Dubai, known for its vibrant golfing scene, welcomes a new addition to its portfolio of sporting destinations: Club Lab Golf.
The brainchild of esteemed PGA professional Reg van Rooyen and seasoned Dubai-based entrepreneur Rohan Mehta, Club Lab Golf is a new one-stop-shop that caters to the needs of golf enthusiasts, from beginners and avid golfers all the way through to professional players.
The indoor golfing destination, which doubles as a fitting and coaching studio, brings together a unique combination of the latest fitting and sports technology, fully equipped with launch monitors, luxurious “real feel” mats imported from the US, high-tech sensors and cameras to track performance, and a club-making Lab which is integral to the brand’s name.
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“This opportunity is very unique, for myself and the family, because we’re really obsessed with it,” Mehta told Arabian Business.
He and his father started playing golf less than three years ago, and have remained committed to this hobby ever since.
“This is such a technical sport that once you learn how to hit a ball and you hit it well, it just keeps bringing you back and you get so addicted,” said Mehta. “My dad wanted to put together a golf simulator like this at home in the summer and he asked me to go find the best one. We found a company here that did it and Reg used to run that company and that’s how we met.”
Recognising this niche, untapped market, Mehta and van Rooyen decided to set up Club Lab Golf in one of Dubai’s most iconic neighbourhoods: Jumeirah Lake Towers. After almost eight months in the making, the new golfing destination was born in early September last year.
It has served as a convenient hub for many who visit to practice a few rounds with a pro who then helps them analyse their performance through tech-assisted reports before heading to nearby golf courses located just a short 15-minute drive away.
“Our target market is from beginners to the normal avid golfer and the pro. We have had players in here from PGA, LTA tours and a few LIV tour players.”
Dubai’s burgeoning golfing scene
Since its soft launch in September last year, the studio has attracted visitors from across the continent. Notably, several enthusiasts from Saudi Arabia and India have regularly flown to Dubai for a week to customise their golf clubs and track their performance using Club Lab Golf’s advanced technology.
“Nothing like this exists in any of the Gulf countries. Reg has people flying in from all these different countries,” Mehta said.
“They fly in on a Monday, stay here for the week and we’ll do what we need to do with their golf club. Especially from Saudi and India – this is coming from the tour players who are telling their network about our work,” van Rooyen told Arabian Business.
Golf has consistently emerged as a prominent tourist leisure activity globally, and Dubai’s golf courses are no exception. Over the past 20 years, the courses have captivated enthusiasts worldwide and contributed to a market that is now valued at almost $4.8 billion.
“There’s such a massive golfing community here,” said Mehta.
“From all over the world, people come to Dubai to play golf because you’d only have golf where you have the restaurants, bars and nightclubs, family destinations, the hospitality, so golf plays a huge role in Dubai’s tourism.
“We went really upmarket, premium, high-end, state of the art. We didn’t want to compromise on anything here. We wanted to make the experience for the golfer to come in and enjoy hitting balls, having a nice conversation and good coffee in a relaxed and comfortable environment.”
He expects demand to pick up this summer as more golfers will shy away from playing on the courses in the scorching heat. And for avid golfers or curious beginners, the studio’s launch pads can be used to play video games like a “virtual golf tournament,” he said.
Elite training
Club Lab Golf’s training module, led by esteemed PGA professional and Head of Instruction Marno Vorster, is revolutionising the way golfers improve their game.
Departing from traditional methods, Vorster offers personalised one-on-one sessions using the studio’s high-tech software programme, the Swing Catalyst software which not only records each lesson but also tracks progress over time, setting it apart as a unique selling point in the city’s burgeoning golfing scene.
Through the software, customers can receive live-recorded lessons and feedback from Vorster at any time of the day, simply by accessing their emails.
The seasoned golf expert emphasised the need for warmups to aid in injury prevention, because although it is not a high impact sport, it involves a lot of rotation which can affect the back and elbows.
“You can’t just rock up to a golf course and start swinging the club at whatever miles per hour, because it’s a rotational sport,” Vorster explained.
“The thing in Dubai is, and we are all probably guilty of this, it’s so rushed that you sometimes miss one exit and suddenly you’re 20 minutes behind schedule and you just get to a golf course and just fire around shots, but that is sometimes where you can get yourself into trouble with an injury.”
Holding injury prevention to such a high standard, Vorster and van Rooyen aim to understand the person’s sporting history before proceeding with training courses or club fittings.
With athletes, and people in general, being more attuned to the needs of their bodies, more people are incorporating exercise than ever before.
“If you look at how golfers were built 20 years ago and how they’re built now… They go to the gym every day. The day of a professional golfer, for instance, would be wake up, breakfast, then a two-hour workout, go to the range, probably on the treadmill in the afternoon and then back to the range hitting some golf shots. They prepare their body, but 20 years ago, they probably didn’t,” Vorster said.
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