Al Zorah

This Nicklaus Design was a surprise entry at No.5 in our Middle East Top 25 but we are confident it deserves this position, ahead of many better-known names in the region.

It is the course by Jack and his firm that has impressed us the most - and that includes Monte Rei in Portugal, which is regarded as one of continental Europe's best.

The Troon-managed facility is one of the region's best-conditioned courses (only Els Club can match it in my opinion), it has a playable and entertaining design, and it has a tidal element that offers something unusual.

It can play to 7,169 yards and make even the strongest players fight for par on every hole, or you can play it from 6,522 or 6,071 and give yourself a chance of a nice score while also having the experience the architect intended.

There are balanced nines of 36, with two par 3s and two par 5s on both, and there is pleasing variation among the par 4s, with the 3rd and 16th weighing in at just 309 and 292 yards off the Silver tees yet the 12th a meaty 390 off those same tees.

It is always windy here too, which makes a round here pleasant even in a Middle East summer but also means you are gauging it and dealing with it over every long shot.

Al Zorah lets you open your shoulders without fear of overt punishment and while there is a premium on finding the best angle from which to play your second, even if you've got the drive spot on, the approach will be exacting.

It consistently felt like a second-shot course to me, if not a third-shot one...because miss the greens here and you will almost always face a tricky and above all entertaining recovery.

If like me you enjoy the short-game more than hammering drivers, it is brilliant fun all the way round. Playing on my own and with no groups pushing me round, I would often throw my ball down in a different part of the green surrounds from where I had played and have an extra chip or two from there.

It was too tempting not to try to land the ball on the part of the green where you thought it would feed down to the hole. Sometimes there was more than one way to do that; it’s far from the fescue-rich experience of a links, but the fun and creative element is definitely here.

The ball sits up on the lush grass pleasingly for the less confident chipper, but Al Zorah often requires creativity as well as some skill to chip it close and holding the greens from downhill lies and onto sloping surfaces is an entertaining challenge.

Not even the most brazen golfer will dare blame any missed putts on anything other than themselves, because these are pristine surfaces.

The aforementioned tidal element begins in earnest on the 7th, with water sitting all the way down the right when the tide is in.

It is then even more in evidence on the 8th, with staggered tees sitting up like islands surrounded by water.

And then it dominates the back nine, water lying to the left of the 10th before you turn round and play with it all the way down the left of the 11th, around the green of the 12th, over it on the 15th and then more or less surrounded by it on the closing trio.

Al Zorah, which is managed by Scotsman Phil Henderson, is examining the possibility of managing the tide to have the water in more often and it certainly adds something to the experience.

Even without the tide though, Al Zorah is already highly enjoyable.