Trump International Golf Links

Only my second experience of golf in Dubai (previously played a few disastrous holes at the Els Club), and first time playing in the evening under the floodlights.

I have heard mixed reviews of night golf in general, but I think comparing it to daytime golf completely misses the point. The question to really ask is, are you able to tee off at 9pm and play 9 holes? If not then night golf is a brilliant addition. The member I was paired up with mentioned how he can both put the kids to bed and still play 9 holes several times a week. The lighting is very well done and generally you don’t think too much about it.

In terms of the course itself, similar to my experience at the Els Club a year ago, I find the perfection of the fairways and greens in Dubai almost eerie. To me it acts as this continous reminder that a golf course really has no business even being here. Surrounding the back 9 is an uninterrupted wall of identical housing developments, most of which are empty although i have been assured they are all sold, seemingly to wealthy Russian/Ukrainian buyers that are looking for places to safeguard their wealth. Aesthetically whilst i don’t mind it as a one off experience, for me a big draw for a course is what you see off in the distance around you whilst you are not swinging a club. The environment where the course is 50% of the aesthetic quality of the experience, and this simply doesn’t score any points on this front.

There are two features of the course (and Dubai golf in general) that don’t suit my game: the rough is generally just sand (which makes logical sense given the topography but certainly provides a challenge for yours truly) and inside 50 yards the playing surface might as well just also be called a green. For someone whose short game is based on having some grass underneath the ball this proved to be a real impediment. At a high level, the tee shots are fairly open and anxiety free, but the real defense of the course comes inside 80 yards/putting surface.

What I would say, is that the actual setup of the holes was superb. The placement of hazards and more importantly shape and run-off areas of greens meant every hole required some thinking time both on the tee and approach shots. I was lucky enough to play on back to back evenings and would say it was a must to even having an attempt at scoring well, as knowing where to miss shots is absolutely imperative. Pretty much every tee shot has a safe choice and a high risk/high reward option, which i much prefer to just a difficult tee shot. Similar with the approach shots, you can play a safe line which will leave you with a difficult two putt, or if you want a stab at a birdie putt, you have to take the risk that comes along with it (via either a bunker or a short sided chip into a downhill green). I can’t remember a last time i played a course that balanced this risk reward optionality so well and on pretty much every hole.

In terms of enjoying a course, i think the perfect balance is the diamond setup:

Par/birdies are difficult to get
Double bogeys are not difficult to get
Triples and more are difficult to get

Bu featuring open tee shots with the choice of a high risk/high reward option, along with most of the defence coming close to the green, i think this course accomplishes this magnificently.

Overall, I find the mark of a great course is that (a) I can remember the course extremely well even a few months later (judgement pending), and (b) I have a strong desire to play again. The latter was certainly the case here, and I am very glad i decided to book both evenings.

Overall Score: +8 over 9 holes

Overall Feeling: in general, any time there is nothing worse than a double on the scorecard it is a decent day, but I walked away unable to help feeling like a lot of shots were left out there on the putting surface. Granted the green speeds were significantly slower than my home course/most Surrey courses and more importantly my short game is not good enough for the super tight runoff areas.

Hole by Hole Rundown:

Hole 10: Par (FIR, GIR, 2putt)

Fairly short hole with an open fairway, albeit visually more intimidating than it actually is when you get down there. Approach shot fitting the risk/reward mantra when the pin is at the back. Can either aim for the wide front part of the green and then be left with a hilly long putt. Or go for the pin but then face a narrow green with a punishing runoff area on the left and a bunker on the right
Driver middle of fairway
52 degree right side of green as left of green was a run off area i experienced the night before and had no interest in

Hole 11: Par (FIR, 1putt)

Very similar set up to the first hole, with a short drive followed by a risk/reward decision on the approach. Pin at the front means if you are offline by more than 5 yards you are either on a hill facing a downhill chip or in a bunker. You can aim for back part of the green but then are faced with a long downhill/sloping putt
5 wood left side of fairway
52 degree left of green but left enough to have some grass for a chip close

Hole 12: Double Bogey (3putt)

One of the most deceptive holes i have ever experienced off the tee. Fairway seems miles wide with no hazards, and the green only a 270 yards away. Standing on the tee you can’t help but feel a birdie is almost guaranteed
However, once you get to the green you realize what a test this hole is. Either short or long of green and you are facing chipping off a super tight lie about 5 feet below the green, and trying to stop on a green that is max 5 yards front to back. The smart play here is to aim way left of the tee and miss the green but have a chip with a lot of green to work with
First night managed to drive it 10yards over the back of the green and ended up with a 6. Second evening wasn’t much better as drive went far enough right to even miss the worlds widest fairway. After a pitch out from a stuck lip, chip on to the green and 3 putt

Hole 13: Double Bogey (FIR, 3putt)

Once again fairly open tee shot, and missing the fairway takes some mishit, but second shot has a fairway bunker at just the right distance to have to play extra conservative. The bunker is 80 yards from the green so ending up in it is a death sentence, and with wind you tend to have to layup 10-20 yards short of it to be safe. The real hazard is the almost unbroken broken that surrounds the raised the green, which means anything other than a perfect (and high lofted) approach shot ends up with a very tough bunker shot
Played driver to the right side of the fairway, then hybrid to the right side of the fairway bunker. With 135yds left to the pin decided 9i was a better choice than PW under the logic that the hidden back bunker can’t be any worse than the very visible front bunker. At this theory proved correct as was able to get out of the bunker and on to the putting surface without any issues, only to proceed to 3 putt

Hole 14: Par (FIR, GIR, 2putt)

What feels like the longest hole of the 9. Off the tee there is more room to the left than you would think, but either way drive is fairly open. However, unless you can driver >270yds you are left with a 180-190yd shot into the green. You can aim left and if you get it perfectly you hit a hill that funnels the ball towards the hole, but miss this slight window and you roll into a dereleict collection area that requires some expert sand play to get out of. Right front side of the green is protected by bunker and so have to carry that and stop the ball on the green otherwise run off into a collection area that requires a tricky chip
Driver middle of fairway, hybrid to the right side of green, 2putt
A par here felt like a birdie on most other holes

Hole 15: Bogey (GIR, 3putt)

One of the more straightforward holes on the back 9, but not without at least one decision to be made. Do you go for the back of the green that is wider and means most likely to be putting but leaving yourself a downhill put, or aim for below the hole for an easier putt but requiring a more accurate shot
Turns out even when the riskier option is perfectly executed there is always a risk of a 3 putt. This really felt like leaving not just one but more like 2 shots out there

Hole 16: Bogey (FIR, 2putt)

Visually very busy hole, and one of the few where for the regular hitters (i.e. 250yds drive), there actually isn’t a safe option off the tee. You either hit it to the right side of the fairway, and if you draw it and hit it >250yds you can catch a slope that will funnel the ball towards the green leaving a 50yard chip. Or if it doesn’t go far enough you have an elevated fairway with a 140-150yd shot in. However, go left of this line and unless you carry it >275yds in the air, it is a very dangerous set of bunkers
Luckily I ended up just right of the bunkers, but unfortunately hit an 8iron to the left side of the green, which meant it then rolled off into a collection area leaving an uphill chip from a tight lie. From this point finishing with a bogey felt like a good result

Hole 17: Double Bogey (1putt)

Super visually intimidating par 3, with a green that slopes heavily back to front, and gets narrow towards a front right pin location. Aim long and face a very hard 2 putt, aim for the pin and are forced to land it (and stop it) in a 4yds x 4yds square otherwise you have a short sided bunker shot that most likely leaves you with a downhill putt once you do end up on the putting surface
Safe to say none of this mattered once I hit the one bad strike of the day, and my shot ended up 20yds short of the green in a waste area, after a flyer out and a lost ball, managed to salvage a double bogey with a ludicrous up and down from the fence at the back of the green. Safe to say this is the one tee shot I would like to have back from the day

Hole 18: Par (FIR, GIR, 2putt)

After a horrid 17th, it was nice to finish strong on the last hole, which bears strong resemblance to the finishing hole at TPC Sawgrass, with a dogleg left hugging water all the way down the left side. Despite the quantity of water, the tee shot is actually not that visually intimidating as there is a lot of room to bailout out to the right, but obviously the more right you go the longer second shot you have into a green that has virtually not foregreen on the left hand side edge that borders the green. This is where the member knowledge from my playing partner really came into its own. With 200yds to go, he advised to carry the bunker on the right hand side of the green, aiming about 20-30yds right of the actual pin, as there is a slope that will feed the ball to the hole. He warned that anything that hits the putting surface directly unless is travelling left-to-right is likely to end in the water. This advice proved magical as despite thinking I was going to have a 20yard chip, as I walked up to the green I noticed that the ball had indeed rolled down the slope and stopped 15ft short of the pin
What made it even better is that my playing partner managed to do the same and also finished with a par, ending the evening on a high note for both