By Kent Gray
Arabian Ranches Golf Club is set to re-open on November 1 after a five-month renovation of the Dubai club’s greens that will return the championship layout to its glory days of the early 2000s, the club’s management company promise.

Troon International President Mark Chapleski is confident the makeover of the Ian Baker-Finch design, which began on June 1, will please and even surprise members and green fee players.

“…Anybody that has played it in the last 10 years will hardly recognise it. The green complexes are back to their original shape…it’s going to be awesome,“ Chapleski said.

“The greens look very healthy, they’re coming along well, we’ve done some other work on other parts of the golf course. It’s going to be a completely new experience. “

The practice putting green at the Emaar-owned property (which opened in 2004) has also been rebuilt while the driving range, turf nursery and the desert surrounds on most holes have been enhanced as part of the ambitious course improvement programme.

Like Chapleski, Arabian Ranches G.C. General Manager Elliott Gray is clearly happy with the progress as this series of social media posts highlight.

Desert Golf, a division of Desert Group, completed the greens renovation two weeks ahead of schedule. The course was closed to pave way for a greens renovation due to the invasion of foreign grasses, which had affected the uniformity, appearance and smoothness of the greens.

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“The Arabian Ranches greens renovation process entailed a comprehensive survey of all 18 greens, followed by excavation and the precise shaping of the subgrade of all the greens in order to mirror the final levels,” Desert Golf said in a statement.

“A consistent depth of USGA greens mix was then added and shaped to meet original design contours. Finally, the greens were planted with certified Platinum TE Paspalum sprigs, an environmentally sustainable, salt-tolerant turfgrass, which was refrigerated and shipped by air from the United States of America.”

Platinum TE features a dark green colour and due to its very fine leaf texture provides a tight compact canopy surface that provides “exceptional ball puttability”, Desert Golf said.