Golf writers, accomplished amateurs, decorated UAE PGA Professionals and MENA Tour players comprise the 26-strong panel charged with judging the 2020 Top 10 Courses in the Middle East.
*N.B. Panelists attached or affiliated to a certain club cannot submit a rating for it
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How Our Panel Ranks The Courses
The Golf Digest Middle East ranking panel of 26 experts judged the courses on seven criteria, each on a scale of 1 (unacceptable) to 10 (absolute perfection). The categories, which we have adopted from the U.S. edition’s tried and tested methods and modified to fit the specific conditions in our region, are as follows:
1. Shot Values
How well does the course pose risks and rewards and equally test length, accuracy and finesse?
2. Design Variety
How varied are the golf course’s holes in differing lengths, configurations, hazard placements, green shapes and green contours?
3. Resistance to Scoring
How difficult, while still being fair, is the course for a scratch player from the back tees?
4. Memorability
How well do the design features (tees, fairways, greens, hazards, vegetation and terrain) provide individuality to each hole, yet a collective continuity to the entire 18?
5. Aesthetics
How well do the scenic values of the course (including landscaping, vegetation, water features and backdrops) add to the pleasure of a round? Is peripheral construction an eye-sore?
6. Conditioning
How firm, fast and rolling are the fairways, and how firm yet receptive are the greens?
7. Ambience
How well does the overall feel and atmosphere of the course reflect or uphold the traditional values of the game?
ARRIVING AT THE FINAL SCORE
For each course, we total the average scores in each category, double-weighting the Shot Values category, to arrive at a final average score out of 80. As a reference point, Augusta National was 2015’s top-ranked course in the U.S, averaging 72.15. Our top course scored 66.17.
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• BACK TO TOP 10 2020 LIST
• READERS’ CHOICE 2020
• THE BEST IN THE MIDDLE EAST 2020
