Jebel Ali

Designed by Peter Harradine, the 9-hole resort layout at Jebel Ali first saw golfing activity on its fairways in 1998. Seven years later, the course hosted the inaugural Omega Dubai Desert Classic Challenge Match – a precursor to the European Tour event the same week – where professionals compete in a one-day charity golf tournament that includes the opportunity to win one million US dollars for a hole in one. Such is the popularity of this event, it has remained on the golfing calendar ever since its inception.

A round at Jebel Ali begins and ends with a par five – indeed, the fairways of the 1st (“Marina Bay”) and 9th (“Juamana Bound”) holes run parallel to each other. Many regard “Old Gate House,” the risk-reward short par four 5th, as the signature hole here, though the tough, 431-yard par four that precedes it (with its narrow playing corridor leading past a saltwater lake to the green) is another title contender for best hole on the card.

Course architect Peter Harradine kindly provided us with the following comments:

I am extremely glad that it's a 9-hole course as I think that the golf course industry needs more 9-hole layouts, pitch and putt courses and driving ranges.

The Jebel Ali location was a flat desert which was not really a great site to work with. In order to guarantee the commercial sustainability of the course, we were only allowed to use a certain amount of water for the irrigation so we limited the area of grass and related landscaping to meet that criteria.

Actually, the brief from the owners and management was very simple: Design and construct a 9-hole par 36 resort course within the hotel grounds which must be easy to play but also quite challenging, not too long but long enough.

I think that we've proven that one can design a course that can be interesting, aesthetic and challenging without resorting to excessive amounts of land, money and unwarranted amounts of water.