Golf at the Emirates Golf Club - Dubai

A recent golfing experience at The Emirates Golf Club, Dubai.13th Nov 2006.

Visiting Dubai recently on work, quite by chance, I was introduced by a mutual friend to a fine gentleman by name Mr Asim Pirmohamed, an avid 13 handicapper. On finding that I enjoyed golf, Asim kindly invited me for an afternoon round at the famous Nick Faldo designed “Wadi” course at the Emirates Golf Club on the day I was leaving. Since I had a flight only at night I was very pleased to agree promptly.

Arriving at the Emirates Golf Club, situated around 40 minutes out of downtown Dubai, I was struck at first by the sheer brilliance of these people, who, with considerable foresight, intelligence and of course, capital, have literally carved out an oasis of comfort, greenery, rich and verdant fairways, slick and beautiful greens and other examples of lush scenic beauty in the middle of absolutely nowhere, in that sea of sand, by way of their Wadi golf course. Wadi means a sort of shallow but often dry watercourse, which thus becomes a sort of shallow valley.

Having gone there on business I had not planned at all on golf and in consequence had absolutely no equipment at all with me, a fact that was soon set right by the kindness and generosity of Asim, who brought along his brother’s excellent Ben Hogan muscle-back Irons and a Titleist 10.5 Degree Driver and a couple of woods for me to use as well as a pair of number ten golf shoes which he inveigled the club into lending me. Luckily I had stopped at one of the golf shops with which the area is absolutely bristling and picked up some balls, a glove and some tees.

We met at the beautifully appointed, frankly rather opulent, clubhouse which has a distinctive architectural design, built as it is like a “Majlis” or meeting place of Bedouin Arab Tents, made of course, of concrete, glass and steel and centrally air-conditioned to cocoon one from the pervasive warmth of the outer regions! Quite in character with the region and I am glad they have paid such attention to detail. It is a real pleasure to see the meticulous way everything is dealt with in those parts. The interesting thing is there are two courses here at Emirates, the “Majlis” course where greats like Tiger and the other Big boys play the Dubai Desert Classic, and the “Wadi” which is equally nice, but not so much used for the big tournaments.

We went straight along to the Wadi Driving Range – another brilliantly organized setup as I saw. Bashing a few balls on the range it was nice to see the entire ball picking process which is achieved quite simply by a ball gathering machine which buzzes around (sometimes dangerously close to where one is hitting) and collects all fallen balls.

Picking up one of those nice little electric Golf Carts, we loaded up with our clubs, water, cigarettes and what have you and went straight off to the 4th Tee where we were to start our round. These Golf carts come loaded with everything you can possibly want, including a superlative GPS system which kicks in as soon as you reach any particular point of the course, giving you precise yardages and pointing out other things on the course which enable you to make the best choice of club and best decision for any particular shot. The cart also affords one a very easy means of getting around the course with the minimum of fuss and so on – truly a luxury seeker’s paradise, especially for people like me who are used to the travails with the local caddies who lug my clubs along on my trolley and emit low growls and gnash their tobacco stained teeth at me whenever I venture to go so far as to question tentatively, their club suggestions. This Cart and GPS and stuff were seriously high tech!

However having said all this and with all due respect to their achievements and the facilities available there, personally, I would always prefer to walk a course and play every shot by walking up to the ball because that, to me, is the very essence of the game. All these high tech gizmos and gadgets are fine as an experience, but to me, battling the elements, on your own, with or without a caddy, judging yardages and lies with your own eyes, through deep roughs and steep slopes, fast greens and guffy fairways and all that, is Golf!

The 4th is a pretty decent semi dogleg Par 4 of some 345 yards but that day all the pins were closer to the front of the green so one had to allow some leeway. The fairway itself is heavily guarded with bunkers to the left, a wadi (waste land) to the left of fairway and water to the right. I frankly didn’t do all that great with my first shot having been a rather wayward one which missed being out of bounds by a mere whisker!

The 5th is a long-ish Par 5 of 523 yards where you simply must thunk the ball with the big dog! Generous fairway, huge area and all that, but some nasty little surprises on your second, with water and bunkers guarding the approach! Tough green too, built for 3 putts, but with my current form, by George! I wont even broach that subject!

Arriving at the 6th (Par 4 – 427 yards) one realized soon enough that the best way to play this hole was to the percentages because one requires great accuracy. Asim of course made par where I was all over Timbuktu and back! The 7th is another par 4 of 403 yards, which is a slicer’s nightmare since death by water is highly possible if one is marginally off one’s concentration levels! By this time I was enjoying the scenery and had decided that whatever the score card looked like, I would simply relax and have a good time – after all it is not every day that one gets to even walk on a course as superbly maintained as this one! Imagine such fairways, water and greens in the middle of the desert! Amazing!

The 8th was a redeeming hole for me – a beautiful par 3 of 153 yards that lies with the green uphill. Made for my 7 iron since I only take a half swing typically. Then a chip and putt and home! Asim got the same!

Number 9, a 350 odd yard Par 4 has some unpredictable things happening. Wasteland to the right side, unpredictable sloped lies on the fairway and a host of things. Somehow I was rather wayward that day and literally got myself a good experience of “desert golf” landing in the Wasteland or at the edge of it most of the time with my Tee shots. I have no idea why, but anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Moving rapidly with the assistance of the cart through the 10th, which is a 473-yard Par 4 with a stroke index of 1, of course my score was monstrous but this is considered the toughest hole on this course. The 11th is a wild hole which can trap you in water quite close to the green or leave you trying to do a desert safari with your sand wedge, since there is a completely wicked and deep bunker guarding the right of the green. Man, I really know now what it means to have played Desert Golf!

Number 12 is a pretty par 3 of 150 yards – with a slight headwind, which had come up by, then, it was a good idea to over club a bit and get there but the brilliantly sloped green was my undoing while Asim again made Par! The 13th is another super mean Par 5 of 550 odd yards – Faldo has been known for his special style of bunkering on his golf course design and this hole is a brilliant example of that. Guarded very well, this requires a lot of confidence and accuracy, both attributes, about which frankly I was beginning to wonder by this time!

The 14th (Par 4 – 367 Yards) is guarded both by a monster bunker in the fairway and a wadi to the right of fairway which is like wasteland. Added to this is a lovely bit of water right there in the middle to drown one’s second shot. However my game by this time had deserted me completely so I was battling things in the wadi where Asim was laying up for his brilliant second shot. He had a par as usual and I was thinking I might need to consider giving up Golf altogether!

Then we were onto the 15th (Par 4 –399 yards), which is very visually attractive, though there are some beastly bunkers hanging around in the neighbourhood, particularly the one running along the edge of the left side of the green. Asim was busy making pars and so on and I (woe of woes) was busy living up to my current position as President of the DGC (Duffers Golf Club, to the un-initiated). Terrible, but I am glad that a couple of little recoveries yet lay in store for me, especially at the long Par 3 17th (218 yards). Bashing away with the dear old 4 iron, I was close on the tee shot, on in two and somehow managed a bogey which going by current form, was literally manna from heaven!

With another four holes to go I was beginning to feel some effects of the dry warmth of the desert though the weather there was extremely comfortable – rather like New Delhi in September or so. But quaffing vast quantities of water, I went on, grimly gritting my teeth and ensuring that I at least finished each hole thereby trying to make a statement to this brilliant Faldo course, that I was still in the battle, if not winning, at least fighting and refusing to give up!

Moving then towards the end of the round, I stuck to my 4 iron off every tee, hoping for the best, but somehow on the first hole which is a left dogleg 411 yard Par 4, I landed in the Wadi again leaving me to pitch out or roll out, I decided on the latter so I thunked the 7 iron out and got back in the game. Hole number two was another lovely Par 3 of 206 yards with a bunker guarding the green to the front and left and the green itself having a wickedly designed run off area at the back. Tee off, Chip and Putt is the name of the game and luckily I managed another bogey on this, to try and save myself in a last ditch effort.

Ending the round on Hole number 3 was for me a bit of a problem since my wayward tee shot ran off the right side of the fairway into the watercourse, which of course caused me to drop a shot and then play up for another double bogey while my patient friend made another par!

All in all, though as you can see, I played abominable golf, I thoroughly enjoyed my game and the congenial company of Asim who is today a good friend. Frankly there is a lot to be said for that old saying about knowing more about a person from one hour of sport rather than a whole year of any other interaction. Thus I do hope one day soon, to be able to play host to this kind man in Bangalore whenever he visits!

I will end by saying that it really is my privilege and pleasure to have been afforded a chance to enjoy the Wadi course and I do hope someday I am able to sample the delights and hazards that the Majlis course has to offer!