United Arab Emirates

With abundant desert landscapes, the UAE's golf courses thrive, blending water features and hybrid grass for impeccable fairways. According to the Emirates Golf Federation, there are twenty-one golf clubs in the UAE's sheikhdom, and the number is slowly growing. The majority of clubs gravitate to Dubai and Abu Dhabi but there are also clubs in Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah. As most people know, the best golf courses were in Dubai, and the cream of the crop for many years was the Majlis course at The Emirates Club, home to the renowned Dubai Desert Classic. But new on the scene are two Dubai courses from Greg Norman at Jumeirah Golf Estates, called Fire and Earth. However, the new Kyle Phillips and Gary Player creations of Yas Links and Saadiyat Beach have combined with the National course to elevate the capital, Abu Dhabi, to a level that perhaps even exceeds Dubai. Our Middle East rankings were last updated in March 2021.