EAGL to provide amateurs with experience of Being a Pro for the day

Dubai: Saturday sees the second of the Emirates Amateur Golf League (EAGL) initiatives following the successful pilot event at Jumeirah Golf Estates in June.

The nine-hole event, the EAGL Corporate Invitational, has assembled 72 golfers, eight players each in nine-sponsored teams, from the corporate world to play in a competitive team event encouraging networking and fun, as well as, hopefully, some good golf over the Peter Harradine-designed course at The Track, Meydan Golf. What has hugely impressed me is that an amateur golf tournament will be shown live on TV (Dubai Sports Channel Number 1) and live streamed for 5 and half hours on the EAGL dedicated YouTube Channel from 12 noon-5.30pm.

In all my years of playing golf, I have never seen an amateur tournament for corporates and handicap holders have this platform. Congratulations to Sudesh Aggarwal and Priyaa Kumaria, and all the EAGL team for making this happen, it is of international standard that any international Professional Golf Tour would be proud of. The mantra of EAGL is to provide the amateur with the experience of ‘Being a Pro for the day,’ both on and off the golf course with a starter, named lockers, live scoring and, of course, the additional pressure of playing in front of the TV cameras.

I have played The Track, Meydan Golf a few times and it is certainly an under-rated golf course and facility. It is a fair test of golf from the back tees and still provides more friendly options for beginners and those learning the game and all handicap levels from the more forward tee decks. I have enjoyed playing the golf course a lot and the condition of the golf course, especially the greens was top notch.

The other golf courses in Dubai seem to attract all the attention and media profile, with many of them hosting international golf tournaments as well as having loyal memberships.

With no membership, The Track is an ideal ‘home’ to the growing number of golfers taking up the game, who do not want to be a member of one club and be restricted on where and when they play. ‘Accessibility and affordability’ is the catchphrase associated with the modern game of golf and The Track Meydan fits this ethos, especially with its floodlight offerings.

Aligned with being a member of the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) and obtaining a valid handicap through the EGF Direct Membership, this, in my opinion, is the model for the growth of the game of golf in Dubai, the UAE and the rest of the world.

It was impressive to read the recent R&A statistics that global golf has increased participation over the last five years from 61 million golfers to 66.6 million.

Back to tomorrow!

I wish all nine teams all the best and it is great to see so many friends of mine supporting.

The pressure will be on with all eight scores from each team counting towards the aggregate team score.

May the best team win and thank you all again for all those involved, especially the nine sponsors who have made this event possible with investment in the teams:

Emirates NBD, WoW / Wealth of Wellness, Shapoorji Pallonji, Atari Chain, Three Comma – Capital Advisors Limited, Bentley, Satoshi FX, EAGL and GRP Industries.