Education City Golf Club

Tiburón Part 1

Education City Golf Club Part 1

Tiburón Part 2

Education City Golf Club Part 2

In this segment, Gabe and Wade touchdown in Doha, Qatar and explore the sights and sounds in this vibrant city. The host venue is Education City Golf Club, which is actually the most recently constructed, and opened course in the Middle East, and it shows. It’s a state of the art facility where everything is incredible. We check out some of the features that make this Golf Club so revolutionary. Doha itself is a cultural melting pot, there’s so much to see and do and over the last few years we learn how much the city has developed. This two-episode feature covers a lot of different things, from dune bashing, to night golf, to horse riding. With the World Cup taking place in Qatar in 2022, you can expect to see even more great things from this country as it works to host such a global event.

Qatar part 1

Souq Waqif

First stop on the trip is a visit to Souq Waqif. A Souq is traditionally a marketplace in African or Middle-Eastern regions where a variety of items are sold from food, to clothing, to home goods. The guy’s meetup with Michael Braidwood here, who is the general manager of Education City Golf Club. Michael takes the guys around the Souq and one stop of interest is a falcon shop! Yes, a shop where the birds of prey are sold. Who knows what they’re typically purchased for but we have never entered a store with rows of falcons on display. Next up is the clay ovens for some delicious fresh bread, then a visit to the Turkish ice cream stall where Gabe gets the ice cream experience of his life.

This is the main reason we came to check out Doha. This golf club is fabulous. The practice facilities are breathtaking; they are some of the best in the world. There is a learning center where they have body swing suits, state of the art analysis software, and a putting lab where you can simulate any gradient in the world. The driving range also has Trackman on every bay which is connected through your phone, giving stats on every swing you make. Wade was excited about finally getting an accurate yardage on his sand wedge, although it seemed a little out to us….

The guys then pair up with the two Club Champions to play a friendly team match, where the lowest combined team score wins each hole. We played the 18-hole Championship course, but there is also a 6-hole Championship course, and a 9-hole par 3 course on offer. The Championship course itself is incredible. It’s a Jose Maria Olazabal design and there’s a great mixture of holes. An abundance of bunkers pay homage to Jose who was renowned for his exceptional bunker game. The conditions are also second to none; The grass is maintained meticulously and is carpet like in appearance, not a blemish in sight. It was a real joy to play here. Upon finishing the round all that was left to do was award the trophy. As the host venue for the European Tour’s Qatar Masters, this trophy lives at the Club so we managed to get our hands on it for our victorious team.

Desert

Next stop, the desert. Just a short drive from Doha city center is the desert that most of the natural terrain in this region consists of. We took a camel ride and explored some of the massive dunes with our tour guide leading the way. In true Let’s Play Thru fashion the guys brought their clubs with them…. To play a little bit of authentic ‘desert golf.’ Teeing off into the setting sun seemed like the perfect way to end our trip in Qatar, and for once, Wade had some company in a bunker.

Qatar part 2

Night Golf

After a day of dune bashing in the desert, Gabe and Wade head to Education City Golf Club to play their par-3 course, at night!! Night golf is popular in the middle east due to the extreme heat in summers, and the fact that it makes golf more accessible to traditional daytime workers. They play a game of Battle Golf, where you can only use one club per hole, and once it’s used it cannot be used again. Things get pretty interesting at the end.

Foot Golf

For this trip the guys check in to the Alwadi Hotel Doha – Mgallery. It’s a beautiful 5-star resort with exceptional levels of service, comfortable rooms, and beautiful views of Doha. Perfect for a stay in the city. Back at Education City Golf Club the guys lace up their cleats for some foot golf. Foot golf essentially is golf with a soccer ball, and is a lot of fun, and a great way to get different people into the game. The skill level of the match between Gabe and Wade was quite frankly atrocious, but you can be the judge of that.

Al Shaqab

This is one of the most unique things we had ever seen. The most modern and revolutionary horse facility in the world. From a ginormous horse treadmill, to a swimming pool, to grooming and makeup stations, the horses here are treated like royalty. Wade gets the chance to ride one and takes to it like a natural.

Center of Excellence

Next stop is a visit to the Centre of Excellence, which is a golf training facility with some state of the art equipment. There is a Zen putting platform which is an interactive putting surface, allowing you to replicate any putt in the world with the slope adjustments available. Oh and it also measures your putting stroke in every way possible. The Zen experience continues as there are a number of adjustable tee boxes that allow you to adjust the stance and lie of a shot, more in line to what you would experience on a course. Gabe also gets hooked up in a swing body suit, that analyses your every movement throughout the golf swing. So much fascinating technology.

Supreme Committee

The final stop on the trip for the guys is to the Supreme Committee. This is the governmental hub of Doha and is responsible for scheduling the logistics of the upcoming World Cup. We take a tour and discover some of the planning and preparation that goes into this, as well as the long term projects the country is developing.

Education City Golf Club – Doha, Qatar