Have you ever played a golf course where you are afforded a ‘free’ drop from oil pipelines?

That is one of ‘local rules’ when tackling the Royal Golf Club course in Bahrain and host venue next month (February, 2024) for DP World Tour’s Bahrain Championship taking place on the Colin Montgomerie designed Royal Golf Club course close to the capital Manama.

It will be 13-years since the DP World Tour, and then European Tour, was last in Bahrain for the hosting of the inaugural 2011 Volvo Champions when England’s Paul Casey, and then World No. 6 and highest-ranked in the field, captured his then 11th career victory, posting four rounds in the 60s to win by a shot at 20-under-par.  Victory also lifted Casey to a career high of No. 3 in the world.

However, there was already talk that week of the Volvo-hosted event being moved from Bahrain the following year given the fears of the the growing unrest in what history now refers to as ‘The Arab Spring’ uprising that was increasingly taking place throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

In fact, he event moved to South Africa and Fancourt for the 2012 edition while I was in attendance for the final two editions of the Volvo Champions held in Durban in 2013 and ’14.

The opening round of the 2011 Formula One Championship was due to take place in Bahrain two months post the Volvo Champions but that was first postponed in February and eventually taken off the schedule.

Golf did return to the club the following year with the hosting of the Bahrain Invitational in April 2012 which saw Casey and Monty join Thomas Bjorn and Suzann Pettersen, compete alongside international sporting celebrities including British tennis ace Tim Henman, NFL and San Francisco 49ers legend Joe Montana and football stars Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli.

However, it was not till a few years back when the MENA Tour ventured to Bahrain for the 2019 and 2020 Royal Bahrain Open.

It’s why after 13-years it’s great to see the DP World Tour returning to the island Kingdom.

I was in attendance the week of the 2011 Volvo Champions and was fortunate the day following the hosting of the event to play the host course, and given there was no real rush to leave Bahrain as the next Tour stop was just a short flight to Doha for the Qatar Masters.

Of note, the European Tour schedule then in early 2011 with a ‘Middle East Swing’ of events in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Qatar and then Dubai is getting back to a similar schedule in 2024 with a ‘Middle East Swing’ of five events – two in Dubai and followed by Ras Al Khaiah, Bahrain and Dubai.

The Royal Golf Club at Riffa Views is situated just 20 minutes drive from the capital Manama.  It opened for play on 13th  November 2008, comprising the 18-hole, 7102 yard, par 72 championship golf course that forms the centerpiece of the Riffa Views lifestyle community. The course is complemented by a 9-hole par 3 academy course, a Royal golf academy, a luxurious clubhouse and a country club.

In viewing the Royal Golf Club course for a first time my attention immediately was drawn to the abundance of oil pipelines featuring on Bahrain course and, for that matter, that were also then running down the streets close to the golf course.

The pipelines were also in play and here is what is unique about the Royal Golf Club as under Rule 16-1 of the Rules of Golf you are allowed a ‘free drop’, as you should in playing your next shot.

Short History of the Royal Golf Club …

Bahrain had been the first Middle East country in 1932 when oil was discovered and with a first refinery built two years later, and as the country was a then a British Protectorate (Until 1971) many of those working there were British.

In between the refinery and what would be the expat company town of Awali was a stretch of desert and limestone outcrops where the resident British and American oil explorers used to pass their time playing golf.

Informally inaugurated in 1937, the Royal Club sent a request through the refinery owners to the British Political Agent in Bahrain, asking to officially reserve the golf course land for ‘recreational and agricultural use’. After approval from the Sheikh, the land was granted to the refinery, and eventually, a club constitution was written and ratified in 1957, officially forming the Awali Golf Club. 

Awali was the first sand green, followed by similar courses constructed by oil companies such as Saudi Aramco and Qatar Petroleum. It was only after the introduction of desalinated water in Bahrain, and with increased oil revenue and tourism following the Gulf War, that grass greens were introduced to the country.

The first green golf course in Bahrain – the Riffa Golf Club – opened down the road from Awali in 1999 however less than a decade later, it was closed down and its surroundings redeveloped into a luxury residential complex, Riffa Views.

In 2007, the golf course was completely redesigned by Montgomerie, and rebranded as the Royal Golf Club.

It also was not one of the easiest courses to be built such as the sand in the bunkers – the natural desert sand resembles talc and that proved useful just for bulking out the shaping of the bunkers. It meant grain sand had to be imported.  The tees and fairways were formed thanks to a 45-centimetre layer of double-washed marine sand dredged out of the Persian Gulf while the greens were built using a 30-centimetre of high-quality Saudi mineral sand .. this pargraph of information thanks to top100golf courses.com 

The developer’s advertisements read: ‘It’s like Scotland, minus the weather.’  (The historical notes with thanks to the Architectural Review)