It was an early start today with an 8am tee off time at Jumeriah Earth Course. which in Johns research was ranked in the Top 100 courses in the world.  We went with high expectations.  We were very enthusiastic as this was the earliest tee off time we could get – so we were going to beat the midday heat – well it wasn’t to be.  With humidity at over 60% John went out to organise a taxi and came back into the hotel dripping wet, we were in for a shocker.

The drive out to the club seemed to take forever and it was through construction site after construction site.  There is so much development going on in Dubai – I would not be exaggerating if I said that there were over 100 new developments going up for a city with a population of just over 2 Million, you just can’t see it being a success – who is going to live in these places?  We were in the desert, it was desolate with a wealthy housing estate on the left but barren dust with massive powerlines and construction sites a plenty – it sure didn’t feel like you were going to play at a top golf course.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the usual friendly staff who drive 30 metres in a golf buggy to pick you up and take you to the golf shop.  It was extraordinarily hot, we hit a few balls to warm up and then we were up for our tee off time.  I played off the mens tees again today, the course is a Greg Norman design – so lots of the traditional deep bunkers dotted all over the fairway.  The course wasn’t in as good a condition as the others that we had played, but the greens were lightening fast.

Today was all about staying hydrated, I stopped having a practice swing to conserve energy after the 2nd hole.  It was 8am in the morning and I kept pouring iced water over my head to stay cool.  John’s golf form had deserted him today which was making it very hard for him and they had those golf carts that stop working if you go somewhere you shouldn’t.  So we had to reverse quite a bit, which wasn’t brightening his mood any more. So it was a few long walks if you strayed off the fairway and sometimes you just couldn’t be bothered to go and look for a ball.

I had a day of great form, especially with the putter.  It got so difficult to put my glove on that I had to just leave it on even whilst putting.  John was so exhausted he couldn’t even be bothered to bend down and read his putt.  We caught up with the field, there was a two ball in front of us and I could see that it was going to become a waiting game, so we gave ourselves pars and overtook them only to find that we were behind a 3 ball of men who looked like they were out for a stag do hack!  So we gave ourselves pars on that hole and went to the next hole.  The golf course is not as great as its rating, it has two spectacular holes – see photos but other than that – nothing to write home about.

A bunker here, a bunker there, bunkers everywhere

large undulating fast greens

Gross I know – my shorts after we had stopped and cooled down.

17th hole

18th hole

When we got into the clubhouse, we both had icepacks on our heads and I noticed a cut on Johns cheek – thinking it was fluff I tried to scrape it off and he remarked “It could only be a cost from an ice cube” which made us both have the biggest belly laugh as that just summed it up – at least my man hadn’t lost his sense of humour.

To prove that we are not exaggerating, here is a screen shot off Johns watch.

We are safely back in the luxury of our room with the aircon cranked up.  John has had a long bath to rehydrate and I am going for a spa treatment or two.  Tonight will probably be a night at the asian festival at the restaurant in the hotel.  We have tried to bring our tee time for tomorrow forward, just in case it is as hot as today.

Categories: Portugal

Shaz Thompson

Mad about golf, enthusiastic about life, totally in love with my husband and just having fun.