Another Harradine course has been approved for construction in the Emirate of Sharjah. The new Sharjah Golf Club will include an 18 hole golf course, a large downhill driving range and a nine hole pitch and putt.

According to Peter Harradine: "The site's fantastic dunes and existing contours inspired me to design the holes in and along that spectacular landscape." Initially intended as one of the Middle East's few standalone golf courses, a later instruction to add real estate required a redesign.

The clubhouse will be located at the highest point of the site. The driving range, putting and pitching greens and the nine hole short course will be floodlit. The par 72 course, measures 7,203 yards and, says Harradine, offers dramatic contouring, strategic hazards, seven big lakes and many natural rough areas. "The player will experience dynamic visual changes of landscape throughout the course which should enhance his overall golfing experience," he said.

To create a sustainable environment, the design of the course will create new biotopes in conjunction with existing ones.

Harradine says he hopes to maintain a natural desert and oasis look in rough areas, and to this end has not specified a wall-to-wall irrigation system. The first phase will comprise bulk earthworks, while lake construction, grassing, irrigation, floodlighting and landscaping will be installed during the second phase.

This article first appeared in issue 15 of Golf Course Architecture, published in January 2009.