We are set to unveil my new academy building at Emirates Golf Club, and I’m impressed with how things have turned out. There are numerous simulator setups these days, but you can’t beat hitting a ball out of a bay into an open range. When I get time to myself, grabbing a bucket of balls and hitting them downrange while turning your mind off to the world around you is priceless.
Back in Rotherham, our bays provide a private area that shelters you from the harsh British elements, but the five new bays at our academy at Emirates will provide the same atmosphere, swapping the rain for sun protection. For the teaching pros, having a private space in a temperature-controlled environment is vital for people to feel relaxed and not judged in any way by passers-by.
We will also have an indoor simulator and putting green, so the team has all the key tools to improve all aspects of the game. We’ve taken our Major-winning formula from the academy in the UK and enhanced it. You can have all the latest gadgets and tech, but to make better golfers, you need instructors to interpret the information and use it to explain the correct movements.
I spend a lot of time with our academy instructors when I’m in Dubai, and they all understand my methods and practices. It’s taken me more than 50 years to gain a true understanding of the swing, and I’m still learning, but it’s great to be able to pass this experience on – that is where the true investment is made. Dubai has always been my second home for the past 35 years. Over that period I’ve promoted the city throughout the golfing world and I’m proud to have established one of the games leading academy programmes.
I recently heard that e-sports is being proposed for the next Olympics. Personally, I think it’s mad, but the world moves on, and I have seen it with my own eyes. Our UK range numbers have increased since we installed Top Tracer. At first, I thought it would be serious golfers wanting to find out their numbers, but most are youngsters wanting to play the games – in many ways, it’s like running an arcade.
We now have two forms of the game: the traditional 18-hole format and the simulated game. You see gamers drift cars like a pro on simulators and replicate it in an actual car, but I can’t see this happening in golf.
Recently, TrackMan ran an online league, but a clever bunch of gamers found a way to hack the system and win. This is an issue with digital over traditional; how do you accurately govern a sport that is run by computer codes? Thankfully, it’s all beyond me.
Not having defending champion Victor Perez in the field for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship meant I was uncertain if I was going to make it over to Yas Links for the event, but I will be there to assist Guido Migliozzi, who is currently 16th in the rankings and in line to get a PGA TOUR place next season along with Joaquim Niemann, who also picked up a win early on in the season and is currently ranked 30th on the Race to Dubai.
With so many points and money on the line at Yas Links and at the DP World Tour Championship, it is essential they both stick to the system we’ve put in place. Guido’s victory at the KLM Open and second-place finish at the Volvo China Open showed he’s got the game; we just need to remain focused on getting the job done.
Joaquim has been a dominating force on LIV Golf this season, narrowly missing out to Jon Rahm in the individual standings, and has the all round game to win at Yas Links and Jumeirah Golf Estates. He last teed it up on the DP World Tour at the Dubai Desert Classic, where he tied fourth, not a bad result considering he had little knowledge of the Majlis course.
I can’t believe this month marks Worldwide Golf’s 25th anniversary. I remember when the first issue came out, and I didn’t think it would last, as there were hardly any courses or golfers, especially when you compare it to other regions in the world. I hate to be proven wrong, but on this occasion, I was. To see how the magazine and golf have established themselves in the region isn’t luck but hard work. I was told by one of my team in Dubai that Alex, who launched the magazine in 1999, has been involved in the production of every single issue since it launched. Good job Alex’s is mad about the game.
Here is to another 25 years and who knows what the golf scene will look like in 2050.
