Ancient Sands Golf Club , El Gouna .
El Gouna C / O Orascom
Before your round , head to the golf club ’ s aqua driving range to hit a few balls towards a series of greens in the lagoon . They float if you miss your target and are scooped up to reuse . After playing , climb to the observation deck at the top of the clubhouse tower for incredible views over the course and beyond to the sea and mountains .
Nine holes of El Gouna ’ s second golf course , the Karl Littendesigned Ancient Sands , are open and the second nine are due to be completed in the near future . Water again features strongly on the course .
Between Hurghada and Somabay , Madinat Makadi Golf Resort ’ s 18-hole course – named Egypt ’ s top golf course six years running in the World Golf Awards – is also metric and measures 6,871 metres from the back tees .
Here , there are no coloured markers to differentiate between men ’ s and ladies ’ tees . Instead , the six tee positions are named after Egyptian cities , from Dahab to the longest tees , Cairo , via Luxor , Suez , Aswan and Giza . Every hole is also named after an Egyptian pharaoh and there ’ s an explanation about each one on an information board alongside a pictorial diagram of the hole , such as the par-4 3rd hole , Khufu , also known as Cheops and who commissioned Giza ’ s Great Pyramid , and the par-5 9th , named after ancient Egypt ’ s last ruler , Cleopatra . So as you play , you not only enjoy the course and its setting but you also get a fascinating history lesson .
The boards and tees were the idea of director of golf Simon Bowler , who was brought in to revive the John Sanford design after its water supply was turned off for two years during the Covid crises . He has also been refining the look of the course by adding flower beds and shrubs and improving its cart path and borders . The result is amazing . The course opened in November 2008 and I stayed at the on-site resort hotel – then under the Jaz Hotels flag but now a Steigenberger – and played it soon afterwards .
Laid out over hilly terrain above the hotel , I enjoyed the layout and panoramic views out to the Red Sea from the higher elevations but the transplanted juvenile palm trees gave it the feel of a course that hadn ’ t bedded in . Now it has matured and it is a visual feast with verdant tees and greens , fairways liberally sprinkled with bunkers and surrounded by huge sand waste areas , all enhanced by splashes of colour from the vegetation .
I love the series of ponds linked by a stream that add to the challenge of holes 6 , 7 and 8 . And the par-4 11th , with its plunging fairway , and par-3 16th can ’ t be beaten for dramatic effect and stunning vistas .
Besides its championship course , Madinat Makadi also has extensive practice facilities that include a nine-hole executive course , a short-game area and double-ended driving range .
16 DestinationGolf . travel