The 4 Most Exclusive Golf Courses In The World

There’s been a steady rise of elite fairways around the globe, designed for the ultra-wealthy and offering opulence on and off the greens. Here are some of our favourites worth polishing your clubs for.

- Paul Merrill

When the magnificent Majlis course at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai celebrated its grand opening in 1988, its guest of honour was the then President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who had championed the development of the glitzy paradise in the shadow of the sparkling city skyline.

He was presented with a gold-plated driver and asked to strike the very first ball off of a golden tee. The crowds cheered as he calmly hit a 180-metre drive down the middle of the fairway. The course soon became a world-famous golf destination, the epitome of decadent sophistication.

But which courses represent the crème de la crème of luxury and exclusivity? Here are four of our favourites.

WENTWORTH CLUB

Surrey, England

Scotland may be the spiritual home of golf, but it’s the home counties around London where many of the luxurious clubs are clustered, and none are more decadent than Wentworth, birthplace of the Ryder Cup and home of the World Match Play Championship for 44 years. It is now also the headquarters of the European tour and hosts the BMW PGA Championship.

At the end of a picturesque, tree-lined driveway sits the 18th-century neo-gothic clubhouse, formerly home to the Duke of Wellington’s brother-in-law, and adorned with hand-stitched Chinese weave carpets and the finest Italian marble throughout. Three championship courses, a tennis and spa complex, ballroom, cocktail bars and lush, verdant lawns make this an unforgettable location.