Dubai golf clubs and the communities around them: seven courses, and where to buy a home by the fairway
Emirates Golf Club, Montgomerie, Dubai Creek, The Els Club, Dubai Hills, Arabian Ranches and Jumeirah Golf Estates: when each opened, who designed it and which communities surround it. A buyer's guide for people choosing the home, not the membership.
In Dubai, a golf course is more than a sports facility. It is the largest and most expensive green space a developer can give residents, so it usually becomes the centre of a district. We looked at why proximity to a course lifts prices, and where the rule stops working, in water and golf. This is the practical companion: seven well-known clubs and the communities people actually live in around them.
The established clubs: Emirates, Montgomerie, Creek
Emirates Golf Club. The Majlis course opened in 1988 as the region's first grass championship course and hosts the Dubai Desert Classic, played over the years by Tiger Woods and Ernie Els. The club's second course was later redesigned by Nick Faldo and carries his name. Around it are Emirates Hills, The Meadows, The Springs and JLT. The choice runs from a fairway plot villa costing tens of millions to a JLT apartment overlooking the course.
Montgomerie Golf Club Dubai. Opened in 2002 and designed by Colin Montgomerie with Desmond Muirhead, with the Address Montgomerie hotel on site. It is surrounded by Emirates Hills villas and the townhouses of The Lakes and The Meadows, some of the quietest mature districts in the city, with almost no new construction.
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Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. An 18-hole championship course on the Creek at Garhoud, with a marina and the sail-shaped clubhouse. There is no housing on the course itself, but Dubai Festival City is next door and Dubai Creek Harbour is rising across the water.
The 2000s: Arabian Ranches, The Els Club, Jumeirah Golf Estates
Arabian Ranches Golf Club opened in 2004, a desert course by Ian Baker-Finch with Nicklaus Design. It sits inside Arabian Ranches, one of Emaar's first villa communities, where the conversation today is more about renovating twenty-year-old homes than about launches.
The Els Club in Dubai Sports City opened in 2008, Ernie Els' first design in the Middle East. The apartments and Victory Heights villas around it are the cheapest way into a golf address in Dubai.
Jumeirah Golf Estates has two 18-hole courses by Greg Norman, Earth and Fire. The Earth course has hosted the DP World Tour season finale since 2009. Jumeirah Golf Estates is still being built out, so a villa with a course view and a villa in a new cluster with no view are two very different purchases.
The new generation: Dubai Hills
Dubai Hills Golf Club is an 18-hole course with Burj Khalifa views at the centre of Dubai Hills Estate, operated by Troon Golf. It is the only course on this list surrounded by both villas and dozens of apartment towers. The apartments along the edge and the houses inside are separate markets with different rents and different liquidity.
How to choose
| Goal | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Family villa, mature community | Emirates Hills, The Meadows, Arabian Ranches |
| Villa in a newer golf community | Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai Hills Estate |
| Course-view apartment to rent out | Dubai Hills Estate, JLT, Sports City |
| Lowest entry to a golf address | Dubai Sports City |
The main rule: pay for a course view only if it is protected. In newer communities another row of villas can appear between your home and the fairway, and the golf premium disappears with the view. Check the master plan and every plot between you and the course before you commit.
Choosing a home by a course? We will compare Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai Hills Estate and Emirates Hills on price per foot, rent and what is going to be built in front of your windows.
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