Desert Miracle

Dubai’s golf boom is a direct result of the city reinventing itself. Unlike Abu Dhabi down the highway to the south, Dubai isn’t the glitzy, skyscraper crammed metropolis it is today solely because of oil. Dubai’s reserves of ‘black gold’, while significant, are set to run out soon and over the past twenty years the city’s rulers—the race horse loving Al-Maktoum family—have had the foresight to turn this former insignificant trading port into a commercial, tourism and aviation hub. It was a risky endeavor and the critics doubted whether the Al-Maktoum’s enormous investment would work. They had a point. After all, who would want to spend their vacation on a desert coastline, where the summer heat reaches an unbearable 120 degrees? But, much like that other wacky desert town in Nevada, it did work and now Dubai is the world’s fastest growing city, attracting eight million tourists a year—a number that is set to triple by 2012.

            Golf will certainly continue to prosper. The Dubai Desert Classic has become one of the European Tour’s most popular events—helped significantly by the regular appearance of Tiger Woods—and there are well over 300,000 rounds played in the city annually. This figure is expected to rise considerably, however, with 2009 set to be the watershed year for the emirate’s golfing status. In a little over twelve months, new Greg Norman and Vijay Singh designed courses at Jumeirah Golf Estates will be ready for play, but the real excitement will come with the unveiling of Al Ruwaya, Tiger’s first design project, which is scheduled to be ready by next spring. At a cost of US$1.1 billion it is thought to be the most expensive golf and real estate development in history.

ORIENTATION

Cathay Pacific and Emirates, Dubai’s rapidly expanding and award winning airline, fly direct daily between Hong Kong and Dubai (approximately eight and a half hours). While it’s possible to hire a car, the more convenient (and cheaper) way to get to Dubai’s courses is by taxi. The emirate is so small it can be traversed in a little over an hour, and the drivers all speak English. The best time to visit is October through April, when the weather is coolest. Otherwise you’ll be sprinting from one air-conditioned environment to another. The currency, the dirham, is pegged to the U.S. dollar and fluctuates little month to month.

            Although Dubai is the most multicultural and tolerant of the United Arab Emirates, the nation is still a Muslim state. The faithful congregate five times a day to pray, and you will hear the call to prayer being sung from mosques all over the city. Tourists need to be extra sensitive if they are visiting during Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims fast during daylight hours to fulfill the fourth pillar of Islam; it is, therefore, inappropriate to eat, drink or smoke in public during the day. This year Ramadan runs from September 1 through September 28.