Tiger Has 3 Holes Done in Dubai

The AP has the good news.

Tiger Woods has completed the designs for three holes on his first golf course in Dubai, and it doesn't look like he's too concerned about the area's desert terrain. ... Woods' three completed holes feature lush greenery, including grass and shrubs, and greens well protected by bunkers or water.

Woods and his design company are developing a 7,800-yard, par-72 course called Al Ruwaya in Dubailand, the region's largest tourism and leisure project.

I don't want to shock you all, but apparently, Woods is lighting the design game on fire.

"The complexity in those three holes ... has set a different benchmark in the golfing industry," said Abdulla Al Gurg, the project director for The Tiger Woods Dubai.

Need proof? Al Gurg has it.

"He really resembles the word excellence," said Al Gurg, who toured several courses with Woods in January and was in New York this week for a charity event. "He looks at things in detail."

I am confirming from a totally made up source that Al Ruwaya is already on the Golf Digest Top 100 in the World. Donald Trump has to be very upset with this development.

Maybe this isn't really a news report. It just reads like a press release. Hell, it probably is and someone slapped their name on it at the AP in NYC. But, there is some actual content amidst the ridiculous PR work.

Let's get to the holes.

No. 12 is a par 3 at 181 yards, featuring a couple of different elevations and bunkers on the left and right of the front of the green. The next designed hole is No. 17, a drivable par 4 of 341 yards with three bunkers in the front and one in the back. Woods also has completed the plans for the finishing hole, a difficult par 4 playing at 507 yards. A stream will run in front of the tee and water lines the right side of the hole.

I don't know about you, but these holes sound eerily familiar to ones we all know and Tiger Woods loves.

No. 12 sounds an awful lot like No. 5 at Pebble Beach Golf Links - one of his favorite courses, and the hole was renovated by Jack Nicklaus.



No. 17 is tougher to peg. I'll let you know when I think of one that most sounds like.

The finishing hole is basically the 18th at Quail Hollow, but changing where the stream is.



Of course, there have to be inspirations for design. So, I'm not charging Woods with any kind of architectural plagiarism here, but you can see the inspirations in his design are likely coming from the courses that he loves to play around the world.