Middle East is the next hot spot for golf
Amidst the growing influence of golf in Asia, Middle East has emerged as a new destination promoting the sport widely. Moreover, with massive money being poured in for projection of golf, the Middle East will soon eclipse major golfing nations.
Countries of the Gulf region have explored various frontiers of income generation, apart from increasing the value of their assets with the help of petrodollars.
When they realised that they could not rely completely on petroleum resources, they shifted their attention and resources towards the development of the realty sector.
It was United Arab Emirates, or to be precise Dubai, that engineered this realty revolution and the rest of the Gulf then followed in its footsteps.
Following the dismal visage of the sector after being affected by the credit crunch, it was yet again UAE, and once again Dubai, that pioneered and orchestrated yet another novel frontier of flexing their muscles in such recessionary circumstances.
This time, it was exploring the tourism sector and for that an integral component that was required was to construct golf courses. Hence, golf underwent a new modification when it was rediscovered in the deserts of Arab.
One of the ways through which an overview of golf and its longevity in the Gulf can be obtained is that till 2013, the Dubai World Championship will be held in Jumeirah Golf Estates.
The announcement came at a time when Dubai, as well as Leisrecorp, promoters of the Dubai World Championship were feeling the pinch of the recession and were desperately searching for frontiers that could provide them with economic sanctuary in such times
of financial turmoil.
According to the European Tour Chief Executive Officer George O'Grady, "Our primary objective is to keep the Race to Dubai in Dubai, wherever that may be. Jumeirah Golf Estates is a good host, so there is no reason right now to look beyond it as a venue".
Commenting about the economic dangers and uncertainties, he was quite optimistic to fizz them off by saying, "At the moment, all our deliberations are positive and there is no reason why the Race should move”.
There is news making rounds that after the successful happening of this event, the contract for Dubai and Leisrecorp is anticipated to undergo a further three years’ extension, making it viable until 2016.
It can be primarily because of geographical proximity but in the case of Gulf States, manifestations of the ‘Domino Effect’ are simply too prominent.
At one place where development of golf courses began to take place in Dubai, Qatar began to initiate moves to emerge as the next golf mecca.
At present, the country has a single golf course but keeping in mind the rampant scope of development, news about the construction of another few would be hitting our ears soon.
Similarly, Bahrain is also trying to strengthen its position in this sector in the midst of all political violence and volatile conditions that prevails in the kingdom.
Bahrain is formulating policies for the construction of two new golf courses in the multimillion dollar Durrat Al Bahrain project.
As far as South of Gulf is concerned, apart from Yemen, the kingdom of Oman is taking some serious measures to construct some more golf courses after two were completed in the year 2008.
With such developmental moves already on board, it might be surprising to see that, Mohammed Buamaim, Vice President and CEO of Golf in Dubai has interpreted this rate of progress of golf in the region as quite slow.
His reason is primarily because of the limited scope of recognition that the sport acquires in the region.
Nonetheless, once all this has been done, there will be no doubt that the upcoming generations will remember the Middle East as the new destination where golf was actually reincarnated.
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