Abu Dhabi - A fine place for sandy pars
Yas Links
Yas Links
Telephone:
+971 2 810 7777
Email:
Website:
Courses:
7,414yds, par 72
A month after Saadiyat came on stream it was joined by a second newcomer, Yas Links, further out of town near the newly unveiled F1 circuit on Yas Island.
Billed as the first links course in the Middle East, it was designed by California’s Kyle Phillips, venerated in the UK for Kingsbarns. On land that was desert scrub four short years ago, he has conjured up the subtly contoured fairways of a historic Scottish links.
All grass courses in the United Arab Emirates devour water, often to the point of inhibiting roll, but the Yas fairways are rewardingly hard and fast. Or unrewardingly when balls head purposefully into designer rough, made long and hairy by mixing nine varieties of grass seed. Bunkers that are strategic, rather than invasive, use silica from Germany mixed with the omnipresent local product, while huge sloping greens test the steeliest nerves.
Ferrari World, the scarlet petrol-head’s theme park, with its black prancing horse logo, stands between the links and the whale-shaped Yas Hotel in the centre of the motor racing track, but there are no buildings overlooking the course. After the heat of battle on the links, the airy hacienda-style clubhouse with its tinkling fountains is an essential refuge. And Hickory’s all-day restaurant buys into the British dream by serving bacon and eggs, fish and chips, sausage and mash or cottage pie.
