Somabay Gary Player Championship Course

The emergence of Somabay as a top end tourist destination on Egypt’s Red Sea coast has been due in no small part to Abu Soma Development Company’s desire to provide visitors with first class sporting amenities like this Gary Player golf complex – it's hard to believe the course was previously a military base that had to be cleared of land mines before construction could begin.

The 18-hole Cascades at Somabay was far ahead of its time when it opened in 1998, in fact it was the first championship golf course in North Africa or the Middle East to be designed by any of the modern day “Great Triumvirate” of Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

Kikuyu fairways are routed in an extended figure of eight with each loop of nine holes returning to a clubhouse in the middle of a peninsula that juts out three miles from the shore into the sea. Two of the more inland holes stand out here, one on each nine.

Author Geoffrey Giles, in this edited extract from the book Golf Courses of the World, writes: “Picturesque fairways are backed by the tranquil Red Sea while the cascading lakes, from which the course takes its name, reinforce the Zen-like atmosphere. It seems a world away from the sinister barracks that previously occupied this area.

As with most desert courses, the Gary Player design effectively uses the sands as a natural defence for wayward shots but there are also lakes to contend with on a couple of holes. Stunning views accompany every hole, with waterfalls, distant mountain ranges, the deep blue sea and lush fairways making this one of the most distinctive courses in the world.”

The first is the 614-yard 2nd hole, a monster to tackle so early in the round and it takes its name (“Lions in waiting”) from the pair of lion-shaped sphinxes that loom over the entrance to the hotel behind the green. On the back nine, the other hole of note is “Dilemma, dilemma” at the par four 12th, which can be played in one of two ways due to its split fairway, hence its name.

But there’s no doubt the best holes on the property are those by the seaside at 5 and 6 on the outward half and 14 and 15 on the inward circuit. The short 5th, entitled “The Pebbles of Soma", features a continuous narrow bunker on three sides of the green whilst the 186-yard 14th (“Second signature”) demands a tee shot played across a gully to a wide but shallow green protected by three intimidating bunkers.