Awali Golf Club

Overview: Awali Golf Club is the oldest golf course in the Arabian Gulf, founded in 1937 by expatriate oil workers. It is a legendary desert sand course where the entire game is played on a landscape of compacted sand and rock—there is no grass on the entire 18-hole layout. Instead of greens, the course features "browns"—sand putting surfaces treated with a mixture of diesel and motor oil to create a firm, consistent roll. It offers a fascinating and primal version of the game that requires golfers to carry their own artificial grass mats for fairway shots.

Did You Know? The club is the home of the Bahrain Open Championship, which was the first open golf tournament ever held in the Middle East. Etiquette at Awali is strictly enforced to protect the delicate browns; players are forbidden from wearing spikes (even soft ones) and are required to use large brushes provided by the club to sweep their lines and restore the sand surface after putting out.