Carved out of the sandy Dubai desert and part of a large 2,700-acre lifestyle community south of the CBD, Dubai Hills was designed by European Golf Design and open for play in 2019. Surrounded by some of the largest golf course Villas in the Middle East, the project caters to a high-end market, and the layout is suitably playable for the type of golfers who frequent the course. The fairways are reasonably generous and the greens undulating but with longer transitions than at tournament venues like Emirates GC or Jumeirah, and more subtlety around the targets than other courses in the general area.

Without doubt, the highlight of the golf experience at Dubai Hills is the view you get on holes like 5, 7 and 10 of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. The 5th is a long par five that plays toward the tower, while the 7th is a Cape hole that first heads toward the city and then bends toward the villas. More impressive than such outlooks, are holes like the drivable par four 6th, which is an especially fun hole for amateurs who can either try to carry bunkers on a direct line to the green, or use a high right shoulder to bounce balls toward the pin.

Although the highlights ease a little on the back nine, the course throughout is reasonably interesting and well balanced. There are pond-side par threes at the 9th and 17th, for example, where the safe miss is right and then the safe miss is left. Conditioning is to a high standard and golfers visiting the UAE are sure to enjoy the experience at Dubai Hills.