They may be worlds and centuries apart but they will have one thing in common - communities that live and breathe the game of golf. Dubai Golf City, a new residential golf development, was unveiled at The Open Championship at St Andrews, the original golf town and known throughout the world as the home of golf.
Speaking from the balcony of the Old Course Hotel overlooking the 17th hole at St Andrews the man behind this ambitious project, the largest golf course development under construction on the planet, Abdulla Saeed Al Thani said “We have chosen this moment to announce Dubai Golf City to the world as St Andrews has been our inspiration throughout. St Andrews is the original ‘golf town’ with great golf courses, wonderful architecture and the honourable game at the very heart of the community. We want to recreate this sentiment at Dubai Golf City but with a 21st century feel.”
Al Thani is the chairman of BENAA, the real estate arm of Thani Investments, a firm in the Middle East focusing on oil and gas, real estate, mining and commercial ventures.
The five 18-hole signature championship golf course development is worth an estimated billion pounds.
“Around the world multiple golf courses in one development have always reflected the same style of play and landscape,” Al Thani explains. “For the first time five golf courses will offer unique golfing experiences all on one site.”
The development will include the Oasis course (waterways), the Wadi (mountainous/Arizona desert), the Desert course (sand), the Parkland Course (lush green) and a yet-to-be-disclosed fifth course, which will be a unique “first of its kind” golf course in the world.
IMG, the sports marketing and management company, has signed an agreement with Thani to design two of the championship courses at Dubai Golf City. The remaining designers are yet to be confirmed.
The development will comprise a six-star resort hotel and spa as well as 700 luxury villas and mansions, 2,750 townhouses and village chalets with the promise of stunning golf-course and water views for the residential community as well as a multitude of amenities, waterfront promenades, restaurants and plazas.
Dubai Golf City is expected to be fully completed by 2009.