All Sand Golf Course In Middle East--NOW WITH PICTURES!

[Terry Buchen]

I recently visited the Mesaieed Golf Club in Doha, Qatar, which is one of the few all sand golf courses left in the world. The first nine holes were built in 1952 and the second 9 were built in 1979, which is owned and operated by Qatar Petroleum, measuring  6,645 yards playing to a par 71 with two sets of tee markers.

The "browns" are built using straight fine grade dunes sand dredged from the Arabian Gulf that is two plus feet deep. They are oiled one time per year in mid-summer during the off-season using approximately 1,000-1,500- liters of raw crude oil per green, which takes approximately six to nine weeks to dry. The maintenance staff rakes the greens each morning prior to play and a "greenkeeper" is positioned next to 3 or 4 greens that are in close proximity to each other so they can rake the greens after each group putts out. The hole locations are changed once a week

The sand bunker surrounds are also oiled at the same time as the "browns." The club does not allow the members or guests from hiting shots from the bunker surrounds, so a rope is placed on the top of each slope. If a ball lands on the sand side of the slope, the golfer gently nudges the ball forcing it to roll down the hill and then it is played as it lies. The same
procedure is used on the other side of the rope. The locally obtained mason bunker sand is raked daily.

The fairways used to be oiled one time annually but it has not been done since 1990 for environmental reasons. The edges of the fairways are defined by 12- ounce aluminim soft drink cans filled with concrete and a large nail is positioned in the concrete that is placed it into the turf to keep the can upright. If a golfer lands in the fairway, they hit off of an 18" x 18" artificial turf mat - and if they land in the sand rough they play it as it lies.

Most members and guests walk carrying their clubs or using "trolleys." There are two "buggies" for those players that cannot walk. All of the trees have drip irrigation bubblers that are programed to water each tree two times per day in the summer and once during the wintertime. Viswanathan (he has 11 other family names but goes by this name only) has been the golf course superintendent for the past twenty seven years and he is a native of India.

Cheers,
Terry Buchen, CGCS, MG

[Mark_Fine]

Fascinating!  Do you have any photos you can share?

[Terry Buchen]

Mike,

Yes I have photos, but they are digital photos saved on My Pictures on my computer and I am not sure how to download them onto this site? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Terry Buchen, CGCS, MG

[Mike_Cirba]

Sounds like the ultimate in minimalism and it certainly sounds as though overly wet, lush conditions are not a problem.  

Thanks for sharing, Terry.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Terry you need to host them somewhere on the internet so that you can post them.  

Assuming from your comments that you probably dont have such a place online to store them, if you email them to me, I could store them on my Photobucket.com account and either post them for you, or help you to post them from my Photobucket.com account.

Let me know, I too am dying to see the pictures.

[Kalen Braley]

If you want to email them to me, I can post them...

kbjames_70@yahoo.com

[Greg Cameron]

OT,Terry,but recall your name re agronomy, there in mid east(maybe?)Much use of paspalum there?orher thread maybe?....Greg

[Terry Buchen]

Greg,

In Dubai and other parts of the Middle East, they are slowly switching from bermuda to paspalum. A lot of effluent water is used and the water quality gets a little worse during the hot summer months when the tourists are gone and the sewage plants are not producing as much.

Kalen,

Thanks so much for the kind offer to post the photos. I e-mailed them to Tommy Naccarato this morning before reading your post.


MCCirba,

You are right on about the dry and firm playing conditions...They have a plaque on the 12th tee that reads" World's Longest Drive (Unofficial) Driven by Mr. A. Brooks During Wimpey Trophy (Stableford) Held At MIC Golf Club, Qatar, On 13th January 1978 - Distance 569 Yards (Assisted By 35 M.P.H. Tailwind) Played At 485 Yard 12th Hole"

Cheers,
Terry Buchen, CGCS, MG

[Jay Flemma]

That's really interesting.  Did you take any pictures?  I've seen pix of the "browns" in India, but not the middle east.  I've also had a trip to Morocco on the back burner for a while...like six years...have you played there?

[Doug Siebert]

Damn, overdriven the green by 84 yards?  That's got to be some sort of record itself!

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Terry,
Those look like Willie Watson bunkers!

[Mike_Cirba]

Too many damn trees.








Very cool.

[Terry Buchen]

This all sand golf course is scheduled to be totally rebuilt and turned into a modern all grass golf course. Construction should commense in about two years and Brian Ault is the designer.

None of the members or employees knows who the original designer of the current all sand golf course was - and if anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Cheers,

Terry

[RJ_Daley]

Looks like a Sandy Hussein Barrens design to me.  

Oh no wait, with those croc eye bunkers peaking up from the FW, it has to be a Seth Hassen Ben Raynor template hole.  I saw the same hole at Yeaman's Hall.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

The much beloved Emir/Sheik Al Toum El Barak MacKarabaca is listed as the designer in Arab Coast Golf & Gulf Magazine's annual golf guide from 1967.

Forrest and I had a pretty interesting discussion with him one day, while sipping strawberry juice and munching on dried figs and dates. Quite an interesting gentleman.

[RJ_Daley]

...while sipping strawberry juice and munching on dried figs and dates. Quite an interesting gentleman.

You sure that wasn't you two puffing from a water pipe, and munching dried mushrooms?  
Tommy, I can imagine you sitting on a Persian rug in the middle of the tent, wearing your white robes, and puffing...  

In case you need to go shopping for an outfit...
http://www.alhannah.com/cgi-bin/avg?m

[Lloyd_Cole]

I was in Muscat a couple of years ago and had an invite to play the sand course there, next to the big Shell Oil works. Unfortunately it rained - no more golf course. I was told that the course is effectively reconstructed after major downpours. Too bad...

[Mike Benham]

One would have to assume that the "grain" of the green changes depending on which way the greenskeeper (and that is an accurate title by-the-way) grooms the green.  Is it a consistant clockwise or counterclockwise pattern throughout all the holes?

[RJ_Daley]

Notice this obvious lavish maintenence meld with two (2) green smoothing impliments.  This is equivalent to double cutting and then rolling turf.  Out in Nebraski, where there are more reasonably maintained sand greens, they only have one rake-broom.   They quit petroleum oiling them in the U.S. for environmentally sensitive reasons, and occasionally use biodegradeable vegitable oil.  I wonder if the Qatar DNR allows petroleum oiling?  

[JNC Lyon]

This course recalls George Crump's 184-acre bunker, with no exaggeration.

[Adam Clayman]

Any pix of the pop can lined fairways?

I bet they're Pepsi.

[Terry Buchen]

Qatar DNR influenced the stopping of oiling the fairways in 1990. They only oil the greens and bunkers now and I am not sure that it is allowed - though Qatar Petroleum owns the course and they might have some influence.

The greens are raked mostly counter-clockwise and once a week they reverse direction usually on Mondays.

The 12- ounce pop cans lining the fairways were a variety of different brands, but mostly Pepsi and Pepsi Light!

Cheers.

Terry

[Jim Sweeney]

Terry- two questions:

1) is there a special hole liner, or is the sand conpacted/oiled enouogh to stand up to the wear?

2) does the act of nudging the ball off the bunker surround slopes count as a stroke?

[TEPaul]

TerryB:

It just occured to me you're one of the three so-called "Killer Bs" aren't you?

Glad as could be to have you on here contributing to this website. That's impressive. Welcome. I'm not too sure about the others but I'm always looking for an ongoing agronomic and maintenance education and I'll probably be all over you like a tick for it.

[Doug Siebert]

What's the word I'm looking for to describe this?  It isn't exactly irony, but a sand bunker with rake on an all sand course certainly makes no sense at all!  I'd have never believed it if you didn't have pictures to prove it.