Other than lightning strikes and screaming line drives from the other fairway, a golf course is generally meant to be a refuge from thoughts of our own mortality.

Would you feel differently if you knew those thoughts helped you play better golf?

The topic is surprisingly relevant after both Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy this week turned questions about their legacies into existential reflections.

First Scottie: “I have never once thought about how I’m going to be remembered. To me, it truly doesn’t matter from a sense of accomplishment. Like when I die, ‘Hey, Scottie won four majors and 20 tournaments and he won this much money’. That has zero effect on me.”

Then Rory: “I would like to think that the people that love and care about me think a certain way of me, but yeah, I’ll be long gone. I’ll be dead. I don’t think I’ll be seeing what people say about me. I’ll be six feet under.”

Maybe this feels like weighty subject matter for guys just trying to navigate a ball around the golf course, yet there is evidence to suggest this perspective helps with even that. The reason is something called “temporal distancing”, which the University of Michigan psychology professor Ethan Kross describes as “mentally time travelling into the future.” In other words, by trying to anticipate how we might feel (or not feel) about an event in the future, we’re more likely to reduce its perceived significance now.

“Studies show that when people are going through a difficult experience, asking them to imagine how they’ll feel about it ten years from now, rather than tomorrow, can be another remarkably effective way of putting their experience in perspective,” Kross writes in his book Chatter. “Doing so leads people to believe that their experiences are temporary.”

Regardless of whether Scheffler or McIlroy had this concept specifically in mind when entertaining questions about their place in history, their answers still speak to a valuable tactic for handling competitive pressure that I’ve referenced before. When do golfers experience stress? When they sense something important is at stake. That response on its own is natural, and even needed. But as scientists have found, our nervous systems respond better when we feel we have the resources to meet a demand rather than believing we’re overmatched. Some of that can come from belief in our skills. But it’s also by recognising that the “demand” isn’t so daunting to begin with.

“What it does is it tends to reduce the meaning of a failure to you,” said Dr Jeremy Jamieson, a stress researcher and psychology professor at the University of Rochester. “If you’re immersed in something, this means everything right now, but if you can see yourself in a more third-person objective standard, the meaning becomes less intense.”

Distancing by time, by perspective, or by imagining the worst are all versions of the same move: shrinking what the moment demands of you until it’s something you can meet. If you’re dreading missing a putt at the end of a match, take a moment to remember what it really means. At some point in the near future, it’s not going to seem as important as it feels now. And as even McIlroy reminds himself on occasion, he’s likely to wake up the next morning regardless.

“If you’re trying to overcome anxiety or nerves around performance, I do try to think about, well, what’s the worst that could happen? I’m not going to die on the golf course.” McIlroy said on the Whoop podcast. “Imagining the worst-case scenario gave me a level of comfort cause I felt like any worst-case scenario that I could bring up in my head, I’ll be able to deal with.”

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: Stuart Franklin

The post “We’re all going to die” is the swing thought you didn’t know you needed appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The New Course at Trump International Golf Links opened in 2025 and was immediately named World’s Best Golf Course and Europe’s Best New Golf Course at the World Golf Awards. The Old Course, which opened in 2012, is already in Golf Digest’s World’s 100 Greatest, voted Best Modern Course in Great Britain and Ireland, and became a DP World Tour host that same year. Both courses occupy the same vast Aberdeenshire coastal estate. You play them from the same tee sheet. There is no other 36-hole facility in Scotland that comes close.

Best time to visit: April to October (open year-round).
Nearest airport: Aberdeen International Airport (ABZ), 20 minutes from the Menie Estate.
Flight time from Dubai: Approximately 7.5 hours via London or Amsterdam.

GOLF COURSES

1. Trump International Golf Links – Old Course
• 18 holes, Par 72
• Designed by Dr. Martin Hawtree and opened in 2012, the Old Course sits in Golf Digest’s World’s 100 Greatest – a rare distinction for a course barely a decade old. It became a DP World Tour host in 2025 and boasts the largest practice facilities in Scotland. The routing through the Great Dunes of Scotland along the North Sea shoreline produces a links experience that is both classically framed and visually unlike anywhere else in the country.

2. Trump International Golf Links – New Course
• 18 holes, Par 72
• Named World’s Best Golf Course and Europe’s Best New Golf Course at the 2025 World Golf Awards in its opening year. Cavernous sandy hollows, expansive native wetlands and towering marram grass dunes define a layout that pushes further into the wilder reaches of the estate – longer, rawer and more elemental than the Old Course, with open sea views from the closing stretch.

WHERE TO STAY

1. MacLeod House & Lodge
• Rating: ★★★★★
• Why it stands out: A Scottish baronial mansion at the heart of the Menie Estate, MacLeod House has 18 ensuite rooms, secret stairways, log fires, a whisky snug and a wellness retreat – and you’re sleeping two hundred yards from the first tee. The Restaurant & Cellar offers refined seasonal menus with sommelier service; the intimate bar functions as the best post-round room in Aberdeenshire. Available for exclusive hire.

BEYOND FAIRWAYS

Must-try restaurants & cuisine
• The Dunes Restaurant & Bar – Scottish and American classics with North Sea views.
• Trump’s Restaurant & Cellar at MacLeod House – refined seasonal menus with sommelier service and the kind of white linen that makes a Sunday lunch feel like an occasion.

Cultural highlights
• Balmoral Castle is one hour by car and worth the detour.
• Aberdeen city centre – 16km from the estate – offers historic granite architecture that gives the city a particular austerity and a distinct character from anywhere else in Scotland.

Activities & experiences
• Sea kayaking, salmon fishing and deer stalking in the Aberdeenshire glens.
• Whisky tasting on the estate and across the nearby Speyside distilleries.
• Heritage Retreat wellness spa on the estate.

Local tip
• Visit the Clavis Whisky Bar on the estate after your round. It carries one of the finest whisky selections in Aberdeenshire – and the dram tastes different when you’ve just played
36 holes across the Great Dunes of Scotland.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Average green fee
• EUR 80-150 per round.
Getting around
• Car hire recommended.
• Aberdeen city centre 16km.
• Taxis available from Aberdeen.
Currency
• British Pound (GBP).
Language
• English.

trumpgolfscotland.com

This guide is free to our loyal audience. You can scroll through the ISSUU link below or download it to your favourite device for later. We hope you enjoy the read.

RELATED: Golf Travel Guide 2025

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: Trump International Golf Links – New Course. Jacob Sjöman

The post Golf Travel Guide 2026: Scotland/Aberdeenshire appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Rory McIlroy’s first task at Royal Birkdale ahead of the 154th Open Championship is to fix one of the oldest problems in links golf.

To stop the wind from wrecking his golf swing.

You can see Rory get to work on the R&A’s fantastic Live on the Range YouTube broadcast from Monday below.

Rory’s problem to solve, in theory at least, is fairly simple:

Rory likes to see a subtle draw. That was his stock shot shape growing up, and his general comfort zone.

The problem heading into the Open Championship started on the range of the Genesis Scottish Open, which had a strong left-to-right wind blowing across it. This is a common hazard in professional golf, and when it happens, players instinctively start hitting bigger shapes to compensate so their stock shot looks like their stock shot.

Then they get on the course, and it all goes wrong. Now the wind is different, and they realise the hard way what just happened: That the range wind was screwing with them.

In Rory’s case, it led him into his golf swing’s bad habit. He began swinging too far to the right, with a clubface too left relative to it. His small draw was now producing ugly left shots that were being masked by the range and exposed on the course.

As Rory himself explained:

“I just need to hit some balls in a right-to-left wind. That usually helps me. Again, it’s the same thing that I get a lot when I start hitting balls in a left-to-right wind like it has been over the weekend. My path and my face just get too far apart, in terms of like my face is just the further left than my path is and I start hitting these left shots, especially with the irons…I just get into that bad habit of hitting it further left than the path at impact.”

The good news is that he knows what went wrong—all that’s left is figuring out how to fix it.

MORE GOLF DIGEST OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE

Everything you need to know about this year’s major at Royal Birkdale

The Open Championship is not called “The British”

After hitting the opening tee shot at the U.S. Open, James Nicholas qualifies

Here’s everybody in the field (so far) at Royal Birkdale

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: Supplied

The post The Open 2026: Rory McIlroy’s range wind golf swing problem, explained appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

What happens when you mark a ball and then it moves? What about before you mark it?

When two balls are equidistant to the hole, who putts first?

If a ball is resting against the flagstick but resting above the surface of the cup, is it holed?

Is your ball on the green if only a sliver of it is on the putting surface?

You might know some rules on the green, but did you have the right answer to all of these questions? If so, kudos. If not, it might be worth remembering these nine things about what you can and can’t do on the putting green.

1. You’re on the green if even the tiniest portion of your ball is touching it. And if it is, you’re allowed to mark it and clean it. This rule is important to remember when a golf course subtly changes from fringe to green, like when red dots mark the border of the putting green.

2. You can remove loose impediments or repair damage on your line of putt. Just be careful what you attempt to repair. Spike marks and pitch marks are fine to fix. Aeration holes can’t be fixed (it’s a two-shot penalty in stroke play or loss of hole in match play if you do).

3. If you accidentally cause your ball or ball-marker to move, there is no penalty. This includes when making a practice stroke near the ball. Just remember to put the ball back on its original spot.

4. If natural forces such as wind, water or gravity move your ball, what you do next depends on two things. If you marked your ball, replace it on its original spot. If you didn’t mark your ball, play from the new position.

5. You can rub a green to remove loose impediments, but you can’t do it to test the surface. You can also rub the green on a hole you just completed or a practice green to test the surface, but that’s it. Do it anywhere else, and it’s a two-shot penalty or loss of hole in match play.

6. If your ball is resting against the flagstick, examine it closely. If any part of it is below the surface of the green, the ball is considered holed. If none of it is, then you still need to hole out. And if you remove the flagstick and the ball moves, even dropping into the cup, you have to replace the ball on the lip of the hole before holing out.

7. In match play, if two balls are equidistant from the hole, you can agree to play in any order or resolve the issue with some random method. In stroke play, there is no penalty for playing out of order, so it doesn’t matter who putts first.

8. When required to take relief on a green for any reason, you always place the ball. Don’t drop it from knee height.

9. If any part of your ball is on the wrong green—meaning another green than the one you are playing toward—do not hit a shot from that putting surface. It’s a two-shot penalty or loss of hole if you do. You have to take relief off the green, including where you stand, and it can’t be closer to the hole. It’s a one-club-length, slice-of-pie-shaped area where you drop.

MORE GOLF DIGEST RULES REVIEWS

My opponent drove in front of me and I hit his golf buggy. Who gets the penalty stroke?

Can you be penalized for playing music on a golf course?

Our match is going to extra holes

My ball is just outside a ‘no play zone.’ Can I stand in it to hit my shot?

Can I use a long putter when measuring my relief area?

I’m hitting a 6-iron on a par 3. Can I use my driver to measure the teeing area?

Can you hit a provisional ball after hitting a shot into a penalty area?

My opponent took a generous drop after hitting into a hazard. Can he be DQ’d for that?

Can I clean mud off my golf ball while playing a hole?

Can you repair divot holes or pitch marks in your line before hitting a shot?

I just played the wrong ball. What do I do now?

You’re playing a Titleist. Two holes later, it’s a Callaway. Is switching golf balls mid-round allowed?

Can you be penalised for putting tape on a golf glove? Actually …

My opponent’s ball is in my peripheral vision. Can I ask him to move it?

I knocked it stiff on a par 3 and didn’t putt it. What score do I put down for my handicap?

Some mud landed on my ball after my opponent hit a shot. Can I lift and clean it?

A tree is in ground under repair, but my ball is next to a root outside the marked area. Do I get relief?

My ball ‘might’ be in a pond, but I can’t find it. Can I just take a drop, add a penalty stroke and move on?

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: Tony Anderson

The post Rules of Golf Review: You’re on the green in regulation (congrats). Here’s a quick guide to putting-green rules appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

When it comes to keeping an eye on their shots headed toward water, professional golfers usually have the benefit of cameras, marshals and galleries to help. Even so, that hasn’t kept tour pros from disagreeing at times over exactly where a ball might have crossed into a penalty area and where the player who hit the shot should take a drop.

A famous example of this came during the first round of the 2024 Players Championship. On the seventh hole at TPC Sawgrass, Rory McIlroy hit an errant tee shot that hooked into the water left of the fairway. It was one of the few spots on the course that did not have a camera with a clear view of the ball, and one of McIlroy’s playing partners, Jordan Spieth, questioned where McIlroy was going to take his drop.

You, too, might flag or be flagged for taking a generous lateral-relief drop after hitting a ball in a penalty area. And while that might be the subject for a debate with the players in your group, one thing that is not up for discussion is what happens if you can’t find your ball but aren’t sure it actually went in the water.

There might be decent evidence that you hit a ball into a penalty area, which would entitle you to multiple relief options, including lateral relief or back-on-the-line relief. However, the evidence has to be overwhelming to proceed with those options. By overwhelming, there has to be at least 95 per cent certainty. In the Rules of Golf, the term is “known or virtually certain.”

Let’s role-play for a moment: You hit a rescue shot over a tree toward a green that is guarded by a pond. The shot appears to be coming up just short—and likely wet. However, no one in your group watched your shot, and you never saw or heard a splash. No one did. Upon reaching the pond, you see there are literally dozens of balls in the water, and there is no telling which one might be yours. The penalty area is marked with red stakes on your side, so you think you can take lateral relief by estimating the last spot your ball likely crossed over its border and dropping within two club lengths, no closer to the hole.

Adding a penalty stroke to your score, are you good to go with hitting a pitch shot onto the green?

The answer: Probably not.

Rule 17.1c covers this scenario. If it is not known or virtually certain the ball is in the pond—maybe it plugged on the bank or got deflected by the tree into high grass or fescue—then you cannot proceed with most of the relief options of Rule 17.1. In fact, you have to turn to Rule 18.2 and proceed with the ball being considered lost.

That means you return to the spot where you just played and hit another shot, adding a penalty stroke to your score. If you dropped by the water and played as if taking lateral relief, you would be penalised for playing from the wrong place (Rule 14.7). It’s a two-shot penalty in stroke play or loss of hole in match play.

Also, in stroke play, if it’s considered a “serious breach” and it wasn’t corrected by going back and playing from the right spot, you would be disqualified if you begin the next hole or return a scorecard after the final hole.

Under the Definitions section in the Rules of Golf, this is what is considered a serious breach: “When playing from a wrong place could give the player a significant advantage compared to the stroke to be made from the right place. … Factors to be taken into account include the difficulty of the stroke, the distance of the ball from the hole, the effect of obstacles on the line of play and conditions affecting the stroke.”

There is no concept of serious breaches in match play because you lose a hole the moment you play from the wrong place.

Back to the scenario of your ball maybe being in a penalty area, you’ll need to grab a ball retriever or go wading to identify it, and you’ve only got three minutes to get lucky.

MORE GOLF DIGEST RULES REVIEWS

My opponent drove in front of me and I hit his golf buggy. Who gets the penalty stroke?

Can you be penalized for playing music on a golf course?

Our match is going to extra holes

My ball is just outside a ‘no play zone.’ Can I stand in it to hit my shot?

Can I use a long putter when measuring my relief area?

I’m hitting a 6-iron on a par 3. Can I use my driver to measure the teeing area?

Can you hit a provisional ball after hitting a shot into a penalty area?

My opponent took a generous drop after hitting into a hazard. Can he be DQ’d for that?

Can I clean mud off my golf ball while playing a hole?

Can you repair divot holes or pitch marks in your line before hitting a shot?

I just played the wrong ball. What do I do now?

You’re playing a Titleist. Two holes later, it’s a Callaway. Is switching golf balls mid-round allowed?

Can you be penalised for putting tape on a golf glove? Actually …

My opponent’s ball is in my peripheral vision. Can I ask him to move it?

I knocked it stiff on a par 3 and didn’t putt it. What score do I put down for my handicap?

Some mud landed on my ball after my opponent hit a shot. Can I lift and clean it?

A tree is in ground under repair, but my ball is next to a root outside the marked area. Do I get relief?

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: warrengoldswain

The post Rules of Golf Review: My ball ‘might’ be in a pond, but I can’t find it. Can I just take a drop, add a penalty stroke and move on? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Golf’s most valuable piece of land is unintentionally unknown to most golfers. Turn onto 91st Street in Surfside, Fla., north of Miami Beach, and you’ll encounter a highly ornamented, police-gated bridge that looks like an entrance into a country club. In a way, it is. Indian Creek Village has become an enclave for society’s richest individuals. Mark Zuckerberg and his wife just closed on a $170 million, 1.8-acre mansion. Jeff Bezos is building his estate on multiple parcels of land, and around the corner lives Tom Brady, among other famous residents. There are only 41 homeowners inside the community known as Billionaire’s Bunker on the manmade barrier island in Biscayne Bay.

At the heart of this sanctum is Indian Creek Country Club, an historic William Flynn design from 1929 that was recently renovated by architect Andrew Green. The course was here before any of the big homes. The elite like to escape here not only because this 294-acre island is ultra-secure but because the golf course has intrinsic value. Preposterous as it may be to calculate what the land locked in 18 holes such as these is worth, we posed that very question. It’s an impious topic, of course. No golfer with a soul would ever propose bulldozing Indian Creek, Pebble Beach or any other great course for real estate development.

SAFE HAVEN: Wealthy neighbours are confident Indian Creek will stay the same.

Frazer Rice, a strategic asset manager, author and podcast host of “Wealth Actually,” started this exercise by evaluating the land and zoning restrictions for all courses in Golf Digest’s most recent ranking of America’s 100 Greatest Courses. He then ran comparison sales and identified government restrictions to arrive at a hypothetical value for each property if sold for the highest and most legally permissible use under current zoning. He also looked at standouts outside the top 100, such as Indian Creek and Maroon Creek Club in Aspen, Colo., to help offer a comprehensive geographical representation of our game’s greatest assets.

“The land [that LACC sits on] is so valuable and has such high commercial potential because of the surrounding developments. The land would be snatched so darn fast.”
–Dan Spiegel, managing director of global operations at Coldwell Banker

Per Rice’s modelling, Indian Creek blew away every other course with its estimated $3-5 billion price tag. “The island’s exclusivity and ultra-luxury residential context make this the highest per-acre estimate of any course in this analysis,” Rice says. Unlike all his other course valuations, Rice went purposefully more conservative for Indian Creek, “accounting for the reduction in exclusivity and scarcity driving down the value, plus the assumed need for more infrastructure such as additional roads, sewage, utilities and commercial development, stores and such, to handle the significant increase in population.”

Our phantastic scenario can also be read as a reminder that premier golf land is irreplaceable and continues to be the most coveted private land in the United States. “Not because of what it’s worth if you tear it down—but because nobody is ever going to assemble it again,” says Bert Guy, a Tuscaloosa-based attorney and president of Campfire Golf, which has developed some of golf’s hottest destination clubs such as The Fall Line in Georgia, Childress Hall in Texas and High Grove in Florida. “Indian Creek isn’t valuable because it could be 41 more mansions. It’s valuable because the 41 mansions next to it depend on it staying exactly what it is.”

The highest-value land that has the highest potential to be developed is likely Wynn Golf Club, sitting on 130 acres within the Strip of Las Vegas.

Some other unrealistic but fascinating case studies are on the West Coast. In Beverly Hills, overlooking Bel-Air Country Club is the most expensive home ever listed in the United States, a 70,000-square-foot mega mansion owned by Qatar’s royal family priced at $400 million. The golf course, recently remodelled by Tom Doak and hosting the 2026 Curtis Cup, would fetch about $1.8 billion, Rice says. As you play the fourth hole at Los Angeles Country Club’s North course, you can admire Lionel Richie’s $30-million home. Rice ran the numbers on LACC’s two 18-hole courses comprising 325 acres in the affluent Brentwood section of LA and estimated it’d be worth somewhere between $3-8 million per acre, so as much as $2.6 billion. Dan Spiegel, managing director of global operations at Coldwell Banker, adds, “That land is so valuable and has such high commercial potential because of the surrounding developments. The land would be snatched so darn fast.”

Of course, for all the supposed temptation to develop this prime real estate, clubs like LACC survive because the surrounding wealth needs the land to remain untouched.

“LACC does a better job of protecting Brentwood property values than any HOA in California could ever dream of,” Guy says. “The course isn’t a holdout against development. It’s the architecture that makes the surrounding development valuable.”

DECENT ODDS: Las Vegas is the rare place where golf might turn into buildings.

The highest-value land that has the highest potential to be developed is likely Wynn Golf Club, sitting on 130 acres within the Strip of Las Vegas. Originally conceived by casino magnate Steve Wynn on the site of the old Desert Inn course, the land of this Tom Fazio creation has already been rezoned for potential resort expansion, according to Clark County plans, and has been openly discussed by Wynn Resorts. “It’s among some of the most commercially valuable land in the United States,” Rice says. For comparison, MGM paid roughly $562 million for 37 acres behind Bellagio in 2021.

How about Pebble Beach, golf’s greatest meeting of land and sea? Picturing high-rises along the iconic seventh tee box is enough to make golfers sick to their stomach. Don’t worry; it’s highly unlikely Pebble Beach’s owners would ever sell the property. Also, California’s restrictions via the Coastal Act would severely limit any development. With those caveats, $880 million for this land is perhaps a conservative number. A 7,700-square-foot home along Pebble’s 11th hole sold for $24 million in March 2026. Heaven forbid condos ever do go up, the inland holes wouldn’t have the same value as the land directly along Stillwater Cove with ocean views.

RARE BEAUTY: Golf developers will never again find available land like Pebble Beach. Stephen Szurlej

In the highly sought-after land of Long Island, where eight of America’s 100 Greatest Courses reside, Maidstone Club in East Hampton, N.Y., slightly edges Sebonack and Shinnecock Hills for the most valuable land, with estimates ranging up to $1.5 million per acre for high total value of $300 million. To buy the land to build Sebonack in 2001, Michael Pascucci paid $46 million in cash to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ Union Local 3 and then donated 54 acres of wetlands to the town of Southampton. His land today is worth $253 million, says Rice, or 554 per cent more than he paid for it 25 years ago. Of course, Pascucci, who has become one of golf’s marquee developers with his Apogee Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla., would never sell the land to be used for something other than golf.

The current boom in course construction has many developers searching for cheap land in remote areas. Developers like Guy are trying to replicate the model of Indian Creek or Maidstone, deliberately assembling the kind of acreage many of these older clubs acquired almost by accident. Whether they can succeed is perhaps the more important question than if Medinah can ever be subdivided. Golf clubs have become the de facto vehicle for a privacy economy that real estate alone can’t deliver. “The land is valuable because of the golf—not the other way around,” Guy says.

LAND HO!

The list below represents projected land value for ten notable golf courses, calculated by taking the hypothetical value of each property if sold for its highest and best legally permissible use under current zoning. We chose a geographically diverse selection of clubs to illustrate a wide selection of various markets and appropriate value based on recent transactions.

ISLAND

Indian Creek Country Club
Indian Creek Village, Fla.
Estimated acreage: 180
Value: $3-5 billion

MAJOR CITY

Los Angeles Country Club
Los Angeles
Estimated acreage: 325
Value: $2.6 billion

RESORT

Pebble Beach G. Links
Estimated acreage: 176
Value: $880 million

WEST COAST

The Olympic Club
San Francisco
Estimated acreage: 300
Value: $750 million

DESERT

Wynn Golf Club
Las Vegas
Estimated acreage: 130
Value: $520 million

FLORIDA COAST

Carlos Amoedo

Seminole Golf Club
Juno Beach, Fla.
Estimated acreage: 175
Value: $437 million

LONG ISLAND

Maidstone Club
East Hampton, N.Y.
Estimated acreage: 200
Value: $300 million

MOUNTAIN

Maroon Creek Club
Aspen, Colo.
Estimated acreage: 200
Value: $300 million

SUBURBAN

Winged Foot Golf Club
Mamaroneck, N.Y.
Estimated acreage: 280
Value: $252 million

MIDWEST

Medinah (Ill.) Country Club
Estimated acreage: 650
Value: $130 million

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: Evan Schiller

The post What’s the land worth at golf’s greatest courses? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

We lead with Scottie Scheffler, and rightly so. The cover feature is one of the most thoughtful pieces of golf writing you will read this year – a genuine attempt to place Scheffler in his proper historical context, drawing on the voices of Lee Trevino, Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo to ask whether we are watching the most complete player the game has ever seen. The answer, as Trevino himself puts it, is that Scheffler may have quietly retired everything he ever said on the subject. It is essential reading ahead of Birkdale.

Speaking of which, our Where to Play section offers a hole-by-hole guide to Royal Birkdale itself – a course that’s rightly described as the most even-handed test in the Open rota, and one that will reward straight driving and total command this July. If you are making the trip, read it before you pack your waterproofs.

We also mark a remarkable centennial with an account of Bobby Jones and the immortal shot at Royal Lytham & St Annes that not only won the 1926 Open, but arguably made the Grand Slam of 1930 possible. I will admit this was my personal highlight of the issue – a reminder that golf’s greatest moments are often separated from failure by the thinnest of margins. One hundred years on, the story loses none of its drama, and I suspect the golf buffs among you will enjoy the history lesson as much as I did.

Elsewhere, there’s a fascinating examination of how much real estate value is locked inside golf’s greatest courses – a thought-provoking read that reframes what these places actually mean beyond the ropes. There’s also an analysis of the swing adjustments helping Jeeno Thitikul chase LPGA history, and our Fringe feature catches up with Train frontman Pat Monahan on the unlikely parallels between life on tour and life on the road.

Finally, we spotlight one of the most exciting young golfers this region has produced – Emirati amateur Rayan Ahmed, whose journey from a Covid lockdown obsession to NCAA Division I scholarship is exactly the kind of story that reminds you why this game gets under your skin and never quite lets go.

All this and plenty more in the July/August 2026 edition of Golf Digest Middle East.

The issue is again free to our loyal audience. You can scroll through the ISSUU link provided here or download it to your favourite device for later. Alternatively, pick up a copy at your local golf club. Whatever option you take, we hope you enjoy the read.

The post Get your July/August 2026 edition of Golf Digest Middle East here! appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The timing is not accidental. La Réserve Golf Links, the links-style course co-designed by Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen that forms the centrepiece of Heritage Golf Club, was ranked 28th among the world’s best courses outside the United States by Golfweek earlier this year. That kind of external validation tends to bring a sharper focus to how a property positions itself – and Heritage is clearly leaning into the opportunity.

Heritage Resorts & Golf, Mauritius. Supplied

The Golf Programme: PGA Instruction at a World Top 30 Course
Two PGA professionals are confirmed for coaching sessions across the remainder of 2026, each running structured programmes designed to work on consistency and course management rather than wholesale swing overhaul – the kind of practical improvement that actually travels back home with you.

Lewis Wallace – July & October 2026
A French-British PGA Professional and Heritage Resorts & Golf Ambassador, Wallace brings immersive coaching sessions built around confidence and consistency. His sessions are structured to help players find repeatable patterns on the course rather than the range, which suits the links setting at La Réserve particularly well.

Joël Bernard – October 2026
A PGA of France member with more than 30 years of professional coaching experience, Bernard’s expertise sits in the technical and strategic side of the game. His October sessions will cover shot selection and course management alongside technical fundamentals – areas where most club golfers, whatever their handicap, tend to leave shots on the course.

The Wellness Calendar: Three Properties, Three Experiences

The wellness side of the programme spans Heritage Awali Golf & Spa Resort, Heritage Le Telfair Golf & Wellness Resort, and Le Château de Bel Ombre – three distinct properties within the 2,500-hectare Bel Ombre estate, which sits inside a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Three international practitioners are confirmed for retreats between October and December.

Tara Lee – 30 September to 2 October
An internationally recognised British yoga instructor, Lee leads mindfulness and personalised guidance sessions. Her retreats run over a long weekend and are designed for guests who want structured practice rather than a casual class added to a hotel stay.

Kati Mairhofer – 26 November to 1 December
Austrian wellness coach Mairhofer brings restorative yoga and meditation across a six-day programme. The late-November timing places this in what is peak season in Mauritius – ideal conditions on the course and, on the evidence of the billing, in the wellness pavilion too.

Michaela Krauss – December 2026
A specialist in Yin Yoga and holistic practices, Krauss closes the calendar with deeply restorative sessions. Yin Yoga’s focus on long-held, passive poses works particularly well as a complement to golf – the hip and lower back mobility it builds is directly relevant to anyone who has played four rounds in a week and felt it.

The Wellness Pavilion at Heritage Le Telfair. Supplied

2026 Golf & Wellness Calendar at a Glance

Dates | Programme | Expert
July 2026 | Golf coaching: consistency & confidence | Lewis Wallace (PGA)
30 Sep – 2 | Oct Wellness retreat: mindfulness & yoga | Tara Lee
October 2026 | Golf coaching: technical & strategic play | Joël Bernard (PGA of France)
October 2026 | Golf coaching: consistency & confidence | Lewis Wallace (PGA)
26 Nov – 1 Dec | Wellness retreat: restorative yoga & meditation | Kati Mairhofer
December 2026 | Wellness retreat: Yin Yoga & holistic practice | Michaela Krauss

About Heritage Golf Club
Heritage Golf Club sits within the Domaine de Bel Ombre on the southern coast of Mauritius and offers 45 holes across two courses: La Réserve Golf Links and Le Château Golf Course. The club is home to a Leadbetter Golf Academy and has hosted DP World Tour events on both layouts. For golfers travelling from the Gulf, the flight time from Dubai is approximately six hours – a manageable journey for a week-long trip that justifies the distance.

Raoul Maurel, Chief Operations Officer at Heritage Resorts & Golf, described the intent behind the programme: “Our focus is to provide an integrated lifestyle experience that goes beyond a traditional resort stay, combining the excellence of a globally ranked golf destination with holistic well-being. This vision is founded in the authenticity of Bel Ombre and the richness of curated year-round experiences.”

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: La Réserve Golf Links at Heritage Golf Club. Supplied

The post Heritage Golf Club Pairs PGA Coaching with Wellness Retreats in New Mauritius Calendar appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

There are the guys and gals who get paid to play golf, and then there’s the rest of us. That might be oversimplifying this a bit, but when it comes to hitting a shot off or next to a tree root, the decision to try definitely boils down to motivation.

Damage to clubs, wrists, elbows—even the poor tree itself—have to be taken into consideration. Is it really worth it? For Tiger Woods at the 2015 Masters, it was. Remember his famous quote after striking a root on the ninth hole (below)? “A bone kind of popped out and the joint kind of went out of place,” he explained. “But I put it back in.”

David Cannon

He really said that.

Golf’s mantra of “playing it as it lies” is often put to the test, but what happens when your ball might be impacted by ground under repair? Let’s take a closer look.

For starters, ground under repair is typically, but not always, marked in some way by a course or committee (paint, stakes, signs, etc). You might encounter a hole dug by the maintenance staff or a bunch of leaves piled for removal that isn’t marked. Doesn’t matter, it’s still considered ground under repair. Holes dug by most animals fall into this category, too.

If your ball is touching the boundary or inside it entirely, you are entitled to one club length (not two) of free relief away from GUR that is no closer to the hole. Same goes for your stance or swing if it would come into contact with GUR. You get a free drop if the GUR is not on the putting green. If there is GUR on a putting green, you also get free relief if it’s on your line of play. Just remember that you place the ball in the relief spot. Don’t drop it like you would if it were off the green.

You also can play the shot as it lies, but you’re probably not going to get a Christmas card from the superintendent if you do.

Now here’s the part of ground-under-repair relief you might not know: Any tree or plant that is rooted inside the GUR is considered part of the area that would entitle you to free relief. That includes any part of the tree or plant that extends up and outside the boundary (think of a tree branch).

But here’s the catch: “When [an] object is attached to or below the ground outside the edge of the defined area, such as a tree root that is part of a tree rooted inside the edge,” you do not get relief from it. You can take an unplayable lie, but that comes with a one-stroke penalty.

Still and unplayable might be the best option if you don’t want to find yourself saying something like, “A bone kind of popped out and the joint kind of went out of place. But I put it back in.”

MORE GOLF DIGEST RULES REVIEWS

My opponent drove in front of me and I hit his golf buggy. Who gets the penalty stroke?

Can you be penalized for playing music on a golf course?

Our match is going to extra holes

My ball is just outside a ‘no play zone.’ Can I stand in it to hit my shot?

Can I use a long putter when measuring my relief area?

I’m hitting a 6-iron on a par 3. Can I use my driver to measure the teeing area?

Can you hit a provisional ball after hitting a shot into a penalty area?

My opponent took a generous drop after hitting into a hazard. Can he be DQ’d for that?

Can I clean mud off my golf ball while playing a hole?

Can you repair divot holes or pitch marks in your line before hitting a shot?

I just played the wrong ball. What do I do now?

You’re playing a Titleist. Two holes later, it’s a Callaway. Is switching golf balls mid-round allowed?

Can you be penalised for putting tape on a golf glove? Actually …

My opponent’s ball is in my peripheral vision. Can I ask him to move it?

I knocked it stiff on a par 3 and didn’t putt it. What score do I put down for my handicap?

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: oisobach

The post Rules of Golf Review: A tree is in ground under repair, but my ball is next to a root outside the marked area. Do I get relief? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

400 courses. 320 days of sunshine. Spain has been the default European golf destination for decades, and it hasn’t coasted on reputation alone – the Costa del Sol, nicknamed the Costa del Golf, keeps building, keeps improving, and keeps drawing the best players and the most discerning travellers on the continent. From the Ryder Cup legacy of Valderrama to the Atlantic links of Galicia, you can play a different style of golf every day of a two-week trip and never feel like you’ve exhausted it.

Best time to visit: March to June and September to November.
Nearest airport: Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP), gateway to the Costa del Sol. Madrid Barajas (MAD) and Barcelona El Prat (BCN) for other regions.
Flight time from Dubai: Approx. 7 hours direct.

GOLF COURSES

1. Costa del Sol – Andalusia
• 70+ courses, 18 holes, Par 72
• This is where Spain’s golfing reputation was made and where it continues to be earned. Valderrama – host of the 1997 Ryder Cup and still the benchmark by which every Andalusian course is measured – anchors a stretch of coastline that also takes in world-class venues across Marbella, Sotogrande and Estepona. The sheer concentration of championship layouts within driving distance of each other is unmatched anywhere in Europe, all set against Mediterranean views and the particular pleasure of Andalusian light in the late afternoon

2. Northern Spain & Galicia – Atlantic Links
• Multiple 18-hole layouts across the region
• Serious golfers who think they know Spain often haven’t played the north. The Atlantic coast offers a contrasting links-style experience – lush, green, dramatic, and increasingly on the radar of players looking for something beyond the familiarity of Andalusia. It’s a different country in every sense, and a compelling reason to book a second trip.

WHERE TO STAY

1. Golf Resort Hotels – Costa del Sol
• Rating: ★★★★/★★★★★
• Why it stands out: The Costa del Sol’s accommodation has kept pace with its courses. From Marbella to Sotogrande, golf resort hotels range from four-star functional to genuinely luxurious, many with on-site courses, pools, spas and direct access to multiple championship layouts – all within minutes of each other. SO/ Sotogrande, Fairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol, the Marbella Club Hotel and The Westin La Quinta Golf Resort & Spa in Benahavís represent the upper tier of the region’s offer.

BEYOND FAIRWAYS

Must-try restaurants & cuisine
• Traditional tapas bars and seafood restaurants in Marbella’s old town remain the most honest introduction to the region – jamón ibérico, fresh fish, paella. This is not a destination where you need a restaurant recommendation as much as a willingness to walk down a side street and sit down.

Cultural highlights
• The Alhambra palace in Granada is one of the most visited monuments in the world, and it earns every visitor.
• Seville’s historic centre, Córdoba’s Mezquita and the whitewashed villages of the Pueblos Blancos complete an Andalusian cultural itinerary that would justify the flight on its own, even without the golf.

Activities & experiences
• Day trip to Granada’s Alhambra palace.
• Explore the whitewashed villages of the Pueblos Blancos.
• Marina and beach life at Puerto Banús.
• Ferry to Tangier from Tarifa for a short North Africa excursion.

Local tip
• Book tee times three to four weeks in advance during peak spring and autumn seasons. A handicap certificate is required at most Spanish courses – bring documentation.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Average green fee
• EUR 50-250 per round, depending on course and season.
Getting around
• Car hire recommended for course-hopping.
• Taxis and ride-hailing are widely available in resort towns.
Currency
• Euro (EUR).
Language
• Spanish.
• English is widely spoken in resort areas.

spain.info/en/top/golfing-spain

This guide is free to our loyal audience. You can scroll through the ISSUU link below or download it to your favourite device for later. We hope you enjoy the read.

RELATED: Golf Travel Guide 2025

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: Golf in Costa del Sol (Andalucia)

The post Golf Travel Guide 2026: Spain/Andalusia appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.