will_i_dream

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Dundee, Scotland
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I am sitting at LHR after just returning to the UK from Dubai. I was in Dubai for 5 days and played the following 5 courses in three days.

Dubai Hills
Montgomerie
Emirates Faldo
Jumeirah Earth
Els Club

Tommy Fleetwood slipped out of the Els club bar before we realised, but he left Shane Lowry and Paul Dunne sitting at the table behind us.

I’ll post some pictures and thoughts in the coming days.
 
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I was staying at a friends house in Dubai, he picked us up at the airport around midnight Dubai time on the 7th. We had a few beers and chatted until the early hours. Off to bed for the first round which was around 11am.

Dubai Hills Golf Club - I believe this opened in November 2018, Architects were European Golf Design.

As with most of Dubai there appeared to still be a lot of building works going on and around the course. I seem to remember quite a long drive through the estate up to the golf course itself. The golf club was an impressive building, I would struggle to do the scale of the thing justice.
We arrived in an uber, drove in to the underground bag drop, the staff took the bags and put them on a rack. We went upstairs to check in and we were directed to the locker rooms. A quick change then back round to the LH side of the building which was a huge brasserie with indoor dining, sliding terrace doors and two terraces.
Once we were ready it was back down to the bag drop area where our two electric buggies were waiting, bags on board, ice boxes with water, GPS overhead, scorecard and tees. As we drove off to the practice area there was the vast underground garage on the left, a dangling cable from each overhead charging point for each one of the electric buggies.
Unfortunately the short game practice area and driving range were not in full use, we only had the opportunity to use some hitting nets.
After a quick warm up it was off to the first tee. Now i was starting to get impressed. Practice putting green at the first tee was pristine, no blemishes and rolled so purely, it was an absolute joy and pleasure. The warning signs were apparent as the ball rolled like a runaway steam train across the surface.

Beautiful course in pristine condition, lots of water and bunkers, wildlife, surrounded by houses and the occasional stunning view down to the Burj Khalifa.

One of the best courses I have ever played badly.
 
I was staying at a friends house in Dubai, he picked us up at the airport around midnight Dubai time on the 7th. We had a few beers and chatted until the early hours. Off to bed for the first round which was around 11am.

Dubai Hills Golf Club - I believe this opened in November 2018, Architects were European Golf Design.

As with most of Dubai there appeared to still be a lot of building works going on and around the course. I seem to remember quite a long drive through the estate up to the golf course itself. The golf club was an impressive building, I would struggle to do the scale of the thing justice.
We arrived in an uber, drove in to the underground bag drop, the staff took the bags and put them on a rack. We went upstairs to check in and we were directed to the locker rooms. A quick change then back round to the LH side of the building which was a huge brasserie with indoor dining, sliding terrace doors and two terraces.
Once we were ready it was back down to the bag drop area where our two electric buggies were waiting, bags on board, ice boxes with water, GPS overhead, scorecard and tees. As we drove off to the practice area there was the vast underground garage on the left, a dangling cable from each overhead charging point for each one of the electric buggies.
Unfortunately the short game practice area and driving range were not in full use, we only had the opportunity to use some hitting nets.
After a quick warm up it was off to the first tee. Now i was starting to get impressed. Practice putting green at the first tee was pristine, no blemishes and rolled so purely, it was an absolute joy and pleasure. The warning signs were apparent as the ball rolled like a runaway steam train across the surface.

Beautiful course in pristine condition, lots of water and bunkers, wildlife, surrounded by houses and the occasional stunning view down to the Burj Khalifa.

One of the best courses I have ever played badly.

This is great! I've always wanted to play in Dubai. Looking forward to seeing your pics
 
I was staying at a friends house in Dubai, he picked us up at the airport around midnight Dubai time on the 7th. We had a few beers and chatted until the early hours. Off to bed for the first round which was around 11am.

Dubai Hills Golf Club - I believe this opened in November 2018, Architects were European Golf Design.

As with most of Dubai there appeared to still be a lot of building works going on and around the course. I seem to remember quite a long drive through the estate up to the golf course itself. The golf club was an impressive building, I would struggle to do the scale of the thing justice.
We arrived in an uber, drove in to the underground bag drop, the staff took the bags and put them on a rack. We went upstairs to check in and we were directed to the locker rooms. A quick change then back round to the LH side of the building which was a huge brasserie with indoor dining, sliding terrace doors and two terraces.
Once we were ready it was back down to the bag drop area where our two electric buggies were waiting, bags on board, ice boxes with water, GPS overhead, scorecard and tees. As we drove off to the practice area there was the vast underground garage on the left, a dangling cable from each overhead charging point for each one of the electric buggies.
Unfortunately the short game practice area and driving range were not in full use, we only had the opportunity to use some hitting nets.
After a quick warm up it was off to the first tee. Now i was starting to get impressed. Practice putting green at the first tee was pristine, no blemishes and rolled so purely, it was an absolute joy and pleasure. The warning signs were apparent as the ball rolled like a runaway steam train across the surface.

Beautiful course in pristine condition, lots of water and bunkers, wildlife, surrounded by houses and the occasional stunning view down to the Burj Khalifa.

One of the best courses I have ever played badly.

got any pics from the trip?
 
Lots of pics, having trouble getting them from my iPhone Xs on to here. If you check my profile, there are some pictures in albums already uploaded.

Glad I never disturbed Shane Lowry now, he's playing well in Abu Dhabi
 
Emirates Faldo 17th Tee At Sunset

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Dubai Hills Golf Club 9th

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The Montgomerie At Sunrise

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Sorry for the delay. Hopefully you can see the pictures I have included above. I have lots more saved in my profile album. I have tried to pick the best ones that give a feel for each course.

I'm going to try and put the courses in order of preference and some accompanying thoughts

1/Dubai Hills
It was new and pristine, bedding in well. Still a bit of building works ongoing around the housing. Clubhouse facilities were excellent. Shop/toilet facilities every 6 holes. Wide fairways that I didn't miss a lot of. Large greens which were running faster than I'm used to and where I dropped most of my strokes. A brilliant introduction to golf in Dubai for us.
1/ Jumeirah Earth
Beautiful course. A lot of the housing around the course wasn't as obvious as others. Bunkers were massive, tried my best to avoid them as raking your way back out was a 10min exercise. Great feeling hacking my way up 18, you don't appreciate the elevation change when watching on TV.
3/ Montgomerie
Great course, great setting, a pleasure to play as bad as I did.
4/ Els
Not much I can add to what I have said above about other courses, it applies here too. Unfortunately group in front appeared to feel some sort of privilege and behaved in an ungentlemanly manner on the last few holes as apparently we were playing too fast.
5/ Emirates Faldo
Unfortunately its obvious this is a busy course because of the condition of the greens and fairways. Beautiful setting and facilities.

If I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to play these courses again I would happily play the first four, I might pass on the 5th and just enjoy the restaurant bar area instead or maybe hit the driving range.
 
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