The Saadiyat Beach Golf Course, which opens on 28 January 2010, is the first in the Arab region to have a beach frontage. It is shaping to be the jewel in already glittering list of renowned Gary Player Signature golf courses, now numbering more than 200 worldwide. The course design has been set up to cater for all types of players starting at 5290 yards, to the most challenging environment for the world’s leading tour players at 7784 yards.
Operated by Troon Golf, Saadiyat Beach Golf Club incorporates a state-of-the-art practice range, as well as a Golf Academy and an iconic clubhouse, the social heart of the district. With features for all levels of golfer, the club’s facilities are unique to the region offering a true “Member for the Day” Experience for UAE residents as well as holiday makers open to its members, and also to guests from the surrounding hotels on a pay-and-play basis.
The 73-year-old South African has now retired from all four of golf’s major tournaments, but his worldwide work on golf course design and development continues unabated. He is one of only five players in the history of the game to achieve the Grand Slam of winning all four major tournaments.
“It is clear this will be a premier, world-class golfing facility,” said DJ Flanders, general manager of TDIC-Troon Golf Alliance. “Mr Player’s unique architectural vision has been translated at every stage of this project, giving the course the absolute prestige to attract world-renowned golfing excellence to Abu Dhabi.”
Player was quick to identify the natural assets of Saadiyat Island as being integral to helping him design, mould, and shape a course which loops in and out of surrounding developments, exposing open tees to the magnificent waterfront.
“Saadiyat Island is truly breathtaking and the sensory elements of the landscape along with the sweeping Arabian coastline and deep green fairways give the course a real edge. It is a gift to nature,” he said.
“Even after designing so many courses around the world, there’s something unique about this one which excites me. Set alongside the world’s largest cluster of renowned cultural institutions, such as the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum and the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum, the Saadiyat Beach Golf Course will raise the bar and set a new standard for across the Arab region and beyond.”
About Saadiyat Island
Just 700m off the coast of Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Island is poised to become a truly special place. A timeless island born out of collective inspiration, Saadiyat will be a destination experience of rich depth and diversity, uncommon in our modern world.
This 27-square kilometre natural island is undergoing a remarkable transformation. In 2004, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) commissioned the Tourism Development Investment Company (TDIC) to make Saadiyat Island a world-class leisure, residential, business hub and tourist attraction of global proportions. Despite this large-scale vision, they are careful to create this signature destination with an environmentally sensitive philosophy.
In its essence, Saadiyat is a multi-faceted island destination offering a great variety of attractions to many different people. A buzzing business hub for international commerce; a relaxed waterfront home for residents; a cultural magnet for arts aficionados; the home of dazzling architectural icons; a pristine beachfront tourism destination and a focal point for compelling sporting experiences, such as the Middle East’s only tidal and ocean golf courses. It will also be the only place in the world to house architecture designed by five individual Pritzker prize winners. Saadiyat Island will be an irresistible magnet attracting the world to Abu Dhabi and taking Abu Dhabi to the world.
This exclusive place will offer an entirely unique invitation to the discerning traveler. The island is infused with a richness that serves its visitors and residents cultural, social, emotional and environmental rewards. Indeed Saadiyat is positioned to become an international destination of desire, a flagship for Abu Dhabi, a treasure for the world.
Saadiyat Island is just seven minutes from downtown Abu Dhabi, 20 minutes from Abu Dhabi International Airport and 50 minutes from Dubai. It can be reached by two major highway bridges linking it with the mainland.
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