Editor’s Letter
A curious new band of golfers are stepping out from the plush bays at Topgolf Dubai.
Acurious band of newbies has begun showing up at driving ranges across the UAE.
They mostly arrive club-less but not clueless to the benefit of lessons from a qualified PGA coach. The lush green courses just beyond the practice grounds are not an immediate target, rather the desire for knowledge is caged.
These new players are Topgolf converts and they are loving this maddeningly brilliant new pastime they’ve just discovered.
“I’ve spoken to many people over the last couple of months at all the golf clubs in Dubai who have said they have seen people coming to their golf clubs asking for lessons because they want to be better at Topgolf,” said Chris May, CEO of Golf Dubai which manages Topgolf Dubai at Emirates Golf Club.
“It’s not [traditional] golf, but it is a start and it is our jobs in all the golf clubs to try and build that transition from a Topgolf bay into a green grass fairway, whether it’s a par 3 course, whether it’s more lessons and ultimately in the future to become members of our clubs.”
May was speaking at the Emirates Amateur Golf League’s ‘Future of Golf’ forum which shone an overdue light on the state of the UAE golf industry.
“Those of you that are old enough to know,” May continued, “[will remember] Dubai was very lucky in the early days to have the Nad Al Sheba club which provided an easy and affordable, accessible point of entry into golf. Topgolf I think has been doing that in Dubai for the last six months since we opened on January 3rd. “
With an average of 10,000 players a week since then, and a record of 12,000 participants in one seven day stretch, the arrival of Topgolf in the Middle East has been an unequivocal success.
Ironically, COVID-19 has also helped drive growth on the region’s more traditional fairways. The forum reported “approximately” 80,000 rounds played across the UAE’s 18 courses in April, up from 12,000 a year earlier at the height of the pandemic but more pertinently 26,000 more rounds than were recorded in April 2019.
It’s part of a global trend with even epidemiologists agreeing golf is about as safe a sporting pursuit as you could hope to find in this weird new world in which we inhabit.
What has most pleased May is the diverse makeup of the chock-a-block bays at Topgolf Dubai.
“The diversity of nationalities, the diversity of age-groups, the number of UAE nationals and GCC nationals who are picking up a golf club for the first time and playing and having fun, it’s really something I don’t think we’ve seen in this region before,” May said. “I think we’ll see several more Topgolf facilities in the region because it really is a way of getting new people into the game which will help the entire golf industry and certainly all of the golf clubs in the region.”
Our ‘State of the Nation’ feature (from p20) has more on that exciting prospect, as well as the views of other key stakeholders tasked with ensuring the unexpected momentum provided by COVID-19 isn’t wasted.
Be sure to check out our Tokyo 2020 (it’s a weird time, remember) preview as well. It features the inspiring stories of five players chasing Olympic glory for their underdog nations, including Arabic pioneer Maha Haddioui from Morocco and Indian star Aditi Ashok who are so well known in this part of the world.
At a Summer Olympiad yonder, how wonderful it would be if a new star’s inspirational story includes how they were introduced to the game by thwacking balls towards the Dubai Marina skyline or some other iconic Middle East backdrop. Much stranger things have happened, especially in the past 18 months.