DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC
Late January · Emirates Golf Club, Dubai · Four Days · Since 1989 · The Course
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Arranged by the Court
- Dates21 to 24 January 2027
- WhereEmirates Golf Club, Dubai
- DressSmart casual
- AdmissionOpen to the public
- The weatherIn January Dubai reaches about 24°C by day and 15°C at night, and rain falls on about one day in eleven.
- The tableThe Court dines afterwards at Pierchic, Jumeirah Al Qasr, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai (jumeirah.com).
- Of noteThere is no public parking at Emirates Golf Club; the red line of the Metro stops at Al Fardan Exchange, at the gate.
- In companyA member who means to go says so to the Secretary, and the Court seats its members together where the engagement allows.RSVP tells the Secretary that a member means to attend. Send passes the engagement’s name, its date and the address of its page to whomever the reader chooses, or, on a computer, copies the address; the Court itself sends and keeps nothing.RSVP
The Dubai Desert Classic is four days of golf on the Majlis course at the end of January, and the reason Dubai is a golfing city at all.
It was the first European Tour event held in the Gulf, and the course it is played on was the first grass course built there.
The Grass
Before 1988 a grass course in the Gulf was regarded as impossible. Heat, sand, and no water to spare.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum chose the site himself: open dunes twenty-five kilometres from the city, with a single tree on them. An American architect named Karl Litten laid the course through and around the dunes rather than flattening them.
It opened in 1988 as the first grass course in the Middle East. It is watered with treated wastewater and planted with grasses bred to survive on very little of it.
Majlis is an Arabic word for a place of sitting, a room where people gather and matters are settled. The building that gives the course its name stands between the eighth and ninth holes.
The Tournament
The first Classic was played in March 1989, a year after the course opened. Mark James won it in a playoff.
It has run every year since except 1991, when the Gulf War stopped it, and two editions at the turn of the century played across town at Dubai Creek.
Ballesteros won it in 1992. Ernie Els won it three times, Tiger Woods twice, and Rory McIlroy four, which is the record.
The professionals call it the major of the Middle East. That is flattery, but the field is the reason they say it.
What to Know
The fifth is rated the hardest hole on the course, and the eighth, sharply uphill, is not far behind. The eighteenth is where it is usually decided: a par five bending left, with the second shot over water to a green it shares with the ninth.
The wind off the Gulf is the only real defence the course has. In still conditions the professionals take it apart.
January in Dubai is why the tournament is in January. Twenty-five degrees and dry, which is why the tour spends its January in the Gulf. This is the oldest event of that swing.
The club’s second course is floodlit, so a round can be played after dark.
The mistake is following only the leaders. The course walks easily and the galleries are thin by the standards of a major, which means a spectator can follow one group all day from a few yards away.
Questions
When is the Dubai Desert Classic in 2027?
The 38th Hero Dubai Desert Classic is scheduled for 21 to 24 January 2027 on the Majlis course at Emirates Golf Club, the first Rolex Series event of the DP World Tour’s 2027 season. The Pro-Am earlier in the week has been free to watch, with no ticket needed.
Is the Dubai Desert Classic free to attend?
General admission is free on the Thursday and Friday; Saturday and Sunday are paid, at early-bird, pre-event and on-the-day prices (AED 75, 100 and 125 for 2026). Everyone over two must register for a ticket in advance, on the website or the app, and those aged 17 and under enter free with an adult. Tickets are non-refundable.
Is there a dress code at the Dubai Desert Classic?
There is no dress code for general admission, though visitors are asked to respect local norms and customs. In hospitality, smart casual or golf attire is required, with no denim, flip-flops or spiked shoes, and the Dallah Lounge asks for respectful, smart casual dress. The Court wears smart casual.
How do you get to the Dubai Desert Classic?
There is no public parking at the venue except for hospitality guests, and the tournament asks visitors to come by public transport. Al Fardan Exchange station, on the Metro’s Red Line, is directly outside the entrance gate; bus 83 stops there, and taxis drop off and collect at the main entrance. Gates open at 7 a.m.
What hospitality is there at the Dubai Desert Classic?
Three upgrades are sold. The Dallah Lounge, between the 9th and 18th greens, includes breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, drinks, the rooftop Sky Deck and VIP parking. The Social on Sixteen is a terrace behind the 16th green with four hours of drinks and food. Clubhouse tickets give access to the clubhouse and course only.
Can you take a phone to the Dubai Desert Classic?
Yes. Phones are welcome but must be on silent with the flash off. Photographs for personal use are permitted throughout the course; video only in non-competition areas, such as the practice facilities and mobile phone zones. Spectators are asked not to interrupt players for autographs during a round.
The Court
The Dubai Desert Classic is not the Court’s own. Clubhouse access, hospitality on the closing holes and tee times on the Majlis in the days around the tournament are sought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the whole of it: getting there, where to stay, and the table afterwards.
How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.
- I · The Hospitality Pavilions, © Hero Dubai Desert Classic
- III · Quiet Please, © Hero Dubai Desert Classic
- IV · The Clubhouse, © Neville Hopwood
Set down September MMXXVI · Revised October MMXXVI
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