63 DUBAI HILLS Dubai may no longer be home to a quarter of the world’s cranes – as was famously, albeit inaccurately, reported around the boom of the mid-noughties – but there is still plenty of evidence of construction in the emirate. The lure of hot weather, impressive architecture, shopping and entertainment means tourism is booming. Dubai is also the business and financial hub of the Middle East, and in 2020 it will host a World Expo. And as the city’s growth continues – Dubai’s population is expected to double in the next ten years – so too does its infrastructure. One example of this infrastructure growth is the Dubai Hills Estate, a series of neighbourhoods – including homes, hotels, shops, parks, hospitals and more – set within the new Mohammad Bin Rashid City area of Dubai. The estate is being developed by Emaar, the property company whose portfolio includes the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. The centrepiece of Dubai Hills Estate – as a primary attraction for potential home buyers – is its golf course, which opened in November 2018. Emaar already has two golf courses in Dubai: Arabian Ranches, by Nicklaus Design and Ian Baker-Finch, set within a residential community; and The Montgomerie, a co-design with Desmond Muirhead that is attached to a hotel in the firm’s Address brand. For Dubai Hills Golf Club, they turned to golf course architect Gary Johnston of European Golf Design and construction supervisor Kyle Taggart, who was based on site throughout the project. “Emaar had a fairly clear vision of what they were looking for,” says Johnston. “Our brief was to design a course that would emulate the best features of their current courses, but with an extra ‘wow’ factor.” In Dubai, the usual method of wowing is to create something bigger, taller, more opulent or expensive. But at Dubai Hills, the wows aren’t brash, they come in the form of a delightfully varied and playable golf experience. One attribute of most very good golf courses is memorable holes with a The short par-four sixth entices golfers to take on the green Photo: Toby Ingleton
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=