attractions GOLF


2


fairways from which to strike the iron shots and, together, they created a passable imitation of the game that was mimicked by golf enthusiasts across the region. The game remained a desert


1 The desert swing


Saudi Arabia’s golf scene is gathering momentum as a number of first-class courses have emerged to provide visitors well-manicured sporting oases in the desert


Although it began as a pastime of the country’s expat community, in the last two decades golf in Saudi Arabia has managed to move beyond its status of foreigners' folly. Now, with private clubs and expansive estates located close to the main urban centres, the game is beginning to attract a new generation of local players


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who are drawn to a sport noted for its air of quiet exclusivity. The fi rst courses in the kingdom


1, 3 Te InterContinental Palms Golf & Country Club


2 American oil workers play golf in 1955


4 Riyadh Golf Courses


were dug out of the desert by Americans working in the oilfi elds of Dhahran in the 1940s, where the fi ne sand was bound together with oil to create 'browns' for putting. Pieces of artifi cial turf were carried by the players to use as miniature


adventure until relatively recently. The club in Dhahran, which became known as the Rolling Hills Golf Club after its relocation, boasted its fi rst fully grassed 18-hole course as late as 2004 and was just the third in the entire kingdom. Yet while there are still only fi ve grassed courses available in Saudi, with another handful offering the original sand version, the game is very much on the ascendant. In 1999, for instance, the Saudi


Golf Committee, now the Saudi Arabian Golf Federation, was established to organise, develop and promote the sport, a brief that included helping talented young Saudis to compete in tournaments around the world. Competition on home soil now includes the American Express Dirab Golf Championship, part of the newly revamped MENA Golf Tour and held between late September and early October every year. Encouragingly, local participa- tion was led by HRH Prince Khalid Saud Al Faisal – whose game has developed to such an extent that he now plays off scratch – and emerging talent Faisal Salhab. “We feel proud and privileged to have Prince Khalid in the fi eld,”


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