Playing pin high in the Gulf

ABU Dhabi just marches on. Not content with bankrolling lost football clubs (Manchester City) or conjuring up grand cultural visions (the Guggenheim and Louvre Museums), now it is making a serious drive to be one of the world’s great golf destinations.

Lush fairways and greens still sounds faintly absurd out in the desert, even if they have hosted golf events in the Gulf for some time, with Dubai leading the way. But I was intrigued. Could the well-trodden four-day golf break to Portugal or Spain be upstaged by a long weekender requiring two overnight flights?

I arrived via one such seven-hour flight not exactly full of the joys of spring but perky enough to take on an 18-hole golf course. The sunny morning helped, so too that Abu Dhabi’s three big courses are within 20 minutes of each other.

My trip coincided with the HSBC Championship held at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, with Tiger Woods, below, playing for the first time. Think what you like about the man but he still has incredible presence. The record crowds had eyes for him only, leaving Luke Donald (then world number one) to play largely in front of one man and a camel.

With Tigermania in full flow, we headed to the relative sanctuary of Yas Island, though anywhere with a Formula One track and outrageous temple to motorsport, Ferrari World (complete with the world’s fastest rollercoaster), is hardly a vision of peace and quiet.

Alongside all this fast-lane stuff is the beautifully crafted Yas Links course: you could be on the east coast of Scotland, with rolling fairways protected by sandy mounds, tall pampas grass and even an impressive stretch of water (1.8 million cubic metres of water was dredged from the sea to create a “coastline”). To cap it all, the greens are lightning fast.

As with any great course, the final three holes are tough and memorable — making Hickory’s, the 19th, a very welcome short hop off the final green.

Our base, though, was the 172-room Westin Golf Resort and Spa back at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, newly opened in December. It’s elegantly designed, with a huge sandstone-walled lobby leading out on to the practice range. Most rooms have balcony views on to the 18th and 9th holes. The Westin also has The Heavenly Spa, offering treatments from a golfer’s massage to body wraps. Add six restaurants and two pools and there’s plenty to keep you occupied.

The next day it was off to Saadiyat Island, and the Gary Player-designed Saadiyat Beach Golf Club. The Saadiyat Island vision, projected cost US$27 billion, is mindboggling. Apart from the Louvre and Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim, a marina and further golf resort are planned. Saadiyat’s trump card is its coastline. After the first five holes on the course, you head to the sea in front of the 312-room St Regis hotel to be met by white sandy beaches and turquoise blue waters.

We finally got on the Abu Dhabi Golf Club course, with its falcon-shaped clubhouse, the day after the tournament finished. This allowed us to play it in its most pristine condition — and realise how good these players have to be.