Golf Newsletter on Muscat Hills Golf Club

Golf News Year II, issue 3,

August – October 2013

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2 | Muscat Hills Golf News

Summer maintenance keeps course in pres-tige condition

Dear Members

With summer-upon us there is still a hive of

activity ongoing at Muscat Hills Golf Club. With peak periods moving towards late afternoons their is a bustle for tee times which is good to see. We are fortu-nate that the heat does cool down in the late afternoon so from a golfers prospec-tive there is no better place to be than playing golf at Muscat Hills late afternoon, enjoying the relief from the heat whilst out on the fair-ways at that time of day with the cool breezes we are fortunate to have. The late afternoon competitions like the “Dash & Trash” and “Sundowners” have been well supported by those members and visitors who can make it to club to

meet a late tee off time and the number of players are steadily growing for these competitions.I need to thank all mem-bers for their continued support and understanding regarding the June, Sum-mer maintenance program.The golf course has re-sponded well to the treat-ment of the tee box com-plexes, fairways, rough areas and greens. Warren and his team have done a grand job with the program and it is a necessity as it sets the golf course up for another 12 months of good healthy golf played on well conditioned surfaces.To all the members trave-ling away over the next 2 months we wish you well on your travels, hope you have a safe journey and you return back to Oman feel-ing rejuvenated from your

holiday, to everyone who have chosen to stay on and during the summer, we look forward to seeing you play-ing in the club competitions and generally enjoying your

golf at Muscat Hills. See you on the fairways.

Kind regardsRay StopforthDirector of Golf

Would you like a tee box?

In a bid to improve the golf course a step further in 2013 and add to the prestige of

playing at Muscat Hills, we are looking for corporate sponsors to advertise their brand on a golf hole. Muscat Hills are proud to have Patchi Chocolates on the 17th Hole as a sponsor. If you or your company looking to sponsor a hole contact [email protected] who will be able to assist you and your compa-nies needs.

Golf News

Muscat Hills Golf News | 3

The Indus Golf Tournament was a well received Foursomes format which took place on the 1st June 2013. The weather for June was

extremely pleasant which resulted in 40 par-ticipants competing in the unique format. In 3rd place picking up a 15 OMR Indus restaurant voucher & 30 OMR Pro Shop voucher was Lewis & Bob Whitelaw. Runners up with a nett score of 70.5 collecting a 20 OMR Indus restaurant voucher & 40 OMR Pro Shop voucher were Raj Singh & Sivaji Ganguly. But the winners by just half a shot taking home a 30 OMR Indus res-

taurant voucher & 60 OMR Pro Shop voucher were Peter Salleh & Jilan Jenggi.The Indus is an avant-garde fine dining restau-rant located at the Opera Galleria, adjacent to the landmark Royal Opera House Muscat. The Indus, explores the timeless culinary traditions of the Indian North West Frontier Province of the Indus river valley.It boasts of an ambience with an artistic touch; service that is both discreet and impeccable; and is a gourmet paradise that is rich in flavour, exotic in composition and luxuriant in experi-ence.

Indus Golf Tournament

Millennium Golf Day

Competitive spirit and strong will were shown by all 45 golfers who took part in the Inaugural Mil-lennium Resort Mussanah Golf

Day. Millennium Resort Mussanah sponsored a Stableford format for all golfers to enjoy. Prizes consisted of room night stays in the resort

based in Mussanah.After 18 holes and hot temperatures, the best result in stableford points was turned in by Steve Pickering with 43 points. Steve won a gift voucher for the

golf shop and a night stay in the resort. Viren-dra Agarwal finished with 40 points followed closely by Ray Baird who won the 3rd place also with 40 Points. The ladies winner also winning a night stay at Millennium Resort was won by Susanne Solberg with 37 pointsThere was a special prizes for the Nearest to the Pin prize on the 14th hole and this was also won by Steve Pickering, the longest drive on the 4th hole was won by Ben McCarron .

Invitation Day

The third edition of the Muscat Hills Invitation Day witnessed a fantastic team result of 49 stableford points by the winning pair Ray Prescott

& Stephen Pickering. The Invitation Members Day took place at Muscat Hills Golf & Country Club on Friday 10th May. With 40 people join-ing the 18-hole Better Ball Stableford competi-tion and the prize-giving function afterwards. One shot further back of the winners was the pair Karen D’Amours & Danny Renihan with 46 points just beating on a count back John Salway & Steve Wuthrich also with 46 points.

Past Tournaments

Equipment Review

Callaway X Hot

Fairways

The X Hot and X Hot Pro represent a

retooling of Callaway’s main fairway-wood line. The emphasis is on more ball speed. The forged cupface is made of a thin, high-strength Carpenter 455 steel that produces a face with a higher springlike effect. The center of gravity (CG) has been moved lower and slightly more forward for less spin to improve distance and consistency.Callaway has emerged from the doldrums with a bold choice: a fairway wood with driver-like face properties.In stock and available to trial @ Muscat Hills


Golf News

Spot the ball competition to win a Sleeve of Callaway ballsCan you “spot the ball”Email your answers to [email protected] for your chance to win a sleeve of callaway balls. Only available for the 1st five winners.

Coaching TipsAccuracy is the Key! by Alex DayDue to the fact that the Driver is the longest club in the bag, it has the straightest

face, and we naturally try and give it the heave-ho, it becomes without doubt the most difficult club to control. Therefore when using the Driver any swing faults we may have get exposed and the funny ball flights unfortunately get exaggerated. Whilst mod-ern day Drivers have been designed with “larger hitting zones”, greater MOI (moment of Inertia), and more offset (to help square the face) the manufacturers have almost all exploited these improvements by lengthening the shaft!

If you want to see how much more accurate you could be off the Tee, compare your shot dispersion with a good 3-Wood verses your Driver. There is no question the Driver goes further when you connect BUT I am sure that your 3-Wood would have you on the fairway more often!

Having a 3-Wood in the bag you can trust is so important and can act as a great alternative to the Driver for tee shots. If the Wadi’s are killing your scorecard off the

tee why not consider sacrificing a little length and keep the ball in play with wise course management. I’ve no doubt this will increase the enjoyment you get

from your game - Golf ’s so much more fun from the short-grass.

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From 110 OMR


Muscat Hills bids farewell to Milo & David Hon who coached during January – June. Milo will be re-

turning full time back to his home golf course as the club professional and David will be taking a new career path in Fire Safety on Oil Rigs. Some of the members must have rubbed off on him in Oman!We welcome our New Professionals Dave Taylor & Jade Lucas. Jade will be the first ever female golf professional to reside in Oman! If you would like to provisionally book a lesson with Jade or Dave email [email protected]

Phase 2 Q&A with Ray StopforthThere have been many questions asked about phase 2. Ray gives answers to your questions.

Q – We understand there is going to be a lot of dis-ruption to the golf course during Phase 2?A – The Muscat Hills team have actually been planning this for some time and have started to make the modifications already. We choose purposely to do this in the off season so as not to disrupt play. You will notice we have already moved a main irrigation pipe on hole 8, made the fairway at 10 wider, improved the appearance below the 18th tee. We have consulted our course Architect Paul Thomas and followed his recommendations to re align the tees on hole 8.

Q – Will there not be a lot of dust and noise ?A – Yes there will be some noise , but no disruption due to each construction area being hoarded off and some stringent site rules applied to contractors of which I am responsible for enforcing grrrrr!!

Q – Why are you doing phase 2 now when everything is starting to become perfect?A – Phase 2 was always planned and it is an integral part of the future success of Muscat Hills Golf and Country Club. The most exciting part is our long awaited new club house which is stunning.

Q – With a hotel going up and 79 new villas will the course not become over crowded?A – We still have a lot of spare capacity on our course and the extra members and visitors from the hotel will be an extra boost to the club. We are working hard to make Muscat Hills the most successful club in Oman and more members and visitors will help us with this goal. Interestingly enough only around 10% of home owners at Muscat hills play golf and the 240 bed room hotel will most likely provide us with around 16 more golfers a day, so it will not make our beautiful course over crowded !

Q- Will my membership fees be reduced?A-Membership fees are an integral part of the business and we are currently working on our 2014 Membership fees which will be released in December. We have reached a consistent level with our fees and there will be minimal changes to the current structure.

Q- You seem to be making more grassed areas on the golf course, is this not more costly to keep watering?A-The simple answer is Yes. There will be a minimal increase in the watering but this isn’t drastic. The overall goal is to keep improving the golf course and the resort. The aesthetics plays a large role in consumer satisfaction.

David Taylor started his career at Southampton Golf Club in the UK and since then has been a global traveler coaching in the Ukraine & Austria. David has completed the Applied Golf Management Studies Degree at the Uni-versity of Birmingham and now finds himself heading to Oman for the winter season. David has studied the prac-tices of coaches such as Sean Foley, Pete Cowen and David Leadbetter to understand the knowledge and fundamen-tals of the golf swing. David states “I want to make people better golfers and increase their enjoyment of the game. Golf is the greatest game in the world and I believe anyone can play golf and everyone can play better golf!”

Jade Lucas is from Farnborough (Hampshire), England. She started golf at aged 9 and quickly developed her golf game up to county level in Surrey. After becoming a Club Champion 2 years running at her home club in Hampshire she decided to study the Applied Golf Management De-gree at The University of Birmingham (Graduating with a 2:1 BSc with Honours). She has worked at Golf Club Brand (Austria) and Pravets Golf and Spa Resort (Bulgaria). Jade has also completed a dissertation in golf psychology which may help some of us with our mental game!

Jade has a passion for the game of golf and wants to help encourage others so they can feel the same. Jade states “I always strive to make my lessons both fun and informa-tive whilst taking an individualistic approach to coaching. No two people are the same, so why should we coach that way? “Jade also believes in the philosophy of ‘Kaisen’ (‘continual improvement’) for pupils. I feel it’s important that all golf-ers keep progressing and have something to work towards; even Tiger Woods has a golf coach!

New Golf Professionals Arriving in September at Muscat Hills


Over the past 3 years since the Muscat Hills project was taken over by the new manage-ment team (Ray Stopforth, Alex Day, Warren

Stopforth & David White) the golf course has continued to improve steadily year on year. Assisted with the St. Andrews based Braemar Golf Management Company; Muscat Hills & Braemar Golf have significantly im-proved the playability, aesthetics and the facilities of Muscat Hills with the continuous financial investment

of Al Said family. Many current members will remem-ber the significant challenges and hurdles that had to be overcome to improve the golf course to the level it has achieved today. Other new members that have recently joined Muscat Hills will not be able to envisage the changes that have taken place over a short space of time. This review makes us grateful for the beautiful golf course we have at Muscat Hills and long may the growth continue.

The above pictures show the Driving Range Academy in 2011 and 2013. The improvements are sub-staintial, V1 Monitor, Flight Scope to measure ball speeds and spin rates. Along with the Putting green and chipping green also available for use.

The 1st Tee, although a small detail this area makes the first impression on visitors. The baron, de-sert tee box has been transformed into a tropical oasis with the sides grassed and native dwarf palm trees added. First impressions count!!

From Strategy to Reality…Golf News


The above pictures show the fantastic addition to Muscat Hills with the Undercover hitting bays and Palm tree lined fairway. Possibly the most unique and inviting driving ranges in the GCC, Mus-cat Hills have spent approximately 100,000 OMR in preparing the driving range for the benefit of all members and visitors.

The Bunker project started in 2012 and to date 80% of bunker work has been completed. The 5th hole above was certainly made harder with the addition of a 2nd bunker. Even if you don’t like the addition of the 2nd bunker & the increased size of the left hand bunker, you must agree it is a fan-tastic hole and a challenge. Even Monty made a bogey on this one in 2011, just remember that next time you manage a Par!

before

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The corporate golf busi-ness in Oman has been growing at a rapid rate over the past few years and golf is certainly the businessman’s sport of choice! The high de-mographic of golfers in Oman demand the right excellence and diversity for corporate clothing and other items. Mus-cat Hills offer services such as Corporate golf lessons, apparel & gift items for clients, corpo-rate golf days and many more. Whether you’re after your company logo on a range of items for your Corporate Golf Day, or you need personal-ized goodies for a Golf Weekend with the lads, we have a huge range of products suitable for any type of golf event and or budget.

Contact Muscat Hills to assist you making the right choice in Corporate Golf

Cor-porate Golf & Muscat

Hills

Golf News


We have recently completed our annual course renovations where we dethatch all of the course. Thatch is a build up of organic ma-terials and if it is not removed we end up get-ting springy turf and turf that is susceptible to disease. Also thatch acts like a sponge so when irrigating the water does not penetrate the thatch layer and therefore does not get to the root of the plant. Other works that we do is deep hollow coring and aerating which help us get air into the soil profile and reduce com-paction, all this helps with the development of the plants root system. The more healthy our roots, the more healthy our surfaces.As a result of these works our turf visual qual-ity has improved its density, texture, uniform-ity, colour, and smoothness. The rigidity and elasticity regarding the leaf blade of the greens is strong enough to support more play com-paring to last year and this improvement is due to the ongoing cultural practices and pro-grams in place. The resiliency to pitch marks has improved tenfold and the greens are more hardy, (make sure you still repair those pitch marks though!) When I arrived two years ago we had root depth of only 6 cm, after all of our hard work and ongoing programs I can now announce a root depth from 30cm to 1 meter on the greens!, this is fantastic and will help ensure healthier playing surfaces.Most of all I have noticed after the recent maintenance that the recuperative capacity of the greens is faster than ever before. This summer and winter we can strongly say that the greens will be the strongest we have ever seen. I would like to thank all the members and staff of Muscat Hills for their patience and commitment whilst we endeavor for ongoing improvement of our course.I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated crew of greenkeepers who have kept up their great work during the heat of Summer and during fasting in Rama-dan. Keep up the great work guys!

RECENT PROJECTS COMPLETE – • All greens have had a deep verti drain and

verti-cut• 10th top soil capping left of fairway has

been seeded with Princess 77 Bermuda grass, grow in phase has now commenced. Please avoid driving golf carts, walking and playing golf in this area.

• 8th Tee construction is ready for irriga-tion installation, leveling, turf sod work and seeding.

• The ground in front of the 18th tee is fully capped and now ready for irrigation in-stallation and seeding.

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Words from the Superintendant - Top Class Greens


BankDhofar Pro AM 2013

With the Success of the 2012 BankDhofar Pro AM, Bank-Dhofar have committed to another year at Muscat Hillsto be played on the 31st October & 1st November. Thetournament will feature 3 amateurs and 1 professional from the GCC region. The professionals are allocated to each team during the Calcutta Auction the evening prior to the event.

The Pro AM will assist in the ongoing development of the game of golf do-mestically as well as increasing Oman’s growing reputation in theGCC Region as a first class golfing destination.Tony Mahoney, CEO BankDhofar commented, “We are delighted to be con-tinuing our Pro Am golf tournament in the Sultanate of Oman. We specifi-cally want to create awareness of the game of golf in Oman and continue to develop the youth of Oman to participate in golf.”If you would like to participate please contact [email protected] entry will only be available in teams of 3 amateurs. The cost per team is OMR 550, which includes 2 rounds of Golf at Muscat Hills (Practice day & tournament round), Gala Dinner, Breakfast, Lunch & Prize giving ceremony.

Muscat Hills Residences launches Phase 2Set in a picturesque hillside location with spectac-

ular panoramic mountain and sea views over the Gulf of Oman, Muscat Hills is a unique ITC (In-

tegrated Tourism Complex) development comprising of an 18-hole PGA certified green golf course and high qual-ity residential properties in the prime location, Airport Heights, of Muscat. Muscat Hills Residences LLC (MHR) has recently launched Phase 2 of its premium residential development nestled the golf course

This development is an elegant mix of 4 and 5 bedroom villas that reflect the exclusive experience of owning prime real estate on a golf course by both the local com-munity as well as by expatriates.

For details, contact Muscat Hills Sales office at 98050539; [email protected]

Or Cluttons Sales agent at 9112 6645; [email protected]

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Golf Newsletter on Muscat Hills Golf Club