Unique water hazard makes Abu Dhabi stand out among leading courses
The venue of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship boasts a new kind of water hazard that makes the golf course more attractive and different from all the other courses.
Surrounded by high-rise buildings, there is a green, fully managed and interesting course in Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi Golf Club is also surrounded by a number of construction projects.
One official who made the Abu Dhabi Golf Club stand out among the leading courses is Apollo Dimaisip.
Dimaisip is a member of the Club's maintenance team. He joined the Abu Dhabi Golf Club twelve years ago and implemented his skills to bring the course up to the mark.
Due to a large number of projects going on in the Club's surroundings, Dimaisip faced an unexpected situation a few years ago. He saw that there was plenty of water oozing in the rough, on the fairways and in the designed bunkers.
Unwanted presence of water in the rough baffled the entire staff, especially Dimaisip. They were in a state of dilemma and hopeless, as they had no idea about how to fix the issue.
Andrew Whittaker, the course superintendent, was the one who managed to go in depth of this issue and found the result.
He concluded that, due to the increased construction, the underground water route was damaged.
"There are a lot of people who have different opinions on why, but essentially the water is coming up from below the surface because of the buildings and construction around here," Whittaker said. "It has nowhere else to go".
"As we are the only natural area around, the water is finding us to be the weakest structure and breaks up through there," Whittaker added. "It is similar to how an oasis would work".
Whittaker stalled sixteen bore wells in 2011 to prevent the grass and the course.
Due to his effective decision, now the golfers appearing at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship will be enjoying flawless fairways, dry desert-like bunkers and manmade greens.
There are slight changes made to the 2nd and the 18th hole within the past two years.
The tee box was moved back to make the last hole more competitive and challenging. Similarly, some bunkers have also been added on the 2nd hole of the course.
Due to the extension of the 18th hole, the golfers can now enjoy a competitive ending of the event. This alteration also makes this tournament more preferable among golfers.
There were 40,000 spectators in 2011. The numbers are expected to increase by 100%, because of the world leaders showing their appearance in Abu Dhabi, especially Tiger Woods who will be the most attractive personality on the field.
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