Dubai's Al Badia Golf Course opens to public

The 7,250 yards, par 72 course, designed by internationally-renowned golf architect Robert Trent Jones II, is the newest of Dubai's golf courses and the first to make use of the salt tolerant and environmentally friendly Paspalum strains of grass.

A maximum of 40 golfers a day will be allowed to play the course. Green fees range from Dhs 440 to Dhs 490 at weekends and from Dhs 355 to Dhs 395, Sunday to Wednesday. Tee-off times are staggered at 15 minute intervals. Golfers wishing to play the Al Badia course should have a handicap of 28 or lower, for men, and 36 or lower, for ladies.

"Al Badia is another addition to Dubai's growing golf attractions and will become a 'must-play' course for residents of the Emirates and visitors to Dubai. I aim to have it ranked as the top course in Dubai, if not in the Emirates," said Roger Morris, General Manager, Al Badia.

The course is visually stunning with its use of water and sculpted fairways and has been designed to offer a challenge to any level of golfer. At either end of the handicap scale, golfers will experience a rewarding and enjoyable game at Al Badia.

As a true championship course, the Al Badia course, located just two kilometres from the award-winning Dubai International Airport, expects to capture a substantial slice of Dubai's growing inbound golf tourism industry and a healthy share of the heightened local and regional demand for golf destinations. Membership will be limited initially to 100.

The essence of the Al Badia name, "Land of the Bedouins, where nature meets the desert and where the time honoured traditions of the Bedouins, hospitality, respect and love of nature are most visible", is certainly reflected in all aspects of this magnificent course and future amenities.

The Al Badia course brings to life the 'feel' of Arabia with careful use of indigenous plants and resources. Through the use of natural desert flora and fauna, to cover 85 acres of turf, the course has recreated a feel for the past in a community of the future.

"The use of Paspalum grass means the million gallons of water a day needed to irrigate the course is one third less than that required with conventional Bermuda grass," explained Morris. "Players will be in awe at how rich and green the course is in contrast to the desert terrain which was its starting point."

Course architect Robert Trent Jones II says two of Al Badia's holes are among the most challenging he has conceived to date. Trent Jones, whose company has designed over 220 courses in 38 countries and won over 100 awards, says holes 5 and 18 at the Al Badia Golf Resort will be amongst the most challenging in the world.

"Hole 5, a great par 5, runs uphill and through a watercourse that sweeps throughout and ends at a lake near the green," said the master designer, son of America's legendary course architect, the late Robert Trent Jones Sr.

The par 5, 18th hole, which measures approximately 490 metres, is, according to Trent Jones, "a boomerang-shaped dogleg left, combining strategy with length."

"It wraps around the large central lake and the golfer's task is simple: challenge the edge of the lake as much as he dares. The wind generally will work in his favour, making the green reachable in two. But players will need to judge carefully, as the two shots needed both play over water and the green is protected at the back by a meandering bunker which is shared with the ninth green."

Trent Jones said the project set its own design demands starting from a flat piece of desert. "The challenge presented was to create a golf course that was equal in vision to the richness and detail of the project as a whole yet seamlessly moulding this element into the overall quilt that combined is the Dubai Festival City property development."

The overall goal in the routing of the course was to achieve maximum variety. "This had to be achieved keeping in mind the one existing site condition that was to remain untouched, the wind," Trent Jones said. "This general consideration guided the creation of the route plan, which is responsible for developing the rhythm, or the unique personality of the golf course. Key to this unique personality is also the extensive incorporation of water throughout the course. The presence and movement of water is one of the encompassing statements of the Dubai Festival City project in its entirety. Water is seen, heard and felt almost everywhere on the course and also off.

"Though extensive in its incorporation, water is constantly being presented in differing manners, from large bodies of water that must be played along or across, to gently flowing streams meandering through golf holes, to spilling falls adjacent to green sites. Variety is paramount."

Robert Trent Jones II LLC has introduced a 'Rivers Of Sand' concept, which runs throughout the Dubai Festival City course adding texture and colour and creating elevation change.

"These 'Rivers of Sand' present a visually crisp hazard that, unlike a body of water, provides the golfer with an opportunity to recover from an errant golf shot. They also create shadows across the sunny, open course, which will give golfers definition and allow them to decide the line they want to play on for their game. In fact, as golfers play all 18 holes, they will need to use all 14 clubs in their bag. The holes are varied, interesting, offer change of pace and change of direction," he explained.

Despite the challenges of the course, the master architect says it has been designed for play by golfers of all skill levels.

"Multiple tees can be found on every hole with most offering a variety in teeing angle, so the course can be played from a maximum of just over 7,250 yards for championship quality players, down to roughly 5,500 yards for players with less skill or strength. Fairways are generous for the majority of players, narrowing as golfers move through the landing areas."

In 2004, the Al Futtaim Group, the developers behind the 1,600 acre Dubai Festival City mixed-use project, signed a letter of intent with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to manage a luxury waterfront hotel at the destination and oversee Al Badia's clubhouse and associated amenities.

"Al Badia is the first golf course in Dubai to feature life-style homes," said Phil McArthur, Leasing and Marketing Director, Dubai Festival City. "Built on a Mediterranean-like terraced hillside, the community is a mix of two, three and four-bedroomed apartments and three-storey town houses. The homes are some of the most spacious available in Dubai and provide stunning views of the course, its lakes and city skyline."

The first 64 homes were leased in 2004 and the first residents moved in last November. The remaining 232 homes will be ready in May. The opening of the Al Badia course to the public, and the course-view homes are the first major milestones in the development of Dubai Festival City.

"The project is transforming the upper reaches of Dubai Creek into a regional and international shopping, entertainment and sporting tourist attraction," said McArthur. "It will raise the benchmark for mixed-use developments not only within Dubai but the wider Middle East."