dubai A Makeover for the Majlis

One of the Middle East’s premier golf destinations is scheduled to get a makeover.

Next summer, Thomson Perrett & Lobb will oversee a renovation of the Majlis track at Emirates Golf Club, the first grass golf course in the Middle East and one of the highest-rated courses on the planet. The course, which hosts the Dubai Desert Classic and the Dubai Ladies Masters, is, according to Golf World, one of the world's top 100 courses.

The 7,301-yard layout was designed by Karl Litten and opened in 1988. TPL’s renovation will address the track's bunkers, which will be rebuilt and relocated to provide viable hazards for touring professionals.

“Our bunkers are out of date and, due to modern equipment, out of play,” said Rod Bogg of Dubai Golf, the government-owned group that manages the course.

The course will also get a new irrigation system.

Emirates Golf Club is also home to another highly rated 18-hole course, a track known as the Wadi when it opened in 1996, as well as a nine-hole, par-3 track and a golf academy. The Wadi course was redesigned by Nick Faldo in 2005 and is now called the Faldo. Sometime in the future, the club plans to add a practice center at the Faldo course.

Emirates Golf Club had planned to renovate the Majlis course in the summer of this year. Chris May, the club's general manager, blamed the delay on uncertainty over the delivery of the irrigation system.

"It was a straightforward decision based on the simple fact that the additional power required for the new pump station, necessary for the new irrigation system, could not be guaranteed within the time frame," May said in a press release.

TPL, which is based in Ripley, England, is led by Peter Thomson, a five-time winner of the British Open. This year the firm is overseeing the construction of the Oasis course at Dubai Golf City.