I arrived in Dubai after a very pleasant flight with Emirates to be greeted with a wall of what felt which can only be described as pure fire when stepping out of the air conditioned airport, just the 35 degrees… At 9pm!

I spent the first week preparing for the first event on the MENA Golf Tour at the beautiful Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club. This is a must play if you ever visit the UAE, the closing two holes are breath taking but brutal! The 17th is the hardest 354 yard I have ever played… With the whole of Dubai Creek down the left of a small slither of a fairway, it’s enough to make even us pro’s gulp, grip it, and hope for the best! The club house is also magnificent!

In sweltering tempratures (thank goodness for golf buggies at this time of year) around the 38 degrees with humidity making it feel like 45… I began the tournament with a poor opening round of 76 (+5) and was very disappointed with the way I played… The greens are very grainy here with strong grass growth which really affects your putts and I found this very hard to come to terms with and get the little white thing to settle in the hole! I played a lot better in the second round and safely made the cut with a 72 (+1). I had a lot of work to do going into the final round and managed to play the best golf of the week and finish strongly with a birdie at the tough 18th to shoot 70 (-1) which jumped me up the leaderboard to 20th with a finishing +5 total for the event. The event was won by who we have all nicknamed “Mr Dubai” Zane Scotland from England who finished -7 and won by a shot from New Zealand’s Trevor Marshall.

I was due to play the following week in Saudi Arabia… That was until after signing my scorecard for the final round, my golf clubs fell off the back of a buggy and unfortunately landed in a precarious way which the back of my putter snapped through my driver shaft! I could of cried… Luckily the guys at True Temper Europe, managed to send me out a replacement so quickly! Cest la vie, everything happens for a reason I’m told and the new shaft is working as well if not better than before!

So onwards and upwards to the next event which was at the lovely Al Badia Golf Club in Festival City Dubai. This on paper looked like a real tough test, 7,330 yards par 72, water everywhere… I began the first round with high expectations after a good run of practice leading up to the event and started with 73 (+1) and the putting woes were continuing! The second round I was determined to be more positive on the greens and this paid off with a solid 69 (-3) where I struck the ball lovely and had so many chances for birdie. I was still quite a way off the lead but knew a decent final round could get me into the top 10 which became my goal and I continued my fine form from tee to green, and managed to hole a couple of putts on the way to a 67 (-5) and a tournament total of -7 which was good enough for a tie for 8th place. The event was won by, again, “Mr Dubai” Zane Scotland with an impressive -13 total which won by a shot from David Law of Scotland!

Not a bad couple of weeks, all in all, few downs but mainly ups and preparation for the next two events begins. I will be off to the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, north of Dubai to Tower Links Golf Club, then south to Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in Abu Dhabi!

Wish me luck!!!!!