky reader at random to win a pair of season passes to the 2018 Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Entries close 5pm, Thursday, December 7, 2017.

Make sure to share with friends to increase your chances of watching Rory MciLroy, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Pat Perez and co. for FREE on the Majlis at Emirates G.C. from Jan. 25-28.

Good luck and thank you again. We value your opinion!

[gravityform id=”39″ title=”false” description=”false”]

The post VOTE NOW! Top 10 Courses Readers’ Choice Awards appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The post VOTE NOW! Top 10 Courses Readers’ Choice Awards appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.