Golf Digest Middle East - November 2022

BACK TO NATURE

BY MATT SMITH

BY MATTHEW RUDY

BRITTANY ROMANO

STORY

Return To Jeddah

Aramco Team

gears up for the big 2022 season finale at Royal Greens.

BY MATT SMITH

ALEX RIGGS

BY MATT SMITH

about

23 Moroccan Roll Ines Laklalech chases more glory after claiming maiden LET title in France.

BY MATT SMITH

32 Cracking the Code

Months of hard work led to my first major. Here’s what you can learn.

BY MATT FITZPATRICK

44 The Incredibles

BY LEA POUILLARD

MATT SMITH

24 Making The Cut Looking back on a LIV Golf adventure as first season comes to a close.

BY MATT SMITH

28 Destination Dubai McIlroy and stars head to UAE for DP World Tour Championship.

BY MATT SMITH

MATT SMITH

In search of the 18 most unforgettable golf holes in the world.

BY RICK REILLY

54 Muscat magic Al Mouj Golf in Oman is ideal for a short stayand-play break on the UAE’s doorstep.

BY MATT SMITH

Al Mouj Golf in Muscat offers links-style golf on the coast of the Indian Ocean

Time to set the records straight

Rory McIlroy is racing to become top dog on both sides of the Atlantic at DPWTC, but a host of players have other ideas

By Matt Smith

WITH THE INAUGURAL

LIV Golf season now at an end, the likes of Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson can take a well-earned rest. A thrilling — and sticky — Individual Championship in Jeddah, where Brooks Koepka finally overcame his Smash teammate and longtime friend Peter Uihlein on the third playoff hole in the Saudi dusk, was followed by the $50 million Team Championship in Miami, closing the most lucrative series of events in golf history.

But there is still plenty of unfinished business to take care of in November as the Ladies European Tour returns to the same Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City just outside Jeddah for the Golf Saudibacked Aramco Team Series finale from November 10-12.

Some of the best female golfers in the world will be hoping for some cooler climes when they reach the Red Sea than their male counterparts endured, where humidity was hitting 80 per cent at times and even the likes of Man of Steel Bryson DeChambeau came off the course looking like they had gone 12 rounds with Tyson Fury.

While the likes of Charley Hull, Georgia Hall, Suzann Pettersen, Lee-

Anne Pace, Olivia Cowan and Johanna Gustavsson will fancy their chances, Dubai’s Chiara Noja will definitely be one to watch after the 16-year-old’s whirlwind first year as a pro was highlighted with an Aramco Team Series — New York T-11 last time out, showing she can hold her own among the likes of Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson and the cream of female golf.

With her Ladies European Tour card safely secured for 2023, the young German will have a tricky task of balancing schoolwork and a full-time season on the LET next year. It will be an intriguing watch.

One of the biggest events on the UAE calendar is also upon us as the DP World Tour Championship returns to

DPWTC title last year to Collin Morikawa, and he will be gunning for his first Rankings title having gone close the past two years.

It’s not all about those two, though, as the cream of the European Tour will be in town, including Shane Lowry, Will Zalatoris, Dubai Desert Classic champ Viktor Hovland, powerhouse Ryan Fox and Abu Dhabi champ Thomas Pieters all in with a shout of moving to the top of the rankings.

It will be intriguing to see how Poland’s Irish Open winner Adrian Meronk will fare in his own backyard now he has decided to call Dubai ‘home’.

But those 49 players will certainly have their work cut out keeping up with Rory, now the Northern Irishman was found even more distance off the tee (Tom Kim, no slouch himself, was left laughing as he consistently found himself 40 yards behind his playing partner McIlroy at the recent CJ Cup — guess who won).

With the new season now in full swing across the UAE, Golf Digest Middle East’s Oktoberfest recently returned to The Els Club, and was once again a flying success, with the party atmosphere enjoyed by all — especially Michael Harradine, who picked up top prize of a spot in the Dubai Desert Classic pro-am in January.

cutting a deal The newest addition to the expanding eGolf Megastore retail outlet portfolio was opened at Dubai Hills Mall

Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth Course for the 14th time from November 17-20.

With free ground-pass tickets once again on offer, the course is sure to be packed — especially with the return of newly crowned FedEx Cup champion and world No. 1 Rory McIlroy.

US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick will also be in town as the pair battle it out on two fronts — for the DPWTC title itself and the DP World Tour Rankings Race (the new-look Race to Dubai).

While Rory will be looking to top the season-long standings on both sides of the Atlantic, Englishman Fitzpatrick will be on his own mission as he narrowly missed out on defending his

The demand for all things golf retail continues to grow in the UAE, and eGolf Megastore is on hand to help as they have just opened up their eighth (eighth!) store in the UAE at Dubai Hills Mall, to go with the one at Al Mouj in Muscat, Oman.

Speaking of Al Mouj, the travelling golfers among you (and non-travelling, for that matter) should check out our stay-and-play feature on Oman’s leading championship course, which is just a small hop and a skip from Dubai, with Al Mouj Golf itself situated right next to the new Muscat International Airport — ideal for a short golfing break.

matthew.smith@motivate.ae @mattjosmith / @golfdigestme

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Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.

Yas Acres Golf & Country Club

A night to remember

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Turn day into night at Yas Acres Golf & Country Club’s Fry/Strakadesigned floodlit golf course, the perfect family-friendly venue that ensures players of all levels able to have a memorable experience.

The 3,700 yard, 9/18-hole track provides the perfect challenge for keen golfers, while also being an enjoyable experience for those looking to start their journey in the sport.

A relaxed experience, the par-36 course features stunning visuals with its compelling contours and long holes, spanning 130 acres, including large bunkers and a lake and stream that flows throughout the entire course, supporting the growth of native desert plants and vegetation.

Yas Acres Golf & Country Club opened earlier this year on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and has quickly gained popularity, thanks to its versatile layout and night-golf set-up to help avoid the heat.

Book your tee time today with Viya App when you download for free from the App Store. –matt smith

‘I was told Stenson was not well and I was in for LIV’

With the money and publicity, you don’t expect anyone to pull out of a LIV event unless it is something very serious

By Shergo Al Kurdi, with Matt Smith

Raised in England but representing my father’s country of Jordan, I played my first elite event as a 14-year-old but first really came on the radar ear lier this year when I became the first, and youngest at 18, player from the Middle East to make the cut on the DP World Tour at the UAE Swing’s Ras Al Khaimah Classic and finished T33 on 10-under.

I picked up $12,000 that day for my first pay day and it has been so busy since. I am now a Golf Saudi Ambas sador and since I turned pro, they have more than looked after me. They have helped me and invested in me and now here I am at LIV Golf.

At Bedminster I was on the bench as an alternate, and all the talk was about Henrik Stenson, as he got stripped of the Ryder Cup captaincy before playing in his first LIV Golf event. The hype got bigger as he went on to win that event. Fast-forward two weeks in Boston — the fourth event — and again I was an alternate. Obviously with the money and the publicity, you don’t expect anyone to pull out unless it is something very serious.

Every week I just thought of it as a week of practice, focus on the range and in the gym, and do what I need to do to get better. Everything was going fine and I was just training away and doing practice work, and then 40 minutes be

fore the shotgun start, I was told: “Sten son is not feeling well,” and I was in the field for LIV.

Obviously it was a bit of a shock and also a panic as I did not have my dad with me and he was my caddie, and I didn’t even have any golf balls in my bag as I did not expect to play. I had no putting practice on the green…

Luckily it all came to gether as Stenson’s caddie — Gareth Lord — gracious ly offered to caddie for me, and we all made it time to tee off.

It was a whirlwind. Off we went and I found out I was play ing with Dustin Johnson and Camer on Smith — arguably the two biggest names in LIV Golf right now — because Stenson won the last one and was in the marquee group.

We started on the first hole and I would be lying if I wasn’t nervous, but it was such a great experience and I had never experienced anything like that before.

Luckily I had a good week and I didn’t let the team down, we finished third and I was 35th in the individual standings.

It was my birthday on the Monday, the day after the final round so it was a nice way to celebrate with a cheque for $144,000.

When we are not playing and stay on the bench, we do not receive any prize money, obviously, but the experience of being in this tournament environ ment and around the best players in the world is worth more right now as it helps me learn so much. I am loyal to the tour and I will be here every week, because you never know.

It is never going to hurt to be in this environment and I am travelling the world and playing all these different courses. Portland was my first time in the US for example, and even if I don’t play, it is such a valuable learning curve.

Next up now that the LIV season is at an end, I have some starts lined up on the new Asian Tour International Series in Morocco and Egypt, and also the new Saudi Open, which is a qualifier to the Asian Development Tour, and I will take it from there. I will certainly be aiming for the top five in Morocco and Egypt as I am pretty sure that will get an invitation to these LIV events next year.

Mr Majed Al-Surour and His Excel lency Mr Yasir Al-Rumayyan of Golf Saudi have been brilliant in their sup port for me ever since day one. When I first turned pro, they were the first to help me financially, and what they have done to help get me in as an alternate has only been good, so I hope I can make them proud in the future.

Golf Saudi are showing the future of the sport and they have a few good national players. I have known Faisal [Salhab], Saud [AlSharif] and Othman [Almulla] ever since the Pan-Arab days as youngsters, I played the U-18 PanArab with Saud, and it is good to be around players from my region and from Saudi, different Arab golfers, because I really think we have so much potential and I think that can really show in the future. It is great to see them at these LIV events and see them play with some of the guys in the pro-am, and we will see what happens from here.

SERGO AL KURDI LIV GOLF, ASIAN TOUR

19

FROM JORDAN

Survival of the Fitted

Why do some golf-shirt brands have staying power?

By Matthew Rudy

Wh at goes into mak ing a “successful” golf shirt ? More than you probably know. C hris Knott founded Peter Millar in 2001 on the back of a single line of cashmere sweaters in a rainbow of colours and a name he cribbed from an inscription on an antique lawn bowling ball and by the close of the decade, you could find the logo on tour players, club champions, captains of industry and other influencers (even though that wasn’t technically a thing quite yet).

Former Ralph Lauren executive Scott Mahoney joined with the Sea Is land Company (which owns the Sea Is land Resort in Georgia) in 2009 to buy the majority of Peter Millar from its founding group. But fuelling growth meant investing heavily in inventory, and when the global-financial crisis began to unfold, Peter Millar found itself in a vice. When the economy tanked, Sea Island moved to sell its stake to private equity.

When outside funding comes in, it can sometimes spell doom — or at least conscription to licensing purga tory and perpetual consignment to the discount rack. Just ask brands such as Ben Hogan, Etonic or Spalding. “When your money is tied up in inventory at the wrong time, you have nothing,” Mahoney says. “It was a difficult time for everyone, but going through that sales process at the time gave us in credible discipline.”

For Peter Millar, the new structure and cash infusion from Winona Capi tal — and Winona’s blessing to bol ster the sales and design teams with talent on the sidelines despite the cratered economy — helped it sur vive a crisis that took out hundreds of undercapitalised or overextended

companies. The brand’s attention to detail and real-world evangelists kept sales growing. Jim Gold was Neiman Marcus’ president and chief buyer in 2010, and he noticed his playing part ner’s shirt during a round at Century, his home club in suburban New York City. “I asked what kind it was, and he didn’t know, so I checked the inside of the collar,” says Gold, who is now the CEO of Moda Operandi, a women’s luxury fashion retailer. “I had never heard of Peter Millar, but then I saw it in a few golf shops. I asked my team to track them down, and they said they couldn’t find them — so I called the 1-800 number on the website and left a message in their general inbox that I was interested in carrying the line in our stores. When they called back, they said they thought they were get ting punked.”

Gold said the combination of quality, design and pricing — golf shirts with luxe detail and finish that still came in under $100 — made the brand attrac tive to carry, along with Peter Millar’s willingness to embrace sleeker silhou ettes and performance fabrics when baggy cotton shirts were the standard uniform in the category.

By 2012, Peter Millar’s trajectory made it a juicy target for another ac quisition — this time by the Swiss lux ury conglomerate Richemont, which

also owns jewellers Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, watchmakers Panerai, IWC and Piaget and pen-maker Mont blanc. Richemont has left Peter Millar to continue its expansion in the luxury golf space, both by growing into street clothes, sunglasses and shoes and through acquisitions of its own. Peter Millar bought edgy California clothing and shoe brand G/Fore in 2018, adding a younger, West Coast-flavoured op tion for players whose tastes trend to ward flat-brimmed hats with golf slang embroidery, joggers and patent-leath er saddle shoes. “It was the perfect acquisition because it wasn’t Peter Mil lar. There might be 10 or 15 per cent crossover between our brands,” Ma honey says. “We were able to put our operational expertise behind them for sourcing and production and custom er service and let them continue down their own path.”

All of which goes to show the combi nation of talent, taste, opportunity and luck it takes to last a dozen seasons through various versions of “Does this come in blue?”

Matthew Rudy wonders how many men’s golf shirts in size small actually sell.

By Matt Smith

nly 12 short months ago, a Dubai-based 15-year-old school stu dent took her first step into a brave new world in professional sport.

Last October, Chiara Noja took the decision to become a professional golfer and set out on the Ladies European Tour Access Series in her quest to secure the playing rights on the LET proper in 2023 that come with claim ing one of the LETAS Order of Merit top-six spots. Fast-forward one year and, following a hectic schedule that took her around the world, Chiara is back in Dubai and in schoolkid mode, prepar ing for her GCSEs — with her LET card in hand.

While cramming and recovering from weeks on the road, the Ger man teenager has been juggling her career as a pro, and the demands that come with that, with another life as a student looking for the best grades in her exams.

After what has been an exhausting 12 months, and with mock exams going on following her visit to Ferry Point to compete in the Aramco Team Series — New York event, Chiara still has one competition circled on her 2022 calendar: the ATS finale at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Jeddah from November 10-12.

“Has it been 12 months?” Chiara asks Golf Digest Middle East, having taken time out from her studying for a quick chat. “That’s right! It was almost exactly a year ago I turned pro,” she confirms.

“It has certainly been a very busy year. It has flown by. I have spent five-and-a-half action-packed months on the road in total, but it was worth it.

“Thankfully I got a win early on at the Amundi [Czech Ladies Chal lenge in June] and that set me up nicely in the Order of Merit and gave me the confidence to keep up the standards.

“I was also competing on the Aramco Team Series events thanks to my Golf Saudi backing, so it was quite exhausting.

“The LETAS kept adding events, and I told myself this is a marathon, not a sprint, and took the decision to take a break and select the events I wanted to play in.”

With her card safe, Chiara opted to skip the final three events of the LETAS season, opting instead to concentrate on her studies and the Ar amco events in New York and Jeddah instead, knowing it would mean missing out on top spot in the LETAS Order of Merit.

“It was a very good decision to take a break,” she insists. “Sure, I finished second in the Order of Merit and could have won it if I continued to play, but I was playing my ‘C’ game and it was better to recharge. The No. 1 goal was achieving playing rights on the LET 2023. My card was safe so taking a break was the right thing to do.

“Honestly, winning the Order of Mer it would have been the cherry on top of a great season, but going into it we knew what the aim was and we achieved that.”

She adds with a chuckle:

“It was a lovely season — exhausting, but lovely.”

Reflecting on all those weeks of competition, it is clear in Chiara’s mind what the highlight was.

“The Aramco events. Definitely,” she says. “I got to be the kid again playing with the big girls, and I learnt so much. To play alongside the Kordas (LPGA star sisters Nelly and Jessica) and Lexi (Thompson, the Aramco New York champ and world No. 7) was amazing and an honour.

“I finished T-11 in New York and that showed me how far I had come. On caddie came up and asked me: ‘How do you keep your concentration?’ But I am just soaking it all up and hoping to improve each event.

THE NO. 1 GOAL WAS ACHIEVING PLAYING RIGHTS ON THE LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR 2023. MY CARD WAS SAFE SO TAKING A BREAK WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO

“That result in New York really gave me confidence I can compete with the LET players next season. I have no goals other than getting some top 20s and maybe a few top 10s but I have no wor ries about keeping my card.”

Now, here comes the tricky part — being a 16-year-old student and an LET pro at the same time.

“Like I said, I have no worries about my card, I will just need to balance preparing for my GCSEs and choosing when to play on Tour.

“My grades would be better without the golf, for sure, and my golf would be better without the studying. But being a full-time student and a golfer has definitely made life more interesting!”

Looking ahead to her final bow of 2022, the Aramco Team Series — Jed dah, Chiara can’t wait to get going.

“Royal Greens is like a second home to me, really, as I have played the Saudi International twice and also on the ATS last year. It is a challenging course to play, due to the wind, but I know it quite well by now.”

One thing that Chiara is not looking forward to is the possibility of stifling humidity in Jeddah at this time of year.

“The Saudi International is played early in the year and the weather has been perfect, but the ATS last year was roasting and exhausting. Hopefully the weather gets a bit cooler by the time we arrive.”

Those appearances in Jeddah and at other events around the globe have been in part thanks to the support Chiara has received from Golf Saudi, for whom she is now an Ambassador, alongside the likes of Emily Pedersen, Anna Nordqvist, Anne Van Dam, Bronte Law and Carlota Ciganda.

“Even before I turned pro, Golf Saudi gave me incredible support and believed in me,” Chiara explains. “They managed to get me into a num ber of tournaments, and without those events I would not be where I am or be as good a player as I am now.

“They have been so positive in helping grow the game and are very clear in that vision — helping grow the game in the Kingdom and also globally, while encouraging women to take up the sport.

“Also the money they have invested in the shape of purses for events such as the Aramcos and Saudi International … without these events, the Ladies European Tour would not be what it has now become.

“Then there is the way you are treated at these events. You get pam pered, properly looked after — be it the travel, the courses, hotels, food … you get a little spoilt at these events.” Again, there is that chuckle.

“It is great to see these developments, especially in the womens’ game,” she continues. “It is so nice to be shown respect as an athlete.”

Looking further ahead, once school is completed, Chiara is planning to play it a bit by ear.

“I don’t know really,” she admits. “Maybe I will look into the online courses that some of the other girls have done to get degrees. I like to be stimulated, so I will wait and see what takes my fancy as we go along. But right now, golf is the No. 1 focus.”

HAVE NO WORRIES ABOUT MY 2023 LET CARD, I WILL JUST NEED TO BALANCE PREPARING FOR MY GCSES AND CHOOSING WHEN TO PLAY ON TOUR

Only a few weeks after the final-day drama at the LIV Golf Jeddah finale, the team action returns to Royal Greens on the Red Sea in Saudia Arabia — and this time it is the turn of the ladies.

Following the dramatic playoff vic tory for Brooks Koepka over Smash teammate Peter Uihlein in the LIV Golf indivudual showdown in Jeddah ahead of the $50 million Team Championship in Miami, the Golf Saudi-backed Aram co Team Series will head to the same venue in November for the conclusion of its second full season.

The Ladies European Tour $1 million event lands at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Eco nomic City outside Jeddah from 10-12 November.

The stars are set to return also, with 2021 ATS Jeddah individual winner Pia Babnik, 2022 London champ Bronte Law and 2021 Sotogrande winner Ali son Lee. Other big names include Sol heim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen, English pair Georgia Hall and Charley Hull, plus rising Dubai star Chiara Noja, who shone at the New York event two weeks ago.

2022 Aramco Team Series winners

BANGKOK individual: Manon Del Roey team: Whitney Hillier

LONDON individual: Bronte Law team: Nicole Garcia

SOTOGRANDE individual: Nelly Korda team: Jessica Korda

NEW YORK individual: Lexi Thompson team: Johanna Gustavsson

RETURN OF THE JEDDAH

Aramco Team Series HEADS BACK TO

SAUDI ARABIA FOR FINAL LEG OF SEASON

By Matt Smith

aramco team series

jeddahPlayers to watch

Hall

Hull

Pettersen

Lee-Anne Pace

Olivia Cowan

Klara Spilkova

Liz Young

Bronte Law

Alison Lee USA

Chiara Noja

Manon De Roey

Ana Pelaez Trivino

Pia Babnik SLO

Marianne Skarpnord

Magdalena Simmermacher

Lydia Hall WAL

Kylie Henry SCO

Johanna Gustavsson

Felicity Johnson

Whitney Hillier

Diksha Dagar

Anne Van Dam NED

Hannah Burke

Nicole Broch Estrup

Catriona Matthew SCO

The Series has already toured the globe, visiting Bangkok, London, Sotogrande and New York throughout 2022 and the innovative tourna ment will once again conclude in Jeddah.

Majed Al-Sorour, Golf Saudi Deputy Chairman and CEO, is delighted to take the ATS back to Jeddah, following its debut last year: “The Ar amco Team Series has delivered some incredible golf across around the world so far, and we expect it to be no different in Jeddah.

“We are always keen to bring these global events to Saudi Arabia to continue our drive to grow participation and the game of golf in the Kingdom. Bringing world-class golf events and some of the best female golf players in the world allows us to do just that.

“I look forward to welcoming the players to Jeddah and the beauty of Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in November and encourage every one to come and enjoy the Aramco Team Series and the amazing female golfers appearing.”

Ines Laklalech: READY TO MAKE MORE HISTORY

By Matt Smith

The arab world discovered a new star in September when Morocco’s Ines Laklalech claimed her first crown on the Ladies European Tour.

The 24-year-old made history at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France in Deau ville as she defeated Meghan MacLaren in a playoff at Golf Barrière.

With the victory she became the first Mo roccan, Arab, and North African woman to win a title on the Ladies European Tour.

Now she is aiming to make more history as she prepares for the Aramco Team Series — Jeddah event from November 10-12.

It was only two years ago that Laklalech teed it up at the inaugural Saudi Ladies In ternational at Royal Greens as a young amateur and now she is coming back to KAEC for the ATS finale as a professional as her first full season on as a Ladies Eu ropean Tour card-holder comes to a close.

The Casablanca native, who also competed at the Saudi International in March and narrowly missed the cut, is aiming to show what she can do back in Jeddah now she has that first LET victory under her belt.

There is another mission that drives Laklalech to do her best and that is to inspire the next generation of Arab girls across the world, who she believes — like her — have greater opportunity than ever before to chase their own ambitions.

Laklalech, who holds a bachelor’s degree in manage ment science from University College London, said earlier this year: “The Saudi Ladies International was actually the first LET event I played as an amateur back in 2020 and I made the cut. In 2020 it was a great, great tournament and experience, I loved it — particularly because it was in an Arab country, which to me made it even more special.”

Laklalech now knows the course a little better and knows what to watch out for.

“I know what to expect a little more,” she said of Royal Greens. “The course is great, the windy conditions mean things can get very interesting and tough out there.”

That debut Aramco Saudi Ladies International back in 2020 was a landmark moment for women’s sport within the King dom as it was the first ever professional, international women’s sporting event to be held in Saudi Arabia.

Now, there is no looking back as the Aramco Team Series re turns for its second edition in Saudi Arabia.

“For me, the high-level golf always happened in the US and Europe,” Laklalech said. “Now today, we’re seeing such a strong field of players playing in both the men’s and women’s events in Saudi Arabia. I would never have thought of competitive golf being played in Saudi Arabia before, especially a women’s event. To see this now though is so good for the future of golf and for all women in the Arab world.

“This shows Arab women that if they want to make a living out of their pas sion — be that in sport or anything else — they can, just as much as a man would. It shows that women can play competitive sports no matter what their background and no matter where they’re from.”

Laklalech first lifted a golf club aged 10 in one of the few places in Casa blanca “with a green field and lots of trees”, and quickly going on to join then beat the boys’ club — of which she was one of only two girl members — at her local course, aged only 12.

“I’m excited to see what the next years hold for me,” said Laklalech. “Any thing new is exciting, and this elite golf is all new to me.”

Laklalech is only the second Arab woman to play on the LET, following fel low Moroccan Maha Haddioui, and now she is looking ahead to the future following her victory in France.

“I’ve always had very strong women in the family who I look up to. I’m hop ing more North African and African women can accomplish things in sports and just pursue their dreams,” she told the BBC in Deauville.

“There is no difference between the African woman or the European one. I hope this win can prove that it is possible. I got a very warm welcome from the Moroccans who came to congratulate me at the airport, with even the police men saying congratulations. I’m just very humbled by that and happy about it.

“Before the start of the season, I wrote down my goals. Starting a profes sional career, you have a certain time to get comfortable at the first tourna ments. I didn’t make the first three cuts. I was very tense, very nervous. After that, there was just a click that I can’t really explain, and that made me play to my potential without thinking of what I was doing.

“I’m very happy that I passed this first step. Now I can focus on other things that I’m dreaming of.”

One dream would certainly be either holding aloft the individual or team titles in Jeddah on November 12, in front of an Arab crowd.

I WOULD NEVER HAVE THOUGHT OF COMPETITIVE GOLF BEING PLAYED IN SAUDI ARABIA BEFORE, ESPECIALLY A WOMEN’S EVENT. IT’S SO GOOD

Moroccan prepares to revisit the place where it all began at KAEC

Looking back and forward with LIV Golf

BY MATT SMITH

The tumultuous first LIV Golf Invitational Series season finally came to an end with the $50 million Team Championship in Miami at Trump National Doral from October 28-30.

It may have only been eight three-day events, but it will be a campaign that will long live in the memory and the golf history books as it altered the face of the sport.

With record-breaking prize money on offer, top players moving over from the PGA Tour — and earning a ban from the tour in the process — and an ongoing legal dispute between the rival circuits, LIV Golf was never far away from the headlines.

Then there was the new format that grew on the players and fans alike as they got used to the three-

Individual Championship winners

LONDON

Centurion Club

June 9-11

Charl Schwartzel (-7)

PORTLAND

Pumpkin Ridge

June 30-July 2

Branden Grace (-13)

BEDMINSTER

Trump National Golf Club

July 29-31

Henrik Stenson (-11)

BOSTON

The International September 2-4

Dustin Johnson (-15)

CHICAGO

Rich Harvest Farms

September 16-18

Cameron Smith (-13)

BANGKOK

Stonehill Golf Club

October 7-9

Eugenio Chacarra (-19)

JEDDAH

Royal Greens Golf & Country Club

October 14-16

Brooks Koepka (-12)

day, no-cut, shotgun-start competitions, and free-toair broadcasting online at sites such as YouTube.

We saw some thrilling landmark moments, such as Matthew Wolff ’s stunning hole-in-one in Boston, the gripping victories for Henrik Stenson and Cameron Smith on their respective LIV debuts in Boston and Chicago, the sheer consistent play and steely determination of 4 Aces captain and eventual Individual Championship winner Dustin Johnson, and the newlook team concept that came with the package as players were grouped into fours and worked for each other on the team leaderboard, while also fighting it out on the individual front.

Looking ahead, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman has already promised to make the second season bigger and better, with the schedule expanding from eight

events to 14 and including more stops around the globe to go with nine in the United States.

The Invitational Series will also change its name to the LIV Golf League, to help illustrate the seasonlong individual and team league standings, which are more like a football league ladder rather than a golf leaderboard.

The final touches are still being put to the official calendar of events in 2023 but a tentative schedule has been released, which see the 48 players (and 12 teams as it stands) take in new locations including Singapore, Australia, Spain and possibly Canada or Mexico, with the campaign hoping to run from Feb ruary to September rather than this year’s “Don’t Blink” June-October span.

The major highlight on the calendar for many is the introduction of an Australian event (many fans there have complained for years that they get over looked for big golf events) and Norman plans to play the event for two years at one venue before moving

February Florida, TBD February California, TBD March

Tucson, Dove Mountain or Gallery April Australia, Sydney or Queensland April Singapore, Sentosa May Washington, TBD June Philadelphia, TBD July London, Centurion July

Spain, Valderrama August New Jersey, Bedminster August West Virginia, The Greenbrier September Chicago, TBD September Toronto/Mexico, TBD

September Florida, Trump Doral

it around the country. Sydney and Queensland are being touted as the hosts of the inaugural Austra lia event, with fans guaranteed to pack the galler ies with the likes of Cam Smith and Marc Leishman in the field.

While court wrangles will continue, one thing is guaranteed, and that is LIV Golf will continue to grow and take the game to crowds around the world in 2023.

Claude Harmon III

By Matt Smith

Ihave been out here at many LIV Golf events and the first thing that strikes you is it feels like a family.

A lot of people regard it as a travelling circus with its shotgun starts and it is easy to dismiss. I find it interesting that many people who are ‘anti-LIV’ have never bothered to come down to an event, to any of the tournaments, and experience it for themselves. They think that when the players and the guys involved say how much they love it out here it is just lip-service.

It is not.

As I said, it feels like a family. Unlike a normal event on the PGA Tour, LIV guys on a team — everyone is together: they leave the hotel together, travel together, get to the course together, eat together, practise on the range together before each round. Thanks to the shotgun start and the unity, everything is a constant right down to signing your cards at the same time, even if you are di erent groups. The feeling is a lot of camaraderie.

It is something I have never felt before and many player will have never felt before.

It is alien to the lone-wolf mentality of many players — guys like Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson: they got great by being lone wolves. But now as team captains, you see this whole di erent side to them as they watch the leaderboard to see how their guys are getting on and, if they get a chance, sit out on the course and watch their teammates finish o , like we saw in the late-finishing play-o s in Bangkok and Jeddah.

The structure and the way everyone is treated — I am just a coach, not even a player — it makes you feel you are part of something. The coach, the manager, the caddie, when the team goes out to eat once a week, it is for everyone. They are all part of a team, a family.

I don’t think people realise how serious the team captains take the team element of the competition. Many think it is all just about the money.

It is fun to be a part of. I have been lucky enough to be involved with players on the Ryder Cup and it is always fun to be involved in weeks like that where players come together as a group. That is week in, week out on LIV Golf.

I have spent 20 years on the PGA and on the European Tour, and it is hard to get players to agree on some things. Here on the LIV tour it is so inclusive, it makes the players feel like they are part of something.

In all my time I have never bought any PGA or European Tour merchandise. Here, I have. Before I had bought nothing with a logo on it as a coach as I never felt part of it, but now I do.

I fundamentally do not understand the PGA Tour feud. If this is where you want to play, that is your choice to make. I am good with that. If you want to play on the PGA Tour, I don’t have a problem with that either. I just don’t get the animosity and why it has become so political. No other sport is like this.

If you are a viewer and prefer the PGA, go for it. That’s OK. But every player should have the right to play where they want and earn as much money for their family as they can.

If Rory [McIlroy] gets an invitation from another organisation to play, he has earned that right. He has earned the right to make as much money as possible. I don’t get how the 48 players on LIV are the only ones who don’t get that right.

The quality on LIV is unreal, too. I have worked with DJ [Dustin Johnson] for a decade and he says he is playing the best golf of his career right now.

Players like Cam Smith? If there was a major tomorrow, Cam, DJ, Brooks Koepka, they would all be in with a chance to win it.

And the field will be stronger in 2023 as they will get Bubba Watson back playing following his recovery from knee injury. I expect to see him out on the course next year and also at the Saudi International.

There may be a narrative that the quality of golf on LIV is poor, but there is no dip.

If a player signs for Manchester United and gets paid a lot more money, they don’t go down in form. They are not phoning it in. They are delivering like the guys out here.

These guys, the ones who are winning, they would be winning on the PGA Tour. It will be exciting to see what happens. The PGA will continue, of course, but now there is an alternative and that is exciting.

Claude Harmon III was speaking at the LIV Golf Jeddah event at Royal Greens Golf Club in Saudi Arabia, and is one of the world’s top golf coaches, looking after players such as Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson

Top coach to LIV Golf stars such as Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson

PULLING RANK

BY MATT SMITH

The crowds are set for a thrilling DP World Tour Championship

HE DP WORLD TOUR heads into the finishing straight in November, with all eyes on the finishing line at Jumeirah Golf Estates (JGE) in Dubai. ▶ The 14th DP World Tour Championship takes place from November 17-20, and promises to be another cracker as the top 50 players in the rankings fight it out on two fronts.

First of all, there is the DPWTC itself, the individual strokeplay event that brings the curtain down on the 2022 DP World Tour season.

Then there is the season-long DP World Tour Rankings race, with the fans guaranteed a treat as two of the tour’s top names are set to fight it out on both fronts.

FedEx Cup champion, two-time DPWTC winner and world No. 1 Rory McIlroy is set to do battle with US Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick as both are confirmed for the fifth and final Rolex Series event of the season on the famous JGE Earth Course.

Northern Irishman McIlroy has led the way in the Rankings since July

DP WORLD TOUR RANKINGS STANDINGS

(prior to Portugal Masters)

1. Rory McIlroy 4,154.1 pts

2. Ryan Fox 3,246.0

3. Matt Fitzpatrick 3,155.5

4. Viktor Hovland 2,711.4

5. Will Zalatoris 2,661.5

6. Thomas Pieters 2,575.5

7. Shane Lowry 2,471.4

8. Adrian Meronk 2,268.2

9. Thriston Lawrence 1,969.8

10. Adrian Otaegui 1,869.8

when he finished third at the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews. Fitzpatrick, who shot to global fame when he won his maiden major at the US Open in Brookline, is breathing down his neck.

JGE has been a happy hunting ground for both McIlroy and Fitzpatrick, with the world No. 1 having won the Race to Dubai (as it was known then) in 2012, 2014 and 2015, doubling up with the DP World Tour Championship in 2012 and 2015.

For his part, Fitzpatrick claimed the DPWTC in 2016 and 2020 and narrowly missed out on defending his title to Collin Morikawa last time out.

Jumeirah Golf Estates,

“I’m really excited to return to the DP World Tour Championship, especially with a chance of winning the Harry Vardon Trophy [Rankings] for a fourth time,” McIlroy said. “I have some great memories of playing golf in Dubai, from making my first cut on Tour as an amateur, to winning my first DP World Tour title and then finishing top of the rankings on three occasions.

“To win both the DP World Tour Rankings and the FedEx Cup in the same season would be a great achievement and would cap what has been a memorable year on the golf course.”

FACTBOX

2009 LEE WESTWOOD

Score: 265 (−23)

Margin: 6 strokes Runner-up: Ross McGowan

2010 ROBERT KARLSSON Score: 274 (−14)

Margin: Playo Runner-up: Ian Poulter

2011 ÁLVARO QUIRÓS

Score: 269 (−19)

Margin: 2 strokes Runner-up: Paul Lawrie

2012 RORY MCILROY

Score: 265 (−23)

Margin: 2 strokes Runner-up: Justin Rose

2013 HENRIK STENSON

Score: 263 (−25)

Margin: 6 strokes Runner-up: Ian Poulter

2014 HENRIK STENSON

Score: 272 (−16)

Margin: 2 strokes Runners-up: Victor Dubuisson, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose

2015 RORY MCILROY

Score: 267 (−21)

Margin: 1 stroke Runner-up: Andy Sullivan

Fitzpatrick, 28, has steadily rose to prominence over the past few seasons and won his eighth DP World Tour title at the US Open at the Country Club — the same course where he won the US Amateur nine years earlier, becoming just the second golfer in history after Jack Nicklaus to win both championships at the same venue.

The Englishman has stayed in form since his June triumph at Brookline, and just missed out on winning the Italian Open in September.

“It’s very exciting to go to Dubai with a chance of winning the DP World Tour Rankings,” said Fitzpatrick. “I’ve come very close to finishing top in the past, so I’ll be going to Jumeirah Golf Estates with a lot of confidence knowing that I’ve had some great results on the Earth Course in the past.”

McIlroy has a commanding lead in the Rankings standings, but with 12,000 points on offer in Dubai (2,000 to the DPWTC winner), things can change rapidly, as McIlroy knows all too well as he was overhauled on the

—MATT FITZPATRICK

final day of the 2021 campaign when Morikawa took both the Rolex Series title and the season-long race crown.

McIlroy can mathematically still be caught by seven other players in the standings and that could possibly increase with the Portugal Masters and Nedbank Golf Challenge still to be played ahead of the season finale in Dubai, and McIlroy expected to skip both events.

flying fox Ras Al Khaimah

Ryan Fox is hunting his third DP World Tour title of the season

Looking ahead to the event, Tom Phillips, Head of the Middle East, DP World Tour, said: “Anticipation is building across the UAE, not just among golf fans but also the general public who are looking forward to enjoying some of the finest premium experiences a golf tournament can offer.

“We’ve had a huge number of fans already register and we expect many more to avail the free general admission tickets in the final weeks leading up to the greatest weekend on Earth at Jumeirah Golf Estates.”

While this pair will certainly draw the crowds, there will be no shortage of other stars — some of whom while be plotting their own move to take one or both of the titles on offer.

Ras Al Khaimah Classic and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship winner Ryan Fox has been in consistent form all year and the Kiwi would love to claim his third win of the year in Dubai.

A week-long festival planned on Earth

The fun in Dubai begins well before Thursday’s official tee-off as the DP World Tour Championship, celebrating its 14th year, prepares for a week of entertainment on and off the course.

It all kicks off with the Rolex Pro-Am event on Tuesday, as guests will have the chance to watch the pro golfers, sporting stars and other celebrities play a fun competition. There will also be meet & greet opportunities as well as familyoriented activations, entertainment and F&B at the Jumeirah Fan Village.

On Friday, the tournament will host a Community Day, inviting schools, junior golfers and people of determination to experience behind-the-scenes tours, first-hand introduction to golf clinics, innovative kids’ workshops, as well as sundowners for the adults.

Following last year’s success, making its return to the DPWTC is Ladies Day on Saturday. Female guests will be treated to two complimentary beverages, ladies’ golf clinics, a ‘best dressed’ competition and plenty of perks.

Also taking place over Friday and Saturday is the new-look G4D (Golf for the Disabled) Tour Series Finale, which will see the world’s eight leading golfers of determination come together to compete in the series finale in Dubai. The G4D golfers will play on the same course as the top 50 golfing professionals participating in the DPWTC.

The finale on Sunday will see Jumeirah Golf Estates host a Family Day with a variety of activities including children’s shows and interactive events in the Village.

Gates will open at 7am each day with general admission tickets available free of charge. Tickets are also available for the tournament chalets and Earth Lounge.

Norwegian Viktor Hovland is no stranger to victory in the UAE and claimed the Dubai Desert Classic crown in January. Mr Consistent Will Zalatoris, Abu Dhabi HSBC champ Thomas Pieters, BMW PGA Championship winner Shane Lowry and Irish Open champion Adrian Meronk could all still reel in McIlroy as it stands.

Whatever happens, everyone who can should get down to Earth.

2016 MATT

FITZPATRICK

Score: 271 (−17)

Margin: 1 stroke Runner-up: Tyrrell Hatton 2017 JON RAHM Score: 269 (-19)

Margin: 1 stroke Runners-up: Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Shane Lowry 2018 DANNY WILLETT Score: 270 (−18)

Margin: 2 strokes Runners-up: Patrick Reed, Matt Wallace 2019 JON RAHM Score: 269 (−19)

Margin: 1 stroke Runner-up: Tommy Fleetwood 2020 MATT

FITZPATRICK Score: 273 (−15) Margin: 1 stroke Runner-up: Lee Westwood 2021 COLLIN MORIKAWA Score 271 (−17)

Margin: 3 strokes Runners-up: Alexander Björk, Matt Fitzpatrick

▶ no shane, no gain Rory McIlroy is not the only Irish interest in Rankings contention as Shane Lowry also has a chance for glory

▶ norway way Viktor Hovland aims to follow up his Dubai Desert Classic triumph EVENTS

MONTHS OF HARD WORK LED TO MY FIRST MAJOR. HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN LEARN BY MATT FITZPATRICK PHOTOGRAPHS BY JENSEN LARSON

EDITOR’S NOTE: Some major champions seem destined for greatness. Their triumphs are not a stunning development, rather an eventuality. Matt Fitzpatrick isn’t one of those guys — his words, not ours.

Winning the US Amateur at 18 and making a Ryder Cup team before 22 might make you think Fitzpatrick would be satisfied with his place among the game’s best. But before this year, Fitz and his coach, Mike Walker, knew that despite those accomplishments — and a top-50 world ranking — his game didn’t stack up with the very best golfers.

“He played with Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas at the 2020 Masters,” Walker says. “Matt hit a 7-wood into 11, while those boys flicked short irons. Matt didn’t have a chance. We needed to make some serious strides if he was to ever reach that level.”

Fitzpatrick’s analytical nature has fuelled his quest to get all he can out of his 5ft 9ins frame. “Some people are born with speed, I had to build mine,” he says. With that in mind, Fitzpatrick consults a swing coach, a putting coach, a statistician, a trainer, a biomechanist and a performance coach. He logs every competitive shot and pores over spreadsheets like a financial analyst. “He’ll turn over every last stone to find that one per cent,” Walker says. “And then he’ll go out and find another stone.”

The hard work paid off in June at The Country Club, when he won the US Open and joined Jack Nicklaus as the only men to win a US Amateur and the US Open on the same course. On these pages, Fitzpatrick shares some key lessons from his journey to become a major champion.

—DAN RAPAPORT

For power, get more out of your backswing

Earlier in my career, there were many weeks I’d show up to the golf course knowing I couldn’t contend because of my distance shortcomings. I wanted to get longer, of course, but I didn’t want to fundamentally change my swing and sacrifice accuracy. My coach and I decided to consult biomechanist Sasho MacKenzie, who helped us craft a plan to add speed gradually. I also worked with my trainer, Matt Roberts, to make sure my body could support the changes. It’s worked wonders — I’ve added about 8 miles per hour of clubhead speed during the last three years, and I’m averaging 15 yards more off the tee (303.8-yard average this year). I’m hitting it past guys who used to hit it past me. It’s a nice feeling. Part of my speed comes from my fast takeaway — yes, the takeaway. You might have been told to take the club back slow, but as long as you’re in sequence, ripping the club back faster just gives you a head start on building power. Don’t be afraid to add a little speed to your backswing. My takeaway for my stock driver shot is much faster than what you usually see on tour.

If I really want to crank one — say it’s a wide-open par 5 or I really need to carry a bunker — I’ll use a trick Dr MacKenzie taught me and lift my left heel high off the ground in the backswing (right). It allows me to make a bigger turn, loading up on my back foot, before I start down and explode through the ball.

Flatten your lead wrist for cleaner contact

At the end of last year, we broke down my statistics and found one glaring weakness — my approach play. Look at the top players in strokes gained/approach the green on the PGA Tour, and it’s all the guys at the top of the world ranking. If I was going to compete with them, my iron play had to improve. If you look at these two photos, you’ll notice my backswing has changed. (The new one is on the far right.) One of the big problems with my irons was bottom control. The low point was inconsis tent, and I wasn’t clipping the ball off the turf cleanly enough.

Mike and I decided to take some wrist set out of my backswing for better consistency. My left wrist used to be a little extended or cupped (near right) at the top of the back swing, and we wanted to get it in a much more neutral (flat) position (far right). When I started taking the club to the top with a flatter left wrist, I felt like I had Bryson DeChambeau’s swing — my arms felt straight and rigid. Now it feels normal, and my contact with irons has been much better.

Try keeping your lead wrist flat when you swing back. If you cup it, you’ll have to let it flat ten in the downswing. That move might hurt your consistency.

‘MY LEFT WRIST USED TO BE A LITTLE CUPPED. FOR PURER IRON SHOTS, IT’S NOW MORE NEUTRAL AT THE TOP.’

I first started chipping “cack-handed” (that’s what we call it back in England) as a drill. It worked so well, I put it in play. Holding the club with my left hand lower than the right (far left) helped eliminate my tendency in chipping to drag the handle toward the target through impact, which leads to inconsistent contact. If you drag the handle cack-handed, you will shank, skull or fat it every time.

Another thing I like about using this grip is that you usually know what the ball is going to do. When I held the club the normal way, I’d sometimes get a ball that rode up the clubface and spun a lot or one that would tumble forward with virtually no spin. The variance was frustrating, and it cost me shots. Keeping track of my performance during practice while chipping normal and chipping cack-handed, the results were pretty obvious which way to go.

I realise it might take some convincing — and courage — for you to switch to this unusual grip, but I think you’ll be amazed how effective it is for improving contact. I actually like it so much that I’m working on extending how far out from the hole I can use this grip. I’d like to eventually be able to hit cack-handed shots from as far out as 75 yards.

Try lefthand low for a tidier short game‘CHIPPING WITH THIS GRIP MAKES THE BALL COME OFF MORE PREDICTABLY.’

For great distance control, put a steady stroke on it

I’ve always been a good putter, especially starting the ball on the correct line. But putting is a lot more than that. Perhaps most crucially, you’ve got to control speed. Sometimes my stroke is fast going back, slows in transition, and then speeds up again through the ball. But you don’t want to accelerate through the ball. You want your speed to be steady. My putting coach, Phil Kenyon, and I have worked on a drill for rhythm that promotes consistent contact. That’s a prerequisite for speed control. I put a penny on the back of my putter (top photo) and make a stroke. If the penny falls to the ground as I start my through-stroke (above left), my speed will be steady into the ball.

Challenge yourself for meaningful practice

I’m not a guy who practises only on the course, but I’m also not a fan of mindless ballbeating on the range. I have worked with performance coach Steven Robinson for a few years to help me get the most out of my practice and identify areas for improvement. Steve does a great job of keeping things fun and gamified — I’d get bored otherwise.

Here’s one of my favorite games. Start by hitting a shot that carries as close to 70 yards as possible, but no less than that. Then hit one as close to 100 yards as possible, without going longer than that. You then repeat the process. Say your first shot went 74 yards and your second 96 yards, that means the landing area is now even tighter — 74 and 96. The goal is to hit as many shots as possible until meeting in the middle.

Whether it’s this drill or another one — say, alternating chipping short of a flag and past it — try to simulate realround pressure. You’ll feel more comfortable when it’s time for the real thing.

My yardage book

GRANTED, IT’S A BIT MUCH. BUT ALL THESE SYMBOLS MATTER TO ME

I fancy myself a fast player, and I’ve publicly bemoaned slow play more than a few times, so I devised a code for my yardage books to quickly note the relevant info. I don’t want to slow down my group while deciding what to hit.

I record the outcome of every shot in these books and have the results entered into a stat program developed by tour pro Edoardo Molinari. I know that sounds a little over the top, but logging all those numbers and then reviewing them reveals an honest assessment of your game. For an average golfer like you, saying you hit your 7-iron 150 yards might be the default answer. But do you really? Or learning you miss to the right way more often than to the left might influence your aim. Stats don’t lie.

Back to the coding in my yardage books, this is the 18th hole from this year’s US Open (right). There are different entries for each of the rounds. On Sunday, I pulled my 3-wood into that left bunker and then hit the shot of my life to save par and cap off the best round of my career — a two-under 68 to win the US Open.

FROM FRIDAY (124F, 6, 0, 138, -9, -1)

For this shot, it was 124 yards to the front of the green (124F) and 138 to the flat.

The 6 means I was aiming to hit my approach six yards right of the flag, and the 0 means I was trying to hit it pin-high. The -9 means I hit it nine yards left of my target, and the -1 is one yard short. I’ll only keep this level of stats from the fairway — there’s too much variability from any other lie that’s out of my control.

FROM SUNDAY (FR, SU, 9R)

The FR means the pin was in the front right. SU is an abbreviation for Sunday. And 9R means the pin was nine paces off the right side of the green.

FROM SUNDAY (NW, 3W, -23, BL)

NW means there was no wind, as opposed to LR for left-to-right wind or DW for downwind. I hit 3-wood off the tee (3W) and missed it 23 yards left of my target (-23), and it finished in the bunker left (BL).

FROM SUNDAY (150F, 156, NW, 9I)

This was the bunker shot on 18. I had 150 yards to the front of the green, 156 to the flag, there was no wind, and I hit 9-iron. What you don’t see here is, if my ball finished one yard farther right in the bunker, I probably would have had to pitch out.

FROM SUNDAY (18 LR, S, F, 1)

I hit the shot to 18 feet, and the putt was left to right.

I judge breaks by small, medium or large, and this one was small (S). The putt was flat (F) instead of downhill or uphill. The 1 means I missed it by a foot.

ALL ROUNDS (OR, P, F, S)

I use this area for general info. The left column notes missed putts. OR means I overread it. On Saturday, my pace (P) was off. The right column is for greens in reg. I’ll write an F if I missed on the fat side of the green, and S if I’m on the short side of the hole.

PUNTA MITA MEXICO

This dramatic 180-yard island green was added by Jack Nicklaus after the course opened.

’m a travel freak and a golf freak, so in 1990, I had this idea to combine them for Sports Illustrated. I told them I’d like to go play the 18 most unforgettable holes in the world. Not just that, I’d play them in order — the most unforgettable first hole, the most unforget table second, etc, and by the end, I’d have a score for playing the whole unforgettable enchilada. ▶ Get this: They let me. ▶ I went around the world in three weeks, doing nothing but playing golf. Starting in Denver and — note to Flat Earthers — always flying east, I went to New York, Ireland, Scot land, South Africa, Dubai, Thailand, In donesia, Japan, Australia, Hawaii, Los Angeles and back to Denver. At every stop, they couldn’t wait to show me the hole they thought was unforgettableworthy. ▶ “Ah, but maybe I should prob ably play them all, just in case, right?” I’d say. ▶ “Of course!” they’d say. ▶ God, was that fun. But every time I’d try to carve out time to write it, my editors gave me something else to write first. Then I’d hear about some other piece of unforgettableness and have to go play it. I was there for 16 more years, and I never got to write it — until now. Keep in mind, it has been more than 30 years since I played some of these holes, so stuff might have changed or gotten jiggled around, some of it in my brain.

1 HANDARA BALI, INDONESIA

You might play Handara for the Tar zan beauty of a course carved out of an extinct volcano crater, an engineering marvel built by hundreds of villagers moving the earth out of the jungle in baskets. You might play Handara for the shimmering lakes or the mountain peaks wearing clouds as hats or the women groundskeepers walking with shovels balanced on their heads. You might even play Handara for its sheer re moteness. I remember checking into the elegant hotel late in the afternoon before my round and calling the front desk.

Me: “What time’s dinner?”

Operator: “What time would you like it?”

Me: “Excuse me?”

Operator: “Sir, you’re the only guest in the rooms.”

I play Handara for the monkeys, most especially the monyet monkeys on the par-5 first that are famous for hopping down out of the trees and stealing your ball. Well, I was told they would, but it didn’t happen when I played it the first time, on my way to making a par.

Since I was staying there, I went back later in the day and hit another ap proach shot to the green. No monkey. Third time — yes! A cute little thief pounced on it and scampered back up the banana tree with it. Nobody has ever figured out what they do with all those balls. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time fantasising about it. My hope is that one day some fat tycoon is putting on that green when, suddenly, every monkey starts firing balls at his head, knocking him out cold.

3B PUNTA MITA MEXICO

OK, this is really The Unforgettable 19, as you can see, because of The Hole Jack Nicklaus Forgot to Build. He’d built the course the first time through and was happy with it, but when he came back to play in the grand opening, he came to the third hole and slapped his forehead. He’d completely whiffed on the best hole of all.

“It was just sitting there,” Nicklaus told me. “It was a perfect par 3, and I never saw it.” He built it anyway, a onein-a-million hole, 180 yards to a perfect island, just stuck out in the sea, an is land, and you have to hit it. After your tee shot, you climb into a six-wheel am phibious vehicle. Most times, it’s a boat, except at low tide, when it’s a kind of mudcat Jeep. Sometimes you can walk.

Unlike the floating, mechanical par-3 green at Coeur d’Alene in Idaho, this island is all natural, only a few rocks off the back of the green were built to keep people from taking 90 minutes to finish. By the way, if you ace 3B, tradition dictates you have to swim to the green. I made a lovely birdie 2 there, a 3B2, if you will.

4 LAHINCH

COUNTY CLARE, IRELAN D

I played this Alister MacKenzie gem — a blind par 5 — only once, and it’s hard to say which part of the day I loved more. Was it the goat that followed us all 18 holes? Turns out that’s not un usual at Lahinch. There’s a statue of a goat outside the clubhouse. Was it that we played the fourth in freezing side ways rain, yet when we looked behind

4 LAHINCH COUNTY CLARE, IRELAND

This stunning par 5 has goats, views of Liscannor Bay and an unusual blind approach.

REILLY’S ULTIMATE 18

1. Handara Bali, Indonesia, par 5

2. The National Cape Schanck, Australia, par 3

3A. Mauna Kea the Big Island, Hawaii, US, par 3

3B. Punta Mita Mexico, par 3

4. Lahinch County Clare, Ireland, par 5

5. Teeth of the Dog Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic, par 3

6. Navatanee Bangkok, Thailand, par 4

7. Pole Creek Winter Park, Colorado, US, par 5

8. Pebble Beach California, US, par 4

9. Ailsa Turnberry, Scotland, par 3

10. Bel-Air LA, US, par 3

11. Pine Valley Pine Valley, New Jersey, US, par 4

12. Old Head Kinsale, Ireland, par 5

13. Lost City Sun City, South Africa, par 3

14. Royal Melbourne (composite) Australia, par 5

15. Augusta National Augusta, Georgia, US par 5

16. Cypress Point Pebble Beach, California, US, par 3

17. Cabot Saint Lucia the Caribbean, par 3

18. Old Course St Andrews, Scotland, par 4

us, there were a few hundred surfers in the water — in Ireland? My buddy Sky box was amazed and said to the cad die: “There’s gotta be 200 surfers back there!” To which the caddie said mat ter-of-factly, “Ah, ’tis a nice day for it.”

Was it that our approach to the green was not only blind and not only over a towering dune but required us to wait until a little man came out from a little hovel and waved a green flag? It’s true. In squalls like this one, he scrambles out of a small shelter dug into the far side of the dune, waves a red flag, and scurries back in. Then, when the green is clear, he crawls out again and waves a green one. The members call him “George the Fourth”. Or was it that af ter we tipped our caddie, we saw him in side the clubhouse, drinking at the bar? Turns out the caddies are all members. Hell, maybe the goats are, too?

Answer: Yes.

5 TEETH OF THE DOG CASA DE CAMPO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Near the tee box of this par 3, a little guy was selling used balls out of a basket. There was another, even littler guy. He

spoke to us in English. “You want ball?” the guy said.

“Sorry?” I said.

He pointed to the guy with the bas ket and said, “He sell. You buy. You hit. He find. He sell. You buy.” He couldn’t hide the shadow of a grin on his face. Some racket.

It was such an honest pitch, I bought some balls. Then I got up to look at the hole and figured out why these guys had such a good business. It might be the only golf hole with no land. It’s a par 3 that’s 98 per cent water. There’s a little spit of land that pretends to be a tee box and a little kitchen-table-sized green that barely pokes its head out of the jungle. The rest is all bay and fish and the sound of your knees knocking. Somehow, I hit a good one. It wound up 15 feet from the hole, which I’d two-putt for a par. I looked over at the two little guys. They seemed disappointed.

7 POLE CREEK WINTER PARK, COLORADO, US

“You either love seven,” says Pole Creek’s manager, Mary Moynihan, “or you hate it.” I love it. It’s the only

180-degree U-turn hole I’ve ever heard of. It’s also the only par 5 I’ve ever heard of where you can drive the green. To do that, though, you have to turn side ways and hit it over towering lodgepole pines. I’ve never been able to do it, and I’ve never seen anybody do it.

“I used to know a guy who could do it,” says Dale Freeman, a Pole Creeker. “You gotta hit it about 380 though.” Of course, you’re at the Continental Divide, so you’re 8,700 feet up, which means the ball will travel 13 per cent farther, so … maybe. But if you hit a tree, you’re dead, because you’ll hear it ricochet off trees for about 30 seconds, and you’ll never find it. Even going into those woods to look isn’t a great idea because this course is the stomp ing grounds of moose. One Sunday morning as he walked to church, the ex-mayor of nearby Grand Lake got stomped to death by a moose. Even if you are able to fly the trees, if you miss the green left, then you’re back on the sixth hole — the hole you just played — and it’s OB, Local Rule. They did that because guys like my friend Kevin Cartin figured out you could just hit an

7 POLE CREEK WINTER PARK, COLORADO, US “It’s the only 180-degree U-turn hole I’ve ever heard of,” says Reilly of the par 5.

iron backward onto six and then an iron onto seven and make a birdie and lots of enemies in the group behind you.

I took the conventional way — a draw over the far edge of the trees down to the front of the lake. From there, a midiron to a small island (I said the hole is crazy) and then an iron straight uphill to the smallest green on the course for a two-putt par. This thing is like a stew my mum used to make. They’ve thrown everything in the kitchen into it, and it turned out delicious.

10 BEL-AIR LOS ANGELES, US

The late Jim Murray, sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times, had nothing but trouble with this famous swingingbridge par 3. It’s 220 yards, and the carry over the yawning barranca in front is at least 175. Jim was the best sportswriter who ever lived, but he might have been the worst golfer. He’d had two child hood diseases and had only one good eye, and even the bad eye could see that for him to hit it over the barranca would be a miracle.

So before he hit, Jim would take an old ball out of his bag and heave it into

the chasm. Then he’d turn to his be fuddled playing partners and say: “An appeasement to the gods.” When you play it the first time — I made a bogey — and cross the elegant bridge, you’re charmed by the sheer lightness of it, as though you’re crossing into Brigadoon.

12 OLD HEAD KINSALE, IRELAND

This hole will make your heart race like police lights in your rearview mir ror. It’s the only green I’ve ever played that takes up an entire peninsula, so that each side of it falls off 250 feet to the thundering waves below. The land under you is so narrow there are actual tunnels through it, carved by wind and water, so that you can watch a bird fly under you on one side and come out on the other. There’s a sign: “Do Not Pass. Five Feet Farther and You’re Dead.”

It’s a par 5 not far from a section the caddies call Haulie’s Leap, for the bull dozer driver who was helping shape the tee when his dozer started lean ing, causing Haulie to leap out, and the dozer to tumble all the way down to the pitiless rocks. It’s still down there.

As you get ready to hit your terrifying drive, it’s hard to forget that Old Head is accustomed to disaster. This is the last land the passengers of the Titanic might have seen before it sank in 1912. It’s also not far from where the Germans sank the Lusitania in 1915. So you hit and hope, and it’s all so fun the caddies let you hit a provisional, just because. I was delighted with my par. By the way, as you turn toward the 13th tee, you’ll see the still working lighthouse off 18.

14 ROYAL MELBOURNE (COMPOSITE) AUSTRALIA

Alister MacKenzie designed three mas terpieces: Augusta, Cypress Point and Royal Melbourne, a top-10 course in the world with beauty, intrigue, and, most of all, beautiful bunkers. Ben Crenshaw came here and took 300 pictures of the bunkers. They’re huge and interlocking and have lips big enough to make Mick Jagger jealous. If you’re going, practise your bunker shots for about a month and then do it for three more months, and you’ll be ready.

This par 5 is such a blast you feel like you’re doing something illegal. Even

the plants on it are fun to say: eggs-and-bacon daisy, spike wattle, kangaroo grass and chocolate lily. The tee box is under a gum tree. Standing on it, all you see are the three huge bunkers on the hill you must carry with your blind drive. Then the hole changes its mind and doglegs quickly to the right and downhill. Finally, you’ll have to deal with nine bunkers around the green, the one on the left being the approximate size of the Rose Bowl. Maybe the Aussie I was playing with knew how much I loved it because he gave me a while to soak it all in and then said, “Good hole this, right?”

18 OLD COURSE ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

From So Help Me Golf: Why We Love the Game by Rick Reilly, © 2022. Available from Hachette Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group Inc.

St Andrews is 18 holes because the 18th green is where the old town of St Andrews begins. There was no more room. That’s what makes 18 so wonder ful. You go from the brutal Road Hole to the homewardbound, open-armed 18th, a short par 4 that’s as welcom ing as homemade haggis.

The only reason we play 18 holes is because St Andrews is 18 holes, and

The entire left side is the first hole. It’s a double-wide fairway all the way to the first tee. By the way, when the starter says: “Gentle men, you’re on the first tee,” he means the first tee. The entire right side is the town itself, including the old and handsome Rusacks Hotel. One time, a few of us writers rented a little house that lit erally touched the 18th fairway. I’d have my morning coffee watching people tee off on 1 and my afternoon tea watch ing them come down 18. You hit your

drive as far left as you want, then cross the most famous bridge in golf—the 700-year-old Swilcan—then try to hit the green without winding up in the di abolical Valley of Sin in front. It’s a ball swallower, with humps and hollows that only old caddies can see. The first time I played it, I was lining up a six-footer for birdie when I looked up to see at least 100 people leaning on the railing sur rounding the green, watching me. One guy hollered: “Get it good and close, lad!” Another yelled, “Steady now!”

Sadly, my putt took an unseen hump, and I missed it. From the rail, I heard sympathetic groaning. Coming off the green, I said to my Scottish playing partner: “That’s so cool. They were rooting for me. This really is the home of golf.” “Naw,” he said. “They hang on that rail all the day, betting each other on the putts. You probably cost some body five pounds.”

RICK REILLY is a member of the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame.

10 BEL-AIR LOS ANGELES After emerging from an elevator, golfers face a 220yard hole over a yawning barranca before crossing an elegant bridge.

A luxury golf tripon your doorstep

Gmuscat is a must-see for golfers looking for a change of scene by matt smith

olfers in the uae are, admittedly, spoilt for choice when it comes to courses to choose from right here in the emirates, with more than 20 to choose from — from Abu Dhabi to Ajman and all stops in between and beyond. ▶ However, most will admit it is always a memorable treat to head abroad to play a foreign course for the first time. This can be a lengthy and expensive undertaking, if a keen golfer is looking east to Asia, or west to mainland Europe or the United States. ▶ But for those on a tighter schedule (and budget), there is a real treat you may not know about only a short hop away in Oman.

A 50-minute budget flight will take you from Dubai to Muscat International Airport, which is quite literally on the doorstep of one of the Middle East’s best golf clubs — Al Mouj Golf.

Set amid the glamorous new Wave complex on the outskirts of the city, Al Mouj is a wonder to behold set in what almost feels like a wildlife park — a walk around the course is worth it alone

WHILE DISTANCE IS ONE FACTOR, STRATEGIC PLACEMENT IS OF MORE IMPORTANCE AT AL MOUJ

to admire the natural lakes and reserves and the flora and fauna that comes with that. Al Mouj has more than 170 bird species throughout the year, from flamingos to eagles, that call this green oasis home, adding to an unforgettable experience on an iconic course.

Al Mouj, Oman’s first links-style course was conceptualised by former world No. 1-turned-course-designer Greg Norman when he visited the area in 2006. The club opened its doors in 2012 alongside the Wave resort’s hotels, residences, marina and luxury retail outlets.

The club incorporates an awardwinning 18-hole championship course and a flood-lit nine-hole track — both designed by Norman.

The Championship Course is a treat from the first hole to the last and — as Head Golf Professional Marcus Casey says: “Every hole could be a signature hole on another course. All 18 are a perfect challenge, there are no fillers here” — it is difficult to pick a standout among this collection on the Indian Ocean coastline.

With the Hajjar mountains flanking

of the club

the opposite side of the sea, Al Mouj has nine holes either side of the clubhouse along a two-kilometre stretch. While the lengthy course has no shortage of challenges — water (lakes and sea) is in play on eight holes, while every hole bar the fifth is heavily protected by deep bunkers and rough — in true links style, the wind whipping off the sea in the afternoon makes things even tougher.

While distance is one factor, strategic placement is of more importance as the approach shots can take on a whole new degree of difficulty if you are out of shape off the tee.

Al Mouj has played host to the DP World Tour’s Oman Open since 2018, with past winners including Joost Luiten, Kurt Kitayama and Sami Valimaki. While each hole offers its own unique challenges, if pushed, the standouts are the short fifth, which demands a carry over water to reach the green 150 yards away, the gorgeous 11th which carries straight downhill to the coastline and the Indian Ocean, and the iconic par-4 18th, where players must play across the Indian Ocean itself to safely reach the fairway from the black tees.

Other things to do

Where to stay

KEMPINSKI HOTEL MUSCAT

Located five minutes from Al Mouj Golf in the modern community of the same name, sits the luxurious Kempinski Hotel Muscat beach resort. The hotel features 310 rooms and suites, and can also accommodate corporate meetings and events. You will not go hungry with 11 restaurants and bars onsite offering a global range of culinary treats. There are two main swimming pools, plus a kids pool and club, tennis courts, various outdoor and water sport activities, a spa and even an in-house bowling alley. kempinski.com/en/muscat/kempinski-hotel-muscat/

VISIT SULTAN QABOOS GRAND MOSQUE

Back in 1992, the then Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said al Said, decreed the nation must have a Grand Mosque, and construction began at the end of 1994 and took six years and seven months to complete. The wait was worth it as what is now the major landmark of Muscat and dominates the skyline is a 420,000 sq m beautiful building that blends history and culture with a hint of modern architecture that can accommodate up to 20,000 worshippers at one time. Open to visitors, appropriate dress required. sultanqaboosgrandmosque.com

TOUR THE OLD QUARTER

At the eastern tip of modern Muscat, away from the shimmering glass and Royal Opera House lies the Old Quarter. A short journey on new roads carved through the mountain takes you back in time to narrow bustling street, mountaintop 16th-century forts and 500-year-old city walls, and the must-see warren of the massive, ancient Mutrah Souk.

GO SNORKELLING

Al Mouj Marina offers all kinds of see trip, from dolphin spotting to fishing and overnight island camps. But top of the list has to be a day trip to go snorkelling. A 35-minute boat trip to the Daymaniat Islands with Captain Fahad’s Daymaniat Shells boat tours company will take you to two spots for hour-long snorkelling experiences, where the sealife sights include turtles, rays, moray eels, clown fish — even blacktip sharks and a variety of marine creatures and corals. daymaniat-shells.com

THE 3 Ps OF POWER

Cracking the code to effortless speed and longer drives

By Alex Riggs

Now, potentially more than ever, golfers of all abili ties are on the hunt for more clubhead speed. The proof is there among the highest-level players. If they can carry the ball further, and hit a similar percentage of fairways, they will have more success. For the average golfer, the question then be comes, where will this increase in speed come from? Will fitness or speed training help? Well, of course it will. But what will matter most, will be how we are able to generate force through the ground to transfer energy into the club.

association

1 : Pressure

To create the maximum force o the tee, we want the pressure in our feet to initiate the movement. Therefore, I want you to trigger the backswing movement with a spike of pressure into your trail foot. Shifting pressure off the ball early in the swing is essential to creating maximum speed. The earlier you can shift it to the trail foot, the earlier you can get it starting to shift back into the lead foot.

2 : Pivot

Once you’ve shifted pressure into the trail foot, I want you to think about rotating your sternum as much as possible away from the ball. This rotation, otherwise known as a pivot, will involve everything from our ankles, knees, hips, pelvis and ribcage. A big turn with the body creates a bigger swing arc, and that bigger swing arc allows us to create a lot more speed as we have more time to accelerate.

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Hublot Big Bang Unico Golf Yellow Carbon

Introducing the Big Bang Unico Golf Yellow Carbon, an entirely mechanical golf watch that can keep track of your score over an 18-hole round, allowing golfers to keep tabs on hole, shots, and their cumulative score for a round. The 45mm timepiece made of carbon fibre and yellow texalium has a power reserve of 72 hours, comes also on a yellow fabric strap, for a weight of less than 100 grams, and is waterresistant up to 100 metres.

3 : Pull

The word pull relates to allowing our ‘pivot’ to ‘pull” the arms. This creates a whipping style motion which is incredibly beneficial to speed production. Visualise the wave produced by someone swinging battle ropes in the gym. We want to create a wave of acceleration in this same way with our body. If our arms are relaxed and the body is going through full rotation, we will be able to accelerate our arms much faster.

The 3 Ps of Power is a way of movement where pressure is first link in the chain. When movement is lead with a strong shift in pressure, the body can accelerate segmentally. We all would love to hit it further, so why not learn to with less effort.

alex riggs is a Canadian-born golf coach who specialises in finding simple and effective strategies to lower scores. For lesson inquiries, contact Alex via riggsgolf@gmail.com or +971 55 497 7913

CHIPPING AWAY AT THE TASK

The flight of the ball will dictate how far the ball will roll

By Lea Pouillard

often when you find your self on the fringe of the green, a simple chip is all that is re quired to get close to the pin.

However, often when I ask my stu dents where they want to ball to land in this situation, the answer is “really close to the flag” or “right at it”.

Almost always, this will result in overshooting the hole and leaving you with a tough, long putt.

Here we will see a few skills you can try out in relation to distance control.

Chipping is about analysing your situation, or lie, as that will dictate how you want to launch the ball. Distance control is all about trajectory and spin — a low launch will roll further than a high launch, and choosing the right tra jectory will be the key to success.

The ‘landing zone’ is influenced by the flight of the ball. For example, the lower flight of the ball will land closer to you and release, or roll far, while, a higher flighted shot’s landing zone should be closer to the hole, as it will significantly less.

For these exercises, try to imagine a landing zone — say eight metres away — and hit three shots each with low, medi um and high trajectories, trying to make them all hit the same zone. This will help you see how more or less the ball will roll related upon landing in the zone, in turn helping you visualise the shot you need when the situation next arises.

I have chosen three different colours of balls to illustrate the difference and marked out a simple landing zone with tees. for each shot, you should use the same club.

low flight

For a low trajectory, set up the ball more on the back foot, with your body weight slightly on the front foot. Your shaft line should be leaning more towards the target and do not move your wrists throughout the swing.

medium flight

Aiming at the same zone, from the same distance, to get a medium flight, set up with the ball more centre of your stance, with body weight equally spread between both legs. Again keep the shaft line slightly towards the target but swing with more clubhead release.

high flight

Now, to get the ball launched. Set up with the ball centred in the stance and, once again, the same goes for the body

weight. The swing should see your bounce (sole of the club) on the ground, with your hands finishing closer to your body, and the head of the club higher than the hands.

You should see the difference, with the low launches rolling further and the high shots stopping almost dead if properly implemented. Keep practising until you see the desired results for all shots and, through the right selection, your distance control issues should be come a thing of the past distance.

lea pouillard is PGA teaching professional at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

PREPARE TO LAUNCH

Want to hit high rockets? Then learn this transition move by Cameron Young

By Dave Allen

CAMERON YOUNG’S POWER was on full display at this year’s 150th Open Championship at St Andrews. Needing an eagle on the 72nd hole to catch his playing partner, Cameron Smith, Young unleashed a 349-yard moonshot that landed 18 feet from the hole, setting up an eagle that temporarily tied him with Smith. Only a difficult two-putt birdie from the Valley of Sin by Smith kept Young from a playoff.

One look at Young’s freakishly athletic backswing will tell you he’s a

bomber — his arms and hands practically touch the sky, creating an enormous amount of width. But it’s Young’s unusually long pause at the top that receives the most attention, a move that his father and only swing coach, David Young, calls a bit deceiving.

“It’s not like he’s coming to a complete stop,” says David, head professional at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough-on-Hudson, New York, for the past 20 years. “He gets the lower body working toward the target while he pins his arms, club and upper body back, which

makes it look like he’s standing still. There’s no conscious effort to pause.”

The path Young’s arms take during the latter half of the backswing and first part of the downswing also helps accentuate the look of a pause.

“He’s worked hard on not having a lot of re-routing during the transition, so the clubhead comes down not too far from where it went up,” David says.

“I like it when my hands are coming a little more from the inside than what’s totally natural,” Cameron says. “I naturally have a little bit of over the

top, so I try and put myself in a position where, when I turn, my hand path doesn’t get too far outside, which keeps me more neutral.”

After the FedExCup Playoffs, the rookie ranked second on the PGA Tour in strokes gained/off the tee, third in driving distance (319.3 yards), fourth in clubhead speed (123.7 miles per hour) and first in hang time (6.9 seconds).

That he’s able to hit the ball so high and far is a product of his long arms and high hands at the top, his ability to keep his head and chest behind the ball

at impact, and the sequence with which he uses his legs on the downswing, David says. As Young’s hips begin to unwind, his knees sink toward the ground, preparing his legs to push hard against the ground. This pushing action is evidenced by the fact his left foot nearly leaves the ground after impact.

“All that lowering and loading of the legs allows Cameron to generate tremendous force as his lead leg straightens and the clubhead releases down and through, which helps create more speed,” David says.

Best of the Fest

he Golf Digest Middle East Oktoberfest event returned to The Els Club in Dubai on Friday, 21st October and went down a storm with all 72 competitors who took part in the shotgun-start competition.

Following the success of last year’s Oktoberfest at The Els Club, Golf Digest Middle East returned for Round 2 — with bigger and better prizes on offer during the party-atmosphere event.

Proudly sponsored by African + Eastern, Erdinger, Adidas, Baker’s Kitchen, Birkenstock, MyGolf Dubai, Al Rostamani Travel, Luxury Supercar Rentals, USEO, the 18-hole individual stableford event was played in perfect conditions thanks to the The Els Club’s agronomy team.

Competitions on the course included longest drive and nearest the pin on holes 2 and 4, plus a nearest the pin in 2 on the long par-4 ninth hole — along with a spot in the Dubai Desert Classic pro-am for the best gross score, which went to Michael Harradine. Division A and B winners received invitations to the Dubai Desert Classic hospitality chalet.

Following the action, the party continued with the prize presentation and a MyGolf simulator experience.

Golf Digest Middle East wishes to thank the all the sponsors who made our second Oktoberfest Tournament possible, in addition to The Els Club, Dubai and, most importantly, the 72 players who teed it up for some serious fun and hospitality. Stay tuned for more GDME events.

Golf Digest Middle East’s Oktoberfest returns to The Els Club Dubai, as the party bets bigger and better

winners nearest the pin (Hole 2) Peter Norris nearest the pin (Hole 4) Sean Haynes nearest the pin in 2 (Hole 9) Nick Hymas longest drive Sean Haynes best gross Michael Harridine (-1) division b winner: Nick Hymas (44 points) runner-up: Kneal Brown (39 points) division a winner: Sean Haynes (39 points) runner-up: Kyle McKellar (37 points)

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ERMUDA SHORTS, CUTTING off just above or below the knee, have the tendency to make legs look shorter and wider. They are also difficult to find. When we see “Bermuda or knee-length” shorts on dress codes, the stories of how to achieve that requirement are painful: from borrowing men’s shorts to hemming a pair of pants to create shorts that fit the length limit. The vote is unanimous among the women on our staff: It’s time to jettison the Bermuda shorts clause in golf-course dress codes.

The women’s golf-apparel industry has made strides in expanding options for women, catering to all styles, body types and needs. Look at what women are wearing on the LPGA Tour: The clothing is athletic, the fit is right and the focus is on performance. It’s refreshing to see brands showing a commitment to female golfers. Private and public courses should acknowledge these gains and amend dress codes to allow women to wear what works best for them. Will some women still choose to wear Bermuda shorts? Certainly. If that’s what you feel best in, you should wear them. But if Bermuda shorts aren’t part of your wardrobe, you shouldn’t have to find a pair and wear them just because you want to play golf.

We respect the right of private clubs to create and uphold their rules, but if you have a dress code, it should be created with input from women and evaluated to make sure it represents all of your members. Think about what your dress code is accomplishing. Does it aim to create a space for golfers to express themselves and feel comfortable while enjoying the game?

Defend your dress code for its mission to uphold tradition and keep mischievous golfers at bay, but the image of what a golfer should look like is not universal. An uninformed dress code goes against the work that has been done to encourage a more inclusive community of golfers, it hinders creative expression and creates unnecessary stress for new golfers.

Dress codes often include dated clothing requirements. We’re looking at you, Bermuda shorts.

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