From the “hack” who has landed a joint commission from Augusta National and the R&A to the chimpanzee hugging MENA Tour player, to the Middle East’s answer to DJ and Paulina Gretzky, no issue is too serious for the Sand Trap. Sit back and enjoy an escape from your stuck-in-the-office drudgery.

By Kent Gray
Welcome to the second edition of the ‘Sand Trap’ where we’re glad to say our fresh take on Middle East golf through the lens of social media has been far more successful than Jordan Spieth’s putting of late. Yup, even the world’s best can duff a six-inch “gimme”.

We trust your trusty flat stick was more cooperative over the Eid Al Adha break and thank you for all the positive feedback to the inaugural instalment of this new online feature. Just in case you missed it, here’s a refresher of the first Sand Trap complete with Phil Mickelson’s unmissable Dad dance. Those are some seriously tough moves to watch top although don’t bet against it now Lefty has FINALLY joined the Twittersphere (yay) to confirm his $10 million (or is it $9m?) made for TV hit-and-giggle with Tiger is officially official.

We’re still grappling with the fact ‘The Match’ is a pay-per-view (boo) event, that it will clash with the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne (poor form) and might even steal a little bit of global focus away from the European Tour decider at Jumeirah Golf Estates the previous week (the DP World Tour Championship runs Nov. 15-19). Just know that here at The Sand Trap, we’d never stoop to such scheduling shenanigans, nor would we ever make you putt a six-inch tap-in. Unless of course, it was for 10 million greenbacks. Okay, maybe even 10 dirhams.

Anyway, we digress. Let’s refocus on what’s new in the hottest destination in golf, starting with some breaking news from the media centre.

THE JOY OF GOLF
We’ve never had the joy of seeing Joy Chakravarty swing a golf club but can vouch for him as one of the most-popular and prolific hacks in the media centres of the Middle East and beyond.

The unofficial president of the Anirban Lahiri and Rayhan Thomas fan clubs (in fact all things Indian golf), Chakravarty use to edit a now defunct (our fault, not his) regional rival to Golf Digest Middle East and penned the much-loved ‘The Joy of Golf’ column during his long reign at Sport 360. Indeed, Joy’s been covering golf since he started as a cub reporter for the Indian Express in Mumbai in 1995 and continues to report the game with great passion even though his words aren’t as prominent in the local press nowadays.

We continue to enjoy his regular musings on social media and none more so than this recent post when Augusta National and the R&A came knocking.

Awesome stuff Joy. It’s a richly deserved commission that underlines the former Indian PGA Tour media manager’s standing in the game and adds even more Middle East interest to the Oct. 4-7 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship where Thomas, the yet unnamed UAE national team and our next guest in the Sand Trap will feature.

But before we get to Saudi Arabia’s leading amateur Othman Almulla, we’ve been waiting for an opportunity to share this Facebook post – with an emphasis on the ‘Face’ – just before this year’s U.S. Open.


Rocking the face slug there Joy. Love it. Good luck in Singapore and we look forward to your company and quirky press conference questions at the Race to Dubai decider at JGE. Lunch is on us.

SAUDI PROUD

Othman Almulla, now 32, was 20 when he qualified for the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and got to meet golf royalty.

These are exciting times for Saudi golf with world No.1 Dustin Johnson and Masters champ Patrick Reed locked in for the kingdom’s European Tour debut in January.

Othman Almulla is a likely starter in the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club (Jan. 31- Feb.3) event but might not do so as the country’s leading amateur. You can get the inside scoop on the latest chapter in Almulla’s career in the Sept. edition of Golf Digest Middle East including the time he met Tiger Woods.

Almulla offers a rare insight into Saudi golf with his regular social media updates  – and all the hard work he’s putting into his plus-3 handicap game ahead of a third Eisenhower Trophy appearance as this post from Rolling Hills illustrates.

Always pushing myself to the next level and trying to find different ways to get better. Today’s post is a little look into my daily schedule. 1st pic: 30 min warmup routine specific to my physical needs to get me in the best condition to swing the club consistently from day to day created by @cgmperformance. 2nd: A big key to becoming better is to train and not practice, my coach @zanescotlandgolf advocates this every time we do work. So instead of number of ball to hit when working on changes we always talk about sets of 3, with first two balls being a drill then the last ball being a full swing. 3rd:Short game work on the course. 4th: Play the course trying to focus only on scoring. Feel free to send any questions! #nike #golf #ksa #saudiarabia#golfstagram #golfswing

A post shared by Othman Almulla (@othman.almulla.golf) on

Almulla is coached by Zane Scotland and is currently in London at the MENA Tour life-member’s academy with Saudi team-mates Khalid Attieh and Ali Alsakha putting the final touches on their prep ahead of the Sept. 4-8 world amateur teams championship.

Go well at Carton House G.C., Othman. As ever, we’re sure you’ll do Saudi proud in Ireland and back on home soil in late January.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MR. PATRON
Continuing the MENA Tour theme, we extend belated but hearty 50th birthday wishes to the mini tour’s hard-working patron Darren Clarke.

Golf has been a cruel temptress to the former Open Champion of late and his Champions Tour debut in Seattle this week has offered little respite.

The Northern Irishman started well enough at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge with a 68 but tumbled 38 places down the Boeing Classic leaderboard into a tie for 49th with a 76 overnight. Here’s hoping Clarke finishes strong today.

One bright spot for former Ryder Cup captain is the fact the sold-out signs have gone up for 2019 Open Championship which returns to his beloved Royal Portrush next July.

If we’re honest, we’ve been caught out by the news and are gutted tickets have been snapped up so quickly. It’s no surprise really – the return to Portrush will be huge for the game in Ireland and another great watch on telly all the same.

FROM OUR BIRDIES OF A DIFFERENT KIND FILE
How about this week’s most Middle East-centric post.

Nice work from the marketing department at The Els Club. If only our ball flight was as penetrative.

“ONLY IN DUBAI” OPPORTUNITIES
We’re very lucky to golf in the Middle East. If it’s not pristine playing and practice surfaces, its world-class tournaments on our doorstep. Even outside the region’s tournament season, stars visit to sharpen their games which offers inspirational moments like this one for young Dilan White.

Nice work from the 14-time Japan Tour winner Hideto Tanihara who looks to be putting in some hard graft at Trump Dubai.

White hails from one of Dubai’s foremost golf families with the Sand Trap having had the good fortune to tee it up with mum Harini and Dilan’s older brother Asanka previously. Asanka has real game and it seems Mum does too as this Insta post from earlier this year proves.

A belated congrats from us Harini!

THIS WEEK IN THE ADVENTURES OF SVEN
There seems to be a bit of a hole-in-one theme developing at Trump Dubai. Late last year former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley aced the club’s signature 17th hole and for those paying close attention, you’ll recall the inaugural Sand Trap recorded a perfect shot from Sven Nielsen, the club’s head pro.

Unlike the incredible tale of English amateur golfer Ali Gibb who signed for three aces in 36 unbelievable holes of club championship golf recently, we are not here to tell you about the South African holing out again.

But how about this club twirl from one of the busiest UAE pros on social media?

Tiger-esque, Sven. The twirl too. We were starting to wonder if Nielsen has any time to give lessons of late but didn’t have to look far for a reminder of how hard he actually works. This grip tip is a useful reference for players of all abilities and just a taster of what the club are doing online.

While we’re at Trump, we like this promo from the club’s marketing team.

The man behind the putt is Michael Bolt, another of the club’s pros who will be looking to add to his tally of UAE PGA Tour titles this coming winter. Nice putt Mike but be honest, how many takes did you need?

WELCOME TO THE SAND TRAP SGSC MARNO
In the first Sand Trap, we bid Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club’s Kiwi-bound course superintendent Marty Brown a fond farewell. So it is only right that we welcome the club’s new head pro Marco Vorster in this, the second Sand Trap.

As the post notes, Vorster comes by way of Golf DXB and famed Fancourt. We’d like to know if his best score – that dazzling 64 – came at the fabled South African course. With that said, come in Marno…

OUTSTANDING IN HIS NEW FIELD
Talking of top-notch keepers of the greens, how about the handiwork of long-time Emirates Golf Club super Craig Haldane at his new gig as the head of agronomy at Gleneagles in Scotland.

RELATED: Majlis magician lands dream agronomy role at Ryder Cup venue

That tartan stripping on the fairways for the inaugural European Team Championship reminds us of the Majlis in its finest OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic livery. Very nice work Craig. And tough work too as Scotland has been strangely short of rain this summer.

It’s great to see Haldane is so happy in his new role.

THIS WEEK IN THE GLAMOUR LIFE OF MIDDLE EAST GOLF’S FIRST COUPLE
The Sand Trap is an unashamed rip-off of ‘The Grind’, a light-hearted take on the global game by our colleagues at Golf Digest HQ in New York. The “This week in Dustin Johnson-Paulina Gretzky public displays of affection” segment is always worth a gander but this is a family show so we’ll introduce Dubai golf’s first couple – Alex Riggs and Claudine Foong-Riggs – in keeping with that theme.

Family Goals indeed. When Mum and Dad work in golf, you’ve got no chance as this picture so sweetly illustrates. Congrats guys, Naly is a real cutie and we love the plastic clubs. But are the PXG?

Golf Digest Middle East readers will be no strangers to Claudine of course with the former Canadian touring pro producing some great golf fitness tips for us, this one included:

Seems Mum has the childcare/fitness balance sorted too.

Like Claudine, Alex is a PXG Middle East ambassador and recently produced this handy short game tip for us:

Stay tuned for some exciting news regarding the first couple of Dubai golf soon – and more savvy social media.

MONKEY BUSINESS AND WEDDING JOY
You never quite know what you’re going to get when you check Luke Joy’s Instagram account as this wee ditty shows.

The well-travelled MENA Tour pro is clearly looking forward to the Dec. 13-16 Equatorial Guinea Golf Championship but has a more pressing date this week in the form of his wedding to Lauren-Leanne Bellows.

Joy’s blog is always an entertaining read and his most recent ‘Last week as a Singleton’ effort is no different. You can read it here.

The post outlines the Englishman’s near miss in a recent Jamega Tour event at Essendon Country Club and finishes with “Signing off as a single man… wish me luck.” Maybe with all this monkey business, it’s Lauren-Leanne we should be wishing well? Have a great day guys.

VOLUNTEER SAND-TRAPPERS!
Finally, for a money can’t buy this type of experience at the DP World Tour Championship, follow the prompts in this post to get inside the ropes at Jumeirah Golf Estates: