Al Ghazal Golf Club

Overview: Al Ghazal Golf Club, located adjacent to Abu Dhabi International Airport, is widely recognized as one of the finest and most sustainable sand courses in the world. Instead of traditional grass, the layout consists of compacted desert sand fairways and "browns"—putting surfaces made of treated and rolled sand that provide a surprisingly smooth and fast roll. It is a pure desert variant of the game that avoids the massive water consumption of modern grass resorts while providing a legitimate, par-71 championship-standard test of golf.

Did You Know? The course has a rich archaeological history; many of its front-nine holes were laid out around a significant site of early Islamic ruins. Players at Al Ghazal typically carry a small piece of artificial turf ("a mat") to play their shots from the fairways, and the club famously hosted the World Sand Golf Championship in 2004 and 2005, drawing players from around the globe to master the art of putting on the desert browns.