"The Tiger Woods Dubai: a dust-bowl, an empty car park, an 'Arabian palace' as real as a Hollywood film set."

Lawrence Donegan pays a visit to Tiger's Dubai project and finds a lot of dust and no signs of a golf course anywhere near completion.

Like so much else in post-boom Dubai, the palace is a facade, propped up by wooden beams. Behind it lies a collection of portable cabins that in the glory days of the economic boom served as a sales office. These days the salesmen have gone, to be replaced by a handful of cleaners and maintenance staff trying to keep alive what is left of the $1.1bn fantasy.

There is not much; a scale model of the proposed development in one of the rooms, some dusty furniture and a telephone long disconnected. What has happened to Tiger Woods Dubai? "No comment. I don't know,'' said a Dubai-based spokesman for IMG, the sports agency that represents Woods around the world, while repeated attempts to contact the Dubai Properties Group, the government-controlled company that now owns the development, are met with no response.

Comments

[RickABQ]

The whole facade thing worked pretty well at the end of "Blazing Saddles".

[digsouth]

I think you may have a connect there..... The trouble started when TW said" let me whip this out".

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

Anyone been to High Carolina lately?

[Wisconsin Reader]

The scene for some of Tiger's sponsors has certainly changed for the worst. I note too that Alabama is a "Nike outfitted" school while Auburn does not have a school wide contract. . .No question that some us here believe Tiger is responsible for - the collapsed golf related developments anywhere in the world - The Alabama Tide's decline (No, not Auburn's rise - Tiger is a negative cause never a positive) - Non American's domination of the major championships, the World Golf Rankings and the Ryder Cup loss. . .

And those are the matters that we positively believe he caused - don't let me get started about all that other stuff where you kind of wonder if Tiger did it. . .

[Marky Mark]

The best courses in the Gulf were some of the earliest - Emirates GC Majlis Course, Doha GC, and Abu Dhabi GC - non-pretentious and fun to play. With the exception of the newly opened, seaside-located Yas Links in Abu Dhabi, the rest are below average, boring, or contrived: The Montgomerie, The Els, The Faldo Course at the Emirates GC, and the very dissapointing Jermeirah Golf Estates are basically all substandard designs and should be avoided.
The worst example of a design gone wrong is the par 3 12th at The Montgomerie - the club claims that it is the largest single green surface in the world and, worse, it is in the shape of the United Arab Emirates. It is literally hard to spot the pin from the tee when looking at that football field surrounded by water.
Shadow creek in Vegas is actually a very fun course. I certainly doubt that a finished Tiger Woods Dubai would come close to that if they decide to go for a high roller type of club for visitors - that would be kind of like winning the lottery if the design accidently turned into something world class. The encroaching dunes will eat up Tiger Woods Dubai long before Dubai recovers from its massive property bubble.

[Rambunctious]

And I suppose that Tiger is also responsible for America's financial woes.

[Elwood Fussel]

Thanks Rambunctious. Finally someone with a brain. This mess has nothing to do with Woods. The downturn and subsequent results would have been the same if he had won a Nobel prize last Thanksgiving.

[Marky Mark]

Who said the property bust in Dubai was Woods' fault?

The Apologist Brigade is a little too trigger happy when they sense anything that can be construed as a slight agagainst Woods.

[Tiger Fan]

Yes, its true that Tiger had sex with other partners and so it does stand to reason the the Fall of Dubai is his fault. It is amazing though, the desolation of Dubai, maybe they serve the wrong god?

[Aunt Blabbie]

Woods & Co. have gone from being the most powerful force in golf, to a laughing stock.

[skytroope70]

Wisconsin Reader, please note that the Auburn mascot is........................a Tiger!!! So, if Tiger Woods is to blame for all that you listed, then, at least, acknowledge that the Auburn Tigers have benefited. If they go to a BCS and win the mythical national championship, surely, TW should get the credit!!

[TheBigdad]

This project should have died on the vine. Maybe even before that. Hubris, extravagence and totally unwarranted excess. A few years ago I had dinner with the rep for the irrigation company that held the contract for this debacle. He asked me how many gallons of water this course would require to operate daily. I had no idea but he pressed for a number so I posited 500,000 gallons per day. He actually laughed aloud and said well "Pinehurst #2 uses about 800,000 for a full cyle and it's in the sandhills of NC. This course will use about 27,000,000 (million!) gallons a day." " Where does one get this much water?" I asked. Desalination. They are going to desalinate more than 30 million gallons a day for a golf course! Aren't they're people in the wolrd who need potable water? BTW "What does 30 million gallons of water look like? he asked. I"magine an 80 acre lake 1 foot deep and drain it everyday" In order to keep grass green ?? It is projects like this make me cringe. It is now no wonder golf is taking a beating in the public.