Somabay with Mohammed Attallah
Somabay 9th
Somabay 6th
Dedicated chipping , putting and bunker areas and a golf academy staffed by PGA pros make Somabay the complete golf destination for learning , practicing and playing .
Work is also under way on a second 18-hole course by Tim Lobb that has been designed for playability and will be less demanding than the championship layout .
Half an hour north of Hurghada is the resort town of El Gouna , created over the past 30 years from virgin desert and resembling a latter-day Venice with interlinked canals and lagoons and striking , colourful modernist architecture .
El Gouna Golf Club ’ s 18-hole golf course was designed by Gene Bates and Fred Couples and weaves around and between waterways . Wind is again a factor , as I discover during my round , thanks to its proximity to the sea and El Gouna being another top kitesurfing location .
That is even more the case when playing holes running alongside the canals , among them the sinuous par-5 17th – one of the signature holes – and par-4 18th on the back nine and the par-5 9th which plays towards the distinctive clubhouse tower that looms over the course like a pyramid-shaped lighthouse . The two toughest holes on the course , the par-5 4th and par-4 10th , play straight into the prevailing wind .
One thing to remember if you play El Gouna after Somabay is that distances are in metres rather than yards , with the course measuring 6,269 metres from the back tees . No wonder my approach shots keep coming up short !
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