Ranked as the #1 course in the Middle East and a regular in the World’s Top 100, Yas Links is a true Kyle Phillips masterpiece. It is the first authentic links course in the region, featuring rolling hills and eight holes that run directly along the mangrove-lined coastline. For a high-octane stay, the W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island is the only hotel in the world located atop an F1 track, offering a futuristic, high-energy base just five minutes from the first tee.

Famous for its iconic “Falcon” clubhouse, this course was the long-time home of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. It is a lush, parkland-style oasis carved out of the desert, featuring perfectly manicured fairways and challenging water hazards. The definitive stay is on-site at the VOGO Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa (formerly The Westin), where the rooms feature private balconies overlooking the 9th and 18th greens.

Known locally as “The People’s Golf Club,” this 9-hole course in the heart of the city offers a unique urban vibe with the skyline as your backdrop. It is fully floodlit, making it the go-to spot for night golf in the capital. For a central, luxury stay, the Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi is a landmark hotel that offers a rotating rooftop restaurant and easy access to both the city course and the Corniche.

Al Ghazal is one of the world’s best “sand” courses, providing a unique and historic way to play the game on “browns” (rolled oil-treated sand) instead of greens. It’s an authentic desert experience that honors the origins of golf in the UAE. Given its location, the Premier Inn Abu Dhabi International Airport provides a remarkably high-standard and convenient base for a quick golf-focused stopover.

The 9-hole “Garden” course at the main club has recently been redesigned to offer a fun, accessible, and fully floodlit experience for those who want a quicker round. For a grand, high-end stay that isn’t on the course but offers total opulence, the Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental provides the most iconic “bucket list” hotel experience in the city with a private beach and gold-flaked coffee.

Designed by Gary Player, this is the Gulf’s first beachfront course and offers a breathtaking “nature” experience where you’ll likely see Arabian gazelles roaming the fairways. The course is a visual marvel of white sand, turquoise water, and expansive dunes. You should stay at The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, a Mediterranean-style palace that sits right on the beach and provides a dedicated “golf butler” service and direct access to the club.

This 9-hole floodlit course is a “hidden gem” that plays like a full championship layout, featuring massive bunkers and a winding ridge that runs through the center of the park. It is the perfect spot for a high-quality evening round after the sun goes down. Stay at the Hilton Abu Dhabi Yas Island, located in the vibrant Yas Bay area, which puts you within walking distance of the island’s best restaurants and just a short hop to the course.

Located about 90 minutes inland at the foot of the Jebel Hafeet mountain, this course offers a distinctively different climate and a very technical, water-rich layout. It is one of the greenest spots in the UAE. To fully appreciate the “Garden City,” stay at the Ayla Grand Hotel Al Ain, a sophisticated property that offers a rooftop pool with panoramic views of the mountains and the desert.

While part of the main club, the Academy course is a world-class par-3 setup that offers tour-level conditioning for those looking to sharpen their short game in a stunning environment. Stay at the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Hotel and Villas, which offers an understated, Zen-like luxury experience and sits right alongside the fairways on the island’s most pristine stretch of beach.

For the truly adventurous golfer, this 9-hole sand-and-grass hybrid course is located further west along the coast, offering a raw, local feel far away from the glitz of the city. To explore this side of the Emirate, stay at the Danat Jebel Dhanna Resort, a beachfront 5-star hotel that offers a tranquil escape and acts as the gateway to the nearby Sir Bani Yas Island wildlife reserve.

Yas Links Abu Dhabi is consistently the headline act. Designed by Kyle Phillips, it’s a links-style layout that threads through natural sand dunes near the Yas Marina Circuit and plays to a genuinely high standard. Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, designed by Gary Player, offers a spectacular coastal setting with ocean views and a layout that challenges golfers of all abilities.

It’s genuinely excellent for groups. The large resort hotels on Yas Island and Saadiyat Island are well set up for golf groups, with good tee time availability, practice facilities, and on-site dining that makes logistics straightforward. Groups of eight to twenty are very manageable here, and operators can often negotiate decent rates for larger parties travelling together.

Most of the premium courses in Abu Dhabi do ask for a handicap certificate or evidence of a registered handicap, particularly for the more prestigious layouts. Yas Links and Saadiyat Beach Golf Club both typically operate handicap requirements, so it’s worth having your handicap index accessible, whether through the World Handicap System app or a physical certificate from your home club.

Direct flights from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi International Airport take approximately six hours and forty minutes with Etihad Airways, which operates daily services. From Manchester the flight time is slightly longer at around seven hours. British Airways also serves the route from Heathrow.