The course on the League to Dubai finals package that had captured my imagination and stirred the excitement of my inner 5 year old was the famous Earth Course by Greg Norman at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. I had seen it on TV and imagined myself holing Justin Rose's monster putt from 2012 and replicating Henrik Stenson's incredible approach shot in the final round of the DP world Championships at the end of the 2013 race to Dubai. I had felt the elation of hitting the iconic 17th island green and had not envisaged myself being stuck in 6 foot deep bunkers! (more about that later).
Rob Flanagan had kindly let me leave my car at his place while we were away and we had planned to play together in the final round and fight eachother for the title of the 2013 champion. Well..... we were playing together in the final round, but we were fighting to fend off the honours of the wooden spoon. I had beaten Rob at the regional final at the Macdonald Donnington Grove in Newbury and I was planning on repeating that feat on this beautiful Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates!
The clubhouse is still under construction and the temporary digs would still put a lot of clubs to shame with a massive balcony overlooking the driving range giving views of Dubai and the Burj Khalifa towering over the rest of the city in the distance.
After a quick introduction, a short stint on the driving range and a little play on the very flat and fast practice green it was go time for Rob, John (bad belly) and myself. The sign at the first tee said a measly 7675 yards, fortunately we were playing from the competition tees and NOT the championship tees! It was still a loooong golf course!
I had a decision to make on the first tee. I had 15 clubs as we had checked out of our hotel already and I was chopping and changing between using my Hybrid or my 3iron. I chose my 3iron for the round and I have never hit it as well as I did on that day. I definitely made the right club choice. This round was the first time I ever remember using every single club in my bag! I had an amazing round and really enjoyed my day with Rob. Unfortunately Johns D&V got the better of him by the 9th hole and he had to call it a day. This meant that I no longer had to worry about the wooden spoon! I was quite worried about John and was relieved when he relented half way to go and get sorted. I've taken a few photos from the day and as I can't remember all the specifics from my round, I won't bore you with the details except for a few memorable holes after these photos.
My 3iron to just short of the 220 yard par3 4th was beautiful (the hybrid might have just got there and I still don't totally trust my 3 wood).
Snap hooked a 6 iron off the tee on the par3 6th over water and didn't call a provisional ball for my third from the tee not having ever played with a designated drop zone before. Silly billy.
Rob hit a fantastic approach to 4 feet from the tan bark on the dogleg par4 8th for a fantastic birdie. It was a pleasure to watch and applaud!
I hit an awesome drive on the par5 14th leaving about 235 to the green and then perched my approach shot right on the edge of the fairway bunker short of the green. I then shanked that chip into the face of the bunker and watched in amazement as the ball kicked out and away from the water to leave me with a shot at the green for my 4th.
The 15th was a sea of sand from 175 yards to the green so I layed up short of the bunker. I slightly pulled my approach left with my 7iron and stiffed my second chip to within 2 feet and tapped in. I'm trying to forget the duffed first chip!
On 16 I flirted with the water on the right and had an approach shot from 165 yards out of the rough. I hit a beautiful 5 iron straight over the pin landing about 5 feet passed it which scooted over the back of the green. Meanwhile Rob had hit the fairway a loong way forward of me and popped a wedge to about 5 feet.
My chip was terrifying! I could see exactly what I had to do though and I popped it out of the rough onto the green and watched it trundle down the slope to about 4 foot from the pin leaving a straight-ish, uphill putt for par. The little bugger squirmed out of the hole! The hole must have had cling film over it because Rob missed his little birdie putt too!
We caught up to the group in front on the tee of the famous 17th hole and watched them tee off with varying success.
Our turns came and Rob just rolled off the back and I managed to hit a squiffy 5 iron into the front left bunker leaving no green to work with and ignored the large 'fat' part of the green. As I mentioned at the beginning, I had to get the ball to barely scrape over the top of the bunker to avoid going over the back of the green and to give myself a chance to hole the putt. I managed to succeed on my 5th attempt and then holed the short putt. Rob dropped on the back edge and nearly chipped up and down for a 4, just missing his putt.
I really should either wear my glasses or get my eyes fixed. I was standing on the famous 18th tee looking in the book which showed that the fairway on the right of the creek was reachable from our tee. It turned out not to be but I sliced my drive into the houses being constructed while aiming for that non-existent fairway. My provisional ball was a good one followed by a near miss with my 3 wood which tapped the ball to 200 yards from the green. It was time for the 3iron to go to work again and I hit a sweet shot to the edge of the greenside bunker. I had to chip in for a point from there and I hit a beauty! It lipped out but I was still stoked to have made it around the world famous Earth Course. I hope you've got a decent idea of the fantastic condition of the course from the photos and that you enjoyed reading about my escapades!
As soon as I had finished the round, I was thinking that I didn't have the game for that course. On reflection I believe that I let the occasion get to me. My long game has the potential and I just wasn't concentrating enough on my short game. This year there will be a lot of practice and concentrated effort on improvement and hopefully I can redeem myself next year and be a force to be reckoned with!
Congratulations to Carl Greenwod, Neil Ratcliffe and Andy Holden who took out the top three places in the singles competition taking it right down to the wire.
Congrats also to Chris Wall and Mark Green who held on to their 2nd day lead to clinch the title from Colin Ledwith and Alan Smith in 2nd and Joe Sach and Dan Smith in 3rd. The guys at the top played phenomenal golf all week and are deserved winners!
Congrats to Jason Swann who overcame a substantial deficit to reel in Jason Tabor and take the staff trophy.
Go to www.leaguetodubai.co.uk to enter for your chance to stop me from getting to Dubai next year! Best £36.75 I have ever spent!
Our 2nd round of the finals was to be held at the amazing Yas Links golf club only a short walk from the Yas Rotana hotel on Yas Island.
I was so keen to get there that I couldn't wait for the bus and walked there taking a few snaps in the early morning light.
I had heard and read that Yas Links was an incredible golf experience in the Middle East. I even heard in a Scottish accent that it was the best links course in the world! In my limited experience, it was definitely one of the best courses I have ever played on. I was certainly not left disappointed at all, even though the wind was definitely UP.
20 - 30 mph winds on a links course are a new experience for me and one that I will never forget (although I can't remember some holes already ;-) ) and it was with fear and trepidation that I stood on the first tee and sent my first golf ball onto the undulating fairway.
I actually managed to hit the first terrifying green in two shots and even though they were only running at 10 on the stimp-meter, I managed to massively overhit my first putt and just scrape in for 5 shots and my first point of the second finals round.
The second and third holes were a comedy of errors and lost balls for me. My first drive directly into the wind on the second hole sailed nearly 200 yards directly left, left of the bunkers and onto the top of a sand dune never to be found again. This par5 had it's teeth out and my provisional ball left me with 270 odd yards to the pin with a lay-up my only option. My really nice lay up left me with 120 yards to the centre of the green and the pin was a further 15 yards back. My 8iron only just made the putting surface and I managed to miss out on a point by putting three times.
Hole 3 turned right to have the wind into and off the left. Guess where my drive and my provisional both went...... right and gone. You'd have thought that having two balls in almost the exact same area would double your chances of finding one! "Not today chump!" screamed the course and the wind into my very irritated ears.
The 4th hole was a tricky par3 which I was glad I had never played before as after hitting my approach to the left fringe and getting to my ball, all the dangers that I didn't know about stood out like the dogs danglies! Massively steep run-off through the green and short, tricky looking bunkers and and very undulating green. Another three putts from me and I finally had my second point on the scorecard. Not the start I was hoping for! John Taylor managed to hit the green and putt once for a great birdie. Rub it in John.
I managed to score a par on the 5th hole but I can't for the life of me remember it! It was back into the wind though and that is something to be proud of. The 6th has escaped me too but another 2 points for a bogey were very welcome.
I hit a stonking, wind assisted, drive down the par5 7th fairway. It left me a nice 5iron from the left side of the fairway to a large green with the pin tucked fairly close to the left bunker and ample room on the right. Tunnel vision for the pin saw me go into the previously mentioned bunker, but I was still pin high in two shots and quite pleased with myself. I duffed my first bunker shot leaving myself with almost the same shot which I put to about 6 feet from the pin! Happy days! Three putts again and the red mist was trying to push through!
The very picturesque and daunting par3 8th was waiting to capture at least on golf ball in the Arabian gulf. Fortunately it wasn't mine, John had the dubious honour of feeding his first golf ball to Davey Jones then safely put his provisional ball miles from the water on top of the dunes on the left. I went through the green and perched on the edge of the greenside bunker and Stephen Kidd was dry but treacherously close to the water. I chipped half way to where I wanted (grrr) and then finally 'only' had 2 putts!
No points on the very beautiful 9th hole, I can't remember why but I didn't go into the water that guarded the right side of the entire hole heading back to the outstanding clubhouse.
I took on the bunker on the right side of the 10th hole and cleared it leaving a flip with a gap wedge from the light rough to the green for a two putt par and my first three pointer. I had a similar drive on the 11th and just carried the bunker at 215 yards, layed up and on the green for a birdie opportunity with two putts and my second par in a row for two more points. Things were looking up!
12 was still downwind and I unleashed a 310 yard drive to 100 yards from the pin. On the green with my next shot and two putts for par and a further three points! I'd almost forgotten the first 9 holes by now and had doubled my points tally after only three holes.
The par3 13th was another beautiful hole over water guarded by 4 bunkers and water. I was a bit too cautious and went long and left leaving a tricky shot from a bush and over a bunker, from the dune over the back of the green. I thought my chip was doomed for a watery grave as it was just running and running. It finally stopped and I managed to three-putt for my first blob of the back 9. Back to reality with a thud.
Still downwind for the 14th hole along the coast and I found a bunker about 100 yards from the pin. From there I found a bunker about 40 yards from the pin and from there I found the same bunker but was only 20 yards from the pin. I managed to get up and down from that final bunker shot for a point. The little guide book helpfully points out that this 'exciting hole will yeild a great range of scores'. Very true.
Back into the wind for the finishing 4 holes where any off-axis spin is accentuated and my first drive leaked right of the fairway on the 15th. I think I reached the green in three shots and 3putted for a 6 on this tricky par4. The green was treacherous as both my playing partners found out with a very steep run-off on the right side funneling your ball back to your feet.
I hit a great drive on the 16th leaving about 140 yards to the pin. I had successfully avoided the water all the way up the left of the hole and found the fairway before the pot bunker in the centre. I was feeling great over the second shot until I topped it left into the water. I'd like to think that I was bufetted by the wind as I was playing the shot, so I'll stick to that. After dropping for 3, my 4th found the putting surface on the little peninsular and I managed to two-putt for a 6 and 1 more point.
17 was a 180-odd yard par 3 over water into the wind. I bailed out long and right into a greenside bunker like the chicken livered pansy that I am and almost got up and down for a par, just missing my par putt and another 1 point on the 4th easiest (index 15!!) hole on the course.
The 18th hole at Yas Links plays 646 yards from the championship tees! Holy moly! It was still a massive hole for us and we only had to cover 589 yards into the wind with water all the way along the left which we had to drive over off the tee. IF you got your drive safely to the fairway, the lay up was to a narrow part of the fairway guarded by a fairway bunker on the right and the gulf on the left. My drive found a hole in the sand behind a small bush and I managed to smash it out of there with my 7 iron to the fairway leaving 280 yards to the green. I found the previously mentioned fairway bunker with my hybrid 2iron and had 170 yards to the pin for my 4th shot. Fortunately for me, the lip of the bunker was far enough away that I was able to get my 4iron to get the ball pin high on the right side of the green. It was one of the shots from Yas that I will remember the longest. I got up and down from there for a 6 and 2 more points to score 14 points on the back 9 totalling 22 points and winning the battle for the wooden spoon after 2 rounds.
Craig Darroch from Scotland won the day with 33 outstanding points and Andy Holden along with Neil Ratcliffe were chasing down Carl Greenwood for a final day showdown in the final singles group at the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. I was so super excited about playing on that course.
The sun was setting as we were leaving and I decided to walk back to try to take some photos in the evening light. After playing with the contrast a little, these are the better ones.
Part 5 from the final day at the Earth Course to follow! Stay tuned.
