Top 10 Golf Courses in The United Arab Emirates
Golf in the United Arab Emirates is an exercise in sustained ambition. The country has no natural turf-growing climate — summer temperatures regularly exceed 45 degrees Celsius, groundwater is scarce, and the native landscape is desert and sand. Yet the UAE has built more than thirty maintained courses, several of which sit in global rankings of the finest resort venues in the world. The achievement is technological and financial: enormous volumes of water, advanced irrigation systems, heat-tolerant grass varieties, and investment on a scale that no private developer in a cooler climate would contemplate. The result, from October through April, is a golf destination of genuine international quality where the courses are immaculate, the service is exceptional, and the access — if you can afford it — is uncomplicated. Open the map to see the UAE's courses from Abu Dhabi to Ras Al Khaimah.
1. Emirates Golf Club (Majlis Course), Dubai
The Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club is where professional golf in the Middle East began. Designed by Karl Litten and opened in 1988, it was the first grass course in the Gulf region — an achievement that seemed improbable at the time and transformed how the world thought about golf infrastructure in arid climates. The par-72 layout plays to over 7,200 yards and has hosted the Dubai Desert Classic annually since 1989, with a winner's list that reads as a summary of the DP World Tour's most significant names over three decades. The Bedouin tent-shaped clubhouse is one of golf's most distinctive architectural landmarks. The course is a resort and club hybrid accessible to visitors who book in advance.
2. Jumeirah Golf Estates (Earth Course), Dubai
The Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates was designed by Greg Norman and opened in 2009 as the permanent host of the DP World Tour Championship — the season-ending event that decides the Race to Dubai title. The par-72 layout plays to nearly 7,700 yards from the tips, routed through a residential development with a natural desert landscape preserved between the fairways. Norman's design favours accuracy over power in places and length over precision in others, creating a varied strategic challenge. The tournament setting in late November, when the race for the tour title reaches its climax, has given Earth some of the most dramatic finishes in European professional golf in recent years.
3. Yas Links, Abu Dhabi
Yas Links, designed by Kyle Phillips and opened in 2010, is genuinely unusual among UAE courses: it is built to resemble a links course, with fescue-style rough, open fairways, undulating terrain, and a routing that uses the coastal landscape on Yas Island to simulate the feel of a seaside links more convincingly than most inland attempts achieve. The par-72 course plays alongside the Yas Marina and features several genuinely windswept holes that require low, running approaches rather than the high iron shots that desert courses typically reward. Yas Links has been ranked among the top resort courses in Asia and hosted multiple Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship qualifying events.
4. Abu Dhabi Golf Club (National Course), Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi Golf Club's National Course, designed by Peter Harradine, is the permanent home of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship — one of the DP World Tour's most prestigious Rolex Series events. The par-72 layout is built in the desert north of the city and features its iconic falcon-shaped clubhouse, visible from much of the course and providing an unmistakable visual identity. The tournament has attracted virtually every significant name in world golf since its inception in 2006. The course is open to visitors through the resort and operates a full public-access green-fee policy with advance booking.
5. Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club
Dubai Creek, designed by Thomas Bjorn — in a rare venture into course design by a European Tour player — occupies a setting on the Creek waterway running through historic Dubai. The par-71 course opened in 1993 and its dhow-sail-shaped clubhouse is one of the most recognisable buildings in the emirate. The layout is not the longest or most technically demanding in Dubai, but its central location, the Creek backdrop, and its history as one of the city's early flagship golf venues give it a distinct personality. Visitor access is available and green fees are competitive relative to the premium courses further out of the city.
6. Al Hamra Golf Club, Ras Al Khaimah
Al Hamra, designed by Peter Harradine and situated in the northern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, offers a notably different setting to the Dubai courses. The par-72 layout runs along the Arabian Gulf shoreline and through mangroves, with water and the sea framing holes throughout. Ras Al Khaimah's lower cost base means green fees are significantly more accessible than in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, and the course has attracted a loyal following from golfers seeking quality without the premium pricing of the major-city venues. The Al Hamra resort complex provides comfortable accommodation adjacent to the course.
7. The Track Meydan Golf, Dubai
The Track at Meydan, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and situated adjacent to the Meydan Racecourse — home of the Dubai World Cup — is a public-access nine-hole course that opened in 2014. The par-36 layout is an unusual desert-parkland hybrid, designed to be playable in the evening under floodlights as well as during the day. Given Dubai's extreme summer heat, the night-golf option extends the playing window considerably. The course is deliberately accessible rather than championship-standard, but the location beside one of the world's most distinctive sporting venues adds to its appeal.
8. Al Badia Golf Club, Dubai
Al Badia, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and part of the Festival City development on the Deira side of Dubai, is a par-72 course that opened in 2005. The layout uses a series of artificial lakes and desert landscaping to frame holes with a dramatic visual quality. Al Badia hosted the HSBC Golf Business Forum and has attracted several DP World Tour and Challenge Tour events. Visitor access is available through the adjacent InterContinental hotel, and green fees are in the mid-range for Dubai.
9. Sharjah Wanderers Golf Club
Sharjah Wanderers is a nine-hole course attached to the Wanderers Sports Club in the emirate of Sharjah — the oldest sports club in the UAE. The course is unpretentious, short, and primarily serves the club's expat membership, but it deserves mention as a piece of UAE golf history. Green fees are modest and visitor access is open; it functions as a genuine club course rather than a resort facility, which makes it distinctive in a country where most courses are designed primarily for international visitors.
10. Towerlinks Golf Club, Ras Al Khaimah
Towerlinks, situated on the Ras Al Khaimah coastline, is a nine-hole course that was one of the northern emirates' early golf investments. The layout runs along the sea and through palm groves, with the Arabian Gulf providing the backdrop. The course is more relaxed in character than the flagship venues further south, with lower green fees and a community-club atmosphere. It provides a practical addition to an itinerary built around Al Hamra, with the two courses together constituting a solid Ras Al Khaimah golf experience.
Planning Your UAE Golf Trip
The UAE golf season runs from October to April, when daytime temperatures drop to a manageable 20 to 30 degrees. The summer months from May to September are not viable for midday golf — temperatures are genuinely dangerous — though early-morning and late-evening tee times exist at courses with floodlighting. Dubai International Airport handles the majority of golf tourist arrivals, and the major courses in Dubai are all within 45 minutes of the terminal. Abu Dhabi is 90 minutes from Dubai and its courses can be combined with Dubai venues on a multi-day trip. Green fees at the premium venues range from AED 400 to AED 1,500 (roughly €100 to €375), with accommodation at the major resort courses available at every price point. Open the map to compare course locations and proximity to the main hotels.