Golf in the Gulf

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Golf course design is booming in the GCC.

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Concept image of hole 12 at Al Ruwaya in Dubai. (Image supplied by Tiger Woods Dubai).

Transforming the world's largest sand trap into the world's greatest fairways is by no means easy, but for the designer that gets it right, the rewards are high, says James Boley.

Golf course design is a particularly unique form of outdoor design - a game as much as a commercial endeavour, it requires above and beyond design skills, passion, commitment and a real understanding of what makes for a good game of golf.

For the golf course designer, the Gulf is rich with opportunities. With the golfing industry growing almost as fast as the construction industry, the most exciting golf course developments are all happening in the GCC.

And not surprisingly they are attracting the top name designers, with Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, and Pete Dye all putting their stamp on the region in recent months.

Desert golf

Despite the growing popularity in the region for the sport, however, it's a widely held belief that the desert is ill suited for a game characterised by rolling green hills and a background of trees. But this simply isn't true, say specialist designers.

Sand is an exceptionally easy medium for shaping a golf course, says Mark Voss, senior project architect, Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects, which worked on the Al Badia golf course at the Four Seasons Golf Club in Dubai. "It's like shaping butter, rather than shaping rock," he opines.

The sandy terrain lends itself well to the development of golf courses, say experts, and is free from the restrictions of land in other areas, and with little hindrance in the way of trees, shrubs and grasses.

"It's a blank canvas. Because it's largely quite a sterile environment, you're not being troubled by invasive weeds coming in and growing in among the fairways and making them unsightly," notes Robin Hiseman, architect at European Golf Design, which designed Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club.

The natural sandscape actually lends itself to the creation of stunning golf courses, add designers.

"The topography of this region, particularly in the area where you have the larger dunes, is spectacular. You don't really have to manipulate the shape of the land at all," says Iwan Baxter Hughes, group projects director at contracting firm Septech Emirates, which worked on the construction of The Els Club golf course at Dubai Sports City.

Climate challenges

There are, of course, some challenges with shaping a golf course in the desert. The most obvious one being the heat. With temperatures reaching over 45°C in summer months, keeping golf courses green is a big investment.

One of the most important considerations is the type of turf used. "First and foremost, you need to select a grass which is heat tolerant. It's also got to be drought resistant and salt tolerant," says Hiseman. Designers recommend the tough Paspalum grasses as one of the best suited for the region. Bermuda grass is another popular option.

In a region that receives on average less than eight millimetres of natural rain a month, irrigation is also important. The 18-hole golf course at the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, for example, requires an average of 1.5 million gallons of water a day in summer.

Treated sewage effluent water is typically used to irrigate golf courses and is seen as the most sustainable option.

Experts also advise golf course owners to have water storage on site in case the irrigation system breaks down. Water can be stored in tanks, but a more decorative solution is to use lakes as emergency reservoirs.

It's an obvious point, but limiting the amount of turf on a course also helps to cut water wastage. Although the idea of reducing the amount of turf might seem to run contrary to idea of a green golf course, some experts point out that traditional courses actually have limited turf. Links courses, the oldest type of course, feature sand dunes, with limited water features and trees - arguably perfect for transplanting to the Middle East.

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Golf course
Posted by Jitendra, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Wednesday 6 August 2008 at 13:14 UAE time


World over there is growing concern of using water on golf courses. In countries where is there is huge water scarcity, companies and people are turning to artificial grass to be used on golf courses, which saves immense amount of water and maintenance costs and looks green all year around.

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