Kuwait Golf Report

Written by David O. Brown


Spring is in the air and a young man’s thoughts turn to the golf course. Just because I’m in Kuwait living next to one of the world’s largest deserts isn’t going to stop me from playing golf.

With a little research I found Kuwait has two golf courses – one called the Sahara which is a grass course that is quite swanky. The fees were 50 Kuwaiti Dinar (KD) to play there.(note: About $175) Or there is the Ahmadi Golf Club. That course is 7 KD ($25) to play. Now knowing that I’m not the king of swank, you know which course I opted to play.

The Ahmadi Club had another attraction that made it the place for me. It was originally made for the oil workers and sits beside one of the largest oil fields in Kuwait. It has sand “greens” called browns. The fairways are packed sand. Once a month they drive a water truck with chains on the back over the fairways to groom them. The roughs have tuffs of grass growing and in the rough between 7 and 8 a very large gila monster type lizard ran past me. I was too slow getting my camera out and even though I asked him nicely, the guy I was golfing with wouldn’t reach down the hole and pull the lizard out for me.



Three other fellow teachers were brave enough to venture out with me into the wilds of Kuwait. We set out a 7:00am because the course didn’t open until 7:00 – I thought it was only a 15 minute drive but it turned out to be 35 kilometers away and the traffic was a bit heavy. Once there, we had to buy balls - packet of 3 for 3 KD(about 10 dollars) Green fees 7KD, club rental 3 KD – so about 13 KD 42 dollars later we started.

Only a couple flys in the ointment. One of our guys was left handed – any left handed golf clubs? – no! And actually he did really well as a leftie golfing right. How about 4 sets of clubs for four people? – no! So we made do with three sets. What? you want a 8 or 9 iron with that set? It’s amazing what you can do with a 5 and 7 iron.

The tee boxes are concrete with rubber mats, the fairways are a bit softer than concrete and a light brown color, the sand traps, and yes there were lot of sand traps, have lips of old tires covered with asphalt. Once you are done putting on the green, you have a large brush/broom you use to sweep off your footprints. The greens were surprisingly slow and got slower as the day heated up. The fairways on the other hand were very fast no problem here topping the ball – you get a great roll.

Our great adventure called for 18 holes but the heat is coming on fast here in Kuwait and at 38 degrees (101 Fahrenheit) by the end of 9 holes we decided that we had had enough fun for one day. Which was a shame as I was getting hot in more ways than one. I ended the last two holes birdie, par and shot a 46.

All in all what a great way to play golf . Next time someone comes over to visit us in Kuwait, I’ll take them out golfing in the sand.