Back To The Future

Arabian Ranches have wound back the clock with a greens renovation set to revitalise an old Dubai favourite

- Kent Gray

PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR SHORT GAME creativity and putting tested like the good old days at Arabian Ranches Golf Club. Following a near six-month closure to renovate all 18 green complexes and the practice putting surface, the Emaar Hospitality Group-owned and Troon International-managed course reopened Nov. 21 to enthusiastic reviews. Gone are the weakened and contaminated Tifeagle Bermuda greens, in come Platinum TE Paspalum surfaces and new greenside collars flown to Dubai in refrigerated containers all the way from Atlas Turf International in LaGrange, Georgia. Not only are the U.S. grown surfaces – think Dubai Hills and Al Zorah - already rolling more consistency across the par72 layout, much of the greens originally mapped by designer Ian Baker-Finch and slowly lost to Paspalum encroachment over the past 15 years have been restored.

Among the most notable restoration, a significant portion in the front and rare left-hand side of the par-5 3rd (see p.67) promises some testy pin positions for monthly medals, club championships and the like. A huge swale on the front left of the 6th green has also reappeared, bringing the links-style ground game back to Arabian Ranches as Baker-Finch always intended.