Earth Course, Dubai: the 620-yard 18th Hatton despises

“I despise everything about this hole. Truly awful golf hole.” Tyrrell Hatton said that on the 18th hole of the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates in the second round of the 2024 DP World Tour Championship, when he was one shot off the lead. He had driven 296 yards down the middle and still had 282 to the flag, uphill, with a creek to carry, according to GOLF.com. He laid up with a 9-iron and made par. His playing partner, Rory McIlroy, hit 3-wood close, made birdie and went on to win the tournament.

The season finale returns to the Earth Course from 12 to 15 November, with a $10 million purse and the Race to Dubai to be settled. McIlroy is chasing an eighth Race to Dubai title, which would draw him level with Colin Montgomerie’s record. The tour has a contract to stage its finale here until 2031.

A creek down the middle of the 18th

The closing hole measures 620 yards from the back tee on the tour’s 2012 card; it played 611 yards on the Friday, when Hatton complained, and about 30 yards longer the day before. Water sits off the tee on the right. A creek (a falaj, in the tour’s hole guide) splits the fairway for its full length and crosses in front of the raised green. The DP World Tour’s guide sets out the choice: the right-hand fairway is narrower but opens up the green, while the left is easier to hit and brings a group of bunkers into play.

In 2019 Jon Rahm needed a birdie for the title and the Race to Dubai. He hit 4-iron into a bunker, chunked his recovery to about four feet and holed the putt, according to Golf Digest.

In 2025 Matt Fitzpatrick finished at −18 and waited in the scorer’s hut while McIlroy, a shot behind, hit a fairway wood from about 230 yards and holed from around 15 feet for an eagle. In the play-off, also on the 18th, McIlroy drove into the creek and made bogey; Fitzpatrick got up and down for par to win the event for a third time, a joint record. “In typical Rory fashion, he did it again,” Fitzpatrick said of the eagle, according to the PGA TOUR.

Norman’s “Golden Mile” from the 15th

Greg Norman, who designed the course, called the last four holes a “Golden Mile of Golf” when it opened in 2009. Norman’s 2009 guide put them at 1,702 yards, and Norman predicted a “two- or three-shot swing” there, according to the Irish Golf Desk’s account of his course guide.

The 15th is a short par 4 of 371 yards played uphill, where the tour’s guide warns that shots get pulled left. The 16th, a 486-yard par 4, doglegs right over another falaj, with a lake alongside the fairway as far as the green. The 17th is a 195-yard par 3 to an island green ringed by bunkers. In 2023 Tommy Fleetwood led for much of the final round, bogeyed the 17th and finished two behind Nicolai Højgaard, who birdied five holes in a row from the 13th and parred the last for a 64, according to Golfmagic.

The Earth Course is a par 72 of 7,706 yards from the back tees, with two par 5s over 570 yards on the front nine and a 626-yard 14th, where a lake runs along the final 150 yards and the green slopes towards it. The 6th, a par 3 of 186 yards, is the first hole with water and usually plays across the wind. Before the 2023 championship the club replaced the sand in all 100 bunkers with a brighter white mix of new and recycled material, and swapped the wood chips around every hole for red chips made on site, according to Golf Business News. Justin Rose holds the course record, 62, set in 2012.

Booking a round on the Earth Course

The club is private but takes visitor tee times on both its Norman courses, the Earth and the 7,480-yard Fire. The estate is operated by Dubai Golf, and Where2Golf lists dubaigolf.com for bookings and +971 4 818 2000 for the pro shop. The same guide gives a high-season visitor rate of about AED 1,130 for 18 holes including a buggy, a figure last updated in 2023, so check the current rate when you book. The estate has its own stop, Jumeirah Golf Estates, on the Route 2020 branch of the Dubai Metro Red Line.

Some players are missing this year’s Play-Off events in the Gulf. Bob MacIntyre’s management said he “did not want to make the trip over to the Middle East at this time”, according to Golfmagic. Check your government’s travel advice before booking.

Sources

• GOLF.com: Tyrrell Hatton hates this 18th hole. Does he have a point?
• Golfmagic: “Everything about this hole I despise…” Tyrrell Hatton rants about 18th in Dubai
• DP World Tour: Earth Course hole by hole
• Irish Golf Desk: Greg Norman’s guide to the Earth Course
• Golf Digest: Jon Rahm sweeps the DP World Tour Championship and the Race to Dubai with an 18th-hole birdie
• PGA TOUR: Rory McIlroy loses out to Matt Fitzpatrick in playoff at DP World Tour Championship
• Irish Golfer: Fitzpatrick pips McIlroy in DP World Tour Championship playoff
• Golfmagic: Nicolai Hojgaard goes on birdie blitz to win DP World Tour Championship
• Golf Business News: Jumeirah Golf Estates unveils Earth Course enhancements
• Golf Business News: Earth course to host DP World Tour Championship until 2031
• Golf Digest Middle East: Since 2009, the Earth Course has played host to the DP World Tour Championship
• The National: Rory McIlroy confirmed for DP World Tour Championship
• Golfmagic: DP World Tour Playoffs rocked by notable absentees in Abu Dhabi
• Where2Golf: Jumeirah Golf Estates (Earth course)
• Wikipedia: Jumeirah Golf Estates