The Mena Golf Tour was unveiled to the media last Wednesday at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai and promises a new era for Golfers in the Region. UAE Golf Online was there to hear what Golf in Dubai was proposing and to see what all the hype was about.
Some of the information about the event was already known to everyone, but after a few days digesting the package, I had to write a few of my thoughts down.
Golf in Dubai is trying to achieve something very cool here. Remember I am coming from the angle of being just an average Golfer so I would not be able to qualify. I am merely a Golfing Fan and Fan of UAE Golf and I have no hidden agenda. My views are simply my thoughts.
Firstly on the actual idea
Why not have a Golf Tour for the Mena area like other surrounding regions have. The growth of Golf here in the UAE has been huge in the last decade. Plus you have European Tour events and growth in Morocco, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt.
Add to the mixture Egypt and Morocco then you have other potential venues in regards to a tour. I think it has huge potential and I guess so do Golf in Dubai. If they get it right the Mena Golf Tour can only grow and could become a real established tour. Nothing happens overnight and certain things will be key, can you imagine what they will learn from the first effort? As long as they build on mistakes and implement the right strategies, the doors for expansion can only be open.
Obviously, any Tour that has the distance of traveling from the UAE to Egypt and Morocco in a has its own logistical issues, players would need backing and time, but let’s just deal with year 1 first in the UAE.
One thing is for sure, it will challenge the homegrown UAE Pro’s and Amateurs who are always at the top of the local leaderboards and they will certainly be tested in proper conditions. It will be interesting to see who comes from overseas to play in the event and what countries they are attracted from. This will be a good measure of the reach and interest the tour has received in its opening year.
On the Venues chosen
Yes, I agree that they are not all the prime UAE Golfing Venues and some of you may not have heard of 1 or 2 of them, but they are all excellent Golf Courses in their own right and have plenty to offer. I am sure there would have been some logistical problems and Golfing politics involved in negotiating Golf course availability, most of which we will never know about.
It may be a masterstroke starting with these venues if it is a big success. The other courses will be banging down the door in some way to be part of the Mena Golf Tour. By going to a couple of the lesser known UAE Courses, you are showing that everyone can be part of the project and not just the Elite.
Let’s look on the positives instead of dwelling on the negatives, good luck to Golf in Dubai for attempting to create something different and needed, I am looking forward to seeing the results later in the year.
