Akoya by Damac is well underway

A few days ago I managed to take a quick drive past the new Trump International Golf Club development, Akoya By Damac out in Dubailand. The route is out into the desert a little and having moved away from the area over a year ago, currently I do not really go that way too often.
I think the last time I personally visited the site was just less than a year ago and has it changed dramatically.

The guys at Damac are certainly cracking on with the building work on the real estate side. As you arrive at the entrance of the development, you can see it is now lined with the shells of Villas being constructed which are 3+ deep in some parts. On further inspection, while driving past you can see cranes in the middle putting together some of the frameworks to the low rise blocks around the Golf Course. Pretty amazing stuff, to be honest, I cannot wait to see the development in a few more months to check the progress.

Now on to the Golf side of the discussion. Am hoping to get another look soon on how this has developed. We have had some stormy, windy and disruptive weather recently which would affect any construction site, let alone a Golf Course. I wonder if this has caused any issues or delays?

The question has to be asked if the Golf Course/Facility will have an effect on Golf footfall in the area? Once open there will be 5 Golf Courses competing for Tee Times and Academy traffic all within a pretty small area. (Arabian Ranches, Els Club, Jumeirah Golf Estates (2 courses)) Then there will be the other development Akoya Oxygen a few years later also in this vicinity.

God or bad?
Certain times of the year it’s a well-known fact that some of the courses are already not as busy as they could be with Golfers. Even now in the season when the weather is perfect. Course conditions are superb there are quiet weekdays.
One major thing to balance that out is the fact that the FnB/events side of things on UAE Golf Courses really helps with revenue. Especially in the community-based courses that are surrounded by real estate and businesses. This is one key factor that all the above courses have in abundance and Akoya is no exception as the surrounding building work demonstrates.
For the Golfer, it could result in some more good offers becoming available at certain times. This, of course, is a good thing to get people playing on quality courses.

It is certainly Impressive to see the dream becoming reality from an outside point of view. The whole project is definitely going to have an impact on Dubailand and Golf in many ways and it will be interesting to see how it all develops in the fast-approaching future.
What are your thoughts?

Paul
Editor