Golf in Dubai?

Im planning a golf trip this winter and we would love to go to Dubai. Has anyone played golf there? Any tips? Best courses etc?

/Steff

I havent played there, but when my wife and I did research for our honeymoon I was looking at the Els Club

I have lived in Dubai for 17 years and golfed for all of them so can probably help with this one

When are you thinking of coming?

The Desert Classic (Longest running European Tour event in Middle East) is having it's 25th anniversary from 30th Jan - 2nd of feb and they have pulled out all the stops for a steller field, every past champion is playing except Seve (RIP) and they have extended an invitation to his son to take his place, will be a great event this year and small crowds compared to everywhere else so you can get up close and personal with all the players. Tiger, Rory, Ernie all confirmed.

In terms of the courses here, brief synopsis as follows. Bear in mind they are nearly all 7000 yard + 'Championship' courses so the ones I say aren't so good are because we are spolit for choice a little

Emirates Golf Club (home of the Desert Classic) has 2 courses.
- Majlis is the Desert Classic course and in my opinion still the best course in Dubai when the condition is good.
- Wadi by Faldo is the second course and isn't great, the front 9 is especially weak, all 18 floodlit

Montogmerie Golf Club
- Good club, not a great course, fairly forgiving off the tee, some really stupid holes, 18 especially.

Al Badia
- Nice 'resort' course, hosted the Challenge Tour final last month. Some stunning backdrops of the Dubai skyline on a lot of holes.

Dubai Creek
- Challenging par 71 set alongside the main natural waterway in the heart of 'old' Dubai. Hosted the desert Classic twice, redesigned by Thomas Bjorn sometime mid 90's. 18 is a brutal finishing hole.

Arabian Ranches
- No lakes, no bunkers (just waste sand), a course that only better players really understand as a good course, one of the least scenic here.

Jumeirah Golf Estates has 2 courses
- Earth course is home to the Race to Dubai finale, very long off the back tees, very well conditioned generally, lots of blind approaches. A slog even if you are playing well
- Fire course is the easier of the tee, not as hard to plot your way round, the course is there in front of you to see

The Els club
- My second favourtie layout and probably the best in terms of overall course and condtion year round. Good approach play is key here, most greens have big run offs all round

Jebel Ali
- Short 9 hole course set in the grounds of a hotel, pretty to look at.

Meydan
- 9 hole course inside a horse racing track. Don't bother with this one, it's crap imo althought it is floodlit.

Golf here is VERY expensive, to walk on somewhere like the Creek or Majis on a weekend without a member's guest rate will be somewhere in the region of US$ 250-260 and getting tee times can be tough, your hotel may be able to help if you are staying in one or if you know any members then ask them to help.

If you are coming for a golf holiday then the 'must' plays are Majlis and Earth, both host European Tour events. Would also say Creek and the Els round out the 4 that you should play if you are here.

Depending when you come, Majlis may be closed or walking only in preparation for the Desert Classic.

Abu Dhabi which is an hours drive away also has 3 good courses, The National where they host a European Tour event 2 weeks before the desert Classic is my least favourite. Saadiyat Island and Yas Links are both pretty spectacular links courses.

Hope that helps, fire away with any questions you many have about the golf or just Dubai in general.

Wow awsome summery! Thanks alot! At work now, will post a few questions later. Thanks again!

Can't disagree with any of his summary. He's covered it fully.
Those are deffo the four to play.

Right now we are thinking of going one or two weeks, maybe 16th-30th of January or something like that. We are three friends going so the best would be if we could find some kind of apartment or cheap hotel. The golf is by far the most important thing for us. ( Golf > Nice hotel )

Here is a few of questions for you dxbrobbo

Sounds to me like almost every course is good. I think we want to have one course as our "base". Practice facilities are important to us, we want to practice every day. Say we play a total of 8 rounds. If 5-6 rounds are at "our base", do you think its possible to get a green fee offer from the club?

We are three scratch golfers (two trying to become professional), what course would you recommend to us if we want to practice a lot, play a good course but it doesn´t have to be world class and on a budget of 80 to 100 dollars a round? Maybe we can get an offer from the club if we buy 6 green fees each?

Can you recommend somewhere quite cheap we can stay? An apartment, small house or hotel.

Thanks again for your help

[quote name='bajs' timestamp='1385492598' post='8211316']
Right now we are thinking of going one or two weeks, maybe 16th-30th of January or something like that. We are three friends going so the best would be if we could find some kind of apartment or cheap hotel. The golf is by far the most important thing for us. ( Golf > Nice hotel )

Here is a few of questions for you dxbrobbo

Sounds to me like almost every course is good. I think we want to have one course as our "base". Practice facilities are important to us, we want to practice every day. Say we play a total of 8 rounds. If 5-6 rounds are at "our base", do you think its possible to get a green fee offer from the club?

We are three scratch golfers (two trying to become professional), what course would you recommend to us if we want to practice a lot, play a good course but it doesn´t have to be world class and on a budget of 80 to 100 dollars a round? Maybe we can get an offer from the club if we buy 6 green fees each?

Can you recommend somewhere quite cheap we can stay? An apartment, small house or hotel.

Thanks again for your help
[/quote]

Hey bud, will attempt to answer what you have asked, good to know you are 'proper' golfers, for reference my index is 1.7 but we use the stupid American handicap system here so I'm a UK 3 or 4.

During those dates, forget about emirates golf club as a base, majlis will be closed for the classic and therefore so will the practice facilities.

What do you want for practice facilities, all clubs have a grass range and then separate short game areas with another separate putting green that mirrors the greens on the course. All of them are floodlit.

Your quoted price range will be tough, the place that is most likely to offer a deal on a group of green fees is probably Meydan, your issue is that you are visiting in peak season and clubs really don't need to offer any deals, people pay the asking prices. I can dig out an email address for you tomorrow to ask the question but I really don't think you will enjoy the course, plus 6 rounds these is 12 nines as it's only 9 holes.

Jebel Ali is another option for this but again it is only 9 holes. Mikko illonen stays here and practices most winters.

For accommodation, it will be a hotel, again I will put some suggestions for you tomorrow that are pretty central to all courses, taxis are cheap here, fuel is nearly free

If I were to choose somewhere to practice all day every day it would be els probably, again il send you an email address tomorrow to ask the question, great range and a big putting green in front of clubhouse that should stimp about 10

I think we have to postpone this trip a couple of years... Both of my friends thought this would be to expensive. I really wanted to go but they are probably right. They are still collage students.

We will probably go to Gran Canaria instead. The Anfi Tauro Golf club is supposed to be excellent. http://www.anfi.com/golf/18_hole_course.htm
The green fees are still expensive there but living and air line tickets are a lot cheaper. We will probably get away with half the price compared to a trip to Dubai.

It doesn't beat Dubai but its good enough! Dubai wont run away

Thanks again for your help! Really nice of you!

I think that is probably the right decision, Dubai is tough to do on a budget, especially when you factor in lots of golf as well.

For an alternative, we looked at doing a boys golf trip to Belek in Turkey.

I played Arabian Ranches, Els, and Montgomerie. The previous post is detailed and accurate about these three that I have played. In terms of promotions, I buy t times on https://specials.ezlinks.com/tee-times/specials.asp?selStartDate=&selState=United%20Arab%20Emirates&submit=FIND+TEE+TIMES
Hope that helps

[quote name='James Ng' timestamp='1385531402' post='8214590']
I played Arabian Ranches, Els, and Montgomerie. The previous post is detailed and accurate about these three that I have played. In terms of promotions, I buy t times on [url="https://specials.ezlinks.com/tee-times/specials.asp?selStartDate=&selState=United%20Arab%20Emirates&submit=FIND+TEE+TIMES"]https://specials.ezl...=FIND TEE TIMES[/url]
Hope that helps
[/quote]

Just done a quick test on that site, for the next 2 weekends (Fri/Sat) they have only one tee time available on one course (Meydan), that shows the demand out here

That site also quotes that course rate at US$385 which is completely untrue, god knows where they got that rate from

If you are prepared to start first thing in the morning then you can get a tee time for US$54 direct from the club compared to the US$67 the above site quotes.

If I search on a Thurs it quotes the course rates for Els Club at US$895!! What a crock of ****

I have heard good things about Belek. Its a bit colder there in January. The travel agencys state on their website as "off season".
Maybe we have to wait until its warmer in Europe. Than we can go to Spain, Portugal etc.

If anyone is in Dubai, I'll be there from 15th of November till 28th. Race to Dubai final.

Looking for a few games.

PM me!

DXB thanks for the awesome summary, I'll be in Dubai next month for a day (land at 8 am fly out at 3 am) and I'm looking to play 2 rounds, as of now the plan is to play both emirates golf club courses, the majlis during the day and the Faldo in the evening and probably into the night. How are the conditions of the courses rn? any input is appreciated

New Trump course is very very nice!