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Golf clubs and Golf courses in Dubai

Years ago, playing golf in Dubai and the UAE meant batting a ball through the sand dunes and having a tee mat in your pocket for the initial swipe. Then Emirates Golf Club opened up with their spectacular grassed fairways and hosted the world famous Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament. Move forward into the 21st century and property developers have realised that building golf courses is potentially lucrative, resulting in developments such as the Jumeirah Golf Estates and the Al Badia / Four Seasons Golf Course springing up amongst luxurious villas to make it more pleasant (and expensive) to drive that blasted ball into that stupid little hole with the stick in it. There is a Dubai Golf City with 5 golf courses planned by Thani Investments, and also a DWC Golf City planned for the Dubai World Central development.

Course fees for a round of 18 holes in Dubai range from about 200 dhs at Jebel Ali Golf Course for a UGA member, to about 1000 dhs at the Majlis course at Emirates Golf Club for a visitor. Most fees include the use of a golf cart, and a bucket of balls for the driving range. Cheaper rates are available in the hot hot hot summer although some golf clubs supply fans with the buggies to blow the sweat dripping off your nose into the faces of other passengers. Another option for a cheap round of golf is to play nine holes on one of the par 3 pitch 'n' putt courses (you should get change from 100 dhs). Good fun for the novice, but less satisfying for the experienced golfer. Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah are also destinations for cheaper rounds of golf.

Golf communities in Dubai announced so far include Al Badia Four Seasons Dubai Festival City, DWC Golf City, Jumeirah Golf Estates, The Lagoons, The Montgomerie Dubai, Tiger Woods Dubai (Al Ruwayya golf course) (cancelled), Tilal Dubai (Dubai Golf City in Dubailand), Victory Heights (Ernie Els "The Dunes") in Dubai Sports City.

Golf schools in Dubai

• Butch Harmon School of Golf Dubai (Butch Harmon Golf Academy) in Dubai Sports City, run by Claude Harmon III - Butch Harmon's son. Operated by Troon Golf at The Dunes golf club (the Ernie Else designed club). Facilities include private indoor/outdoor teaching area, 100,000 square foot chipping and bunker area, video equipment, and golf balls. Open Monday 26 January 2009. Tel +971-4-4251040.

Golf clubs and golf courses in Dubai

Note that any scheduled or expected completion dates of new golf courses in Dubai and the UAE might be wildly optimistic, especially after the 2008-2009 economic crisis.

• Al Badia Golf Resort, Dubai Festival City, tel +971-4-6010101, designer Robert Trent Jones II, an 18 hole par 71 golf course outside your villa. Single membership for AED 37,000 in 2008 (does not include villa).
• Al Ruwaya Golf Course - see Tiger Woods Dubai.
• Arabian Ranches Golf Club, tel +971-4-3663000, email teetime@arabianranchesgolf.ae
• Dubai Country Club golf course, tel +971-4-3331155, 2 sand courses - Al Awir course (18 holes, 6,346 yards, par 71), Creek Course (9 holes). Website www.dubaicountryclub.com has no information. First course opened in 1971, closed November 2007?
• Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, tel +971-4-2956000, +971-4-2956044. Golf Academy, tel +971-4-2054666/7
• Dubai Golf, tel +971-4-3801919, owner and operator of the Emirates Golf Club and the Dubai Creek Golf Club.
• Dubai Golf City LLC, golf community developer (Tilal Dubai is one of them), jointly owned by the Thani Investments Group (UAE) and Al Oula Real Estate Development (Saudi Arabia).
• Dubai Lagoon golf courses - one or three (different figures reported), if the Dubai Lagoon project in Dubai Investment Park ever gets going. Dubai Lagoon is not the same as The Lagoons, a Sama Dubai development.
• Dubai Golf City LLC - several golf course developments in Dubailand, developer Benaa Properties (part of Thani Investments)? DGC plans include a 6 star hotel, 650 villas, and 2,000 chalets according to a June 2005 report in The Daily Telegraph. Press release from Benaa in July 2005 said 5 golf courses including Oasis, Desert, Wadi and Parkland themes of which 2 will be design by IMG Sports Marketing, a 6 star Arabian themed luxury hotel resort & spa, 700 mansions and villas, 18 themed golf villages with 2,750 townhouses and chalets, development value about AED 6-7 billion, construction start in 2006 and completion in 2009.
• Dubal Golf Club (DGC), tel +971-4-8846666. Read that again, it's not Dubai, it's Dubal (with an "el") for Dubai Aluminium. A 9-hole course in the Dubal residential complex. Dubal are also sponsors of the Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament.
• DWC Golf City (Dubai World Central Golf Resort) - two 18-hole golf courses (a desert course and a tropical course), villas, apartments, hotel, and so on. Construction expected to start by end 2008 and completion by end 2010.
• DWC Golf Community - an Emaar-DWC project announced 11 Dec 2013, not clear if the same as DWC Golf City previously announced. Residential, retail, commercial community district built around a golf course, or a golf course theme.
• Els Club - see "The Els Club".
• Emirates Golf Club, tel +971-4-3802222, +971-4-3801555 with two 18 hole courses (the Majlis and the Wadi). Golf Academy, tel +971-4-3801999, +971-4-3801752.
• Four Seasons Golf and Country Club, Dubai Festival City - see Al Badia Golf Resort
• Hatta Fort Hotel (an hour's drive from Dubai) has a golf driving range.
• Jebel Ali Golf Resort and Spa, tel +971-4-8836000
• Jumeirah Golf Estates, tel +971-4-3759999. Four themed golf courses dotted with villas to use as target practice. Expected opening in 2009, and will host the Dubai World Championship golf tournament. Themes and designers are Fire golf course designed by Greg Norman, Earth golf course designed by Greg Norman, Water golf course designed by Vijay Singh, and Wind golf course designed by Sergio Garcia, Pete Dye and Greg Norman.
• Meydan Golf Course at Meydan City - opening in 2012? See The Track golf course.
• Montgomerie - see "The Montgomerie"
• Nad Al Sheba Golf Club, open 1993, floodlights. Closed June 2007 to make way for the Meydan development.
• Nakheel Golf, tel +971-4-3658665. Launched in October 2004 but website www.nakheelgolf.com still under construction in October 2008 (a bit like Nakheel developments), and nothing at www.nakheel.ae. Refer Jumeirah Golf Estates for the Nakheel Golf development.
• Oasis Golf Course - first Dubai Golf City golf course in the Tilal Dubai development, 18 holes, scheduled completion by end 2009 (maybe).
• The Dunes - see The Els Club
• The Els Club - 18 hole golf course in the Victory Heights development in Dubai Sports City, designed by Ernie Els, open January 2008. The Els Club was named the "Best New International Course" by Links Magazine in January 2009. Tel +971-4-4251010, email golf@elsclubdubai.com
• The Montgomerie Dubai, tel +971-4-3905600, email info@themontgomerie.ae.
• The Track (The Meydan?) at Meydan Hotel - 9 holes, 2,690 to 3,700 yards, on the site of the old Nadd Al Sheba golf course, floodlights from mid-2012, open 0630 to sunset (to midnight after floodlighting installed)? Green fees AED300 (in May 2012, might increase), tel +971-4-3813733, email info@meydangolf.com, website www.meydangolf.com.
• Tiger Woods Dubai, tel +971-4-3662064. An exclusive (very) golf community in Dubai with limited membership (maximum 200 reportedly), developed by Tatweer (part of Dubai Holding). The Al Ruwayyah Golf Course will be designed by Tiger Woods. Residential community will have 22 palaces, 75 mansions and 100 villas costing about AED 70m to 200m each, cough cough, (or to save money, buy a plot of land for AED 30m and park a caravan). Update January 2010 - work on the Tiger Woods Dubai project has been suspended? Update 09 Jul 2013 - Arabian Business reported that Dubai Holding has confirmed it has "dissolved" its partnership with Tiger Woods, but no confirmation found or supplied by Dubai Holding. Apparently the whole project has been cancelled.
• Tilal Dubai - golf community in Dubailand, 55 million sq ft, several golf courses surrounded by apartments, villas, and mansions to bounce your balls off. First course under development is the Oasis Golf Course.
• Trevor Immelman golf course planned in Dubai?

Last update Wednesday 16-Apr-2014

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