Yas Links golf guide: the Middle East's first true links
Kyle Phillips carved a genuine links out of the Arabian Gulf shoreline on Yas Island — now home to the DP World Tour's Abu Dhabi Championship. How to play it, when to go, and how to pair it with Dubai.
Yas Links is the course that proved you could build a real links in the desert. Kyle Phillips — the architect behind Kingsbarns in Scotland — shaped it along the Arabian Gulf shoreline of Abu Dhabi's Yas Island, with firm turf, rippling fairways, deep bunkering and water in play on more than half the holes. It's widely rated the best course in the Middle East, and since 2022 it has hosted the Abu Dhabi Championship, a DP World Tour Rolex Series event.
This guide covers how visitors play it, the holes that make it, when to go in the Gulf's golf-friendly winter, and how to pair Yas Links with Dubai's Emirates Golf Club for a two-city desert trip.
Where
Yas Island, Abu Dhabi — beside the F1 circuit, ~20 min from Abu Dhabi airport
Course
Yas Links (par 72, ~7,450 yds) — the Middle East's first true links
Designer
Kyle Phillips (opened 2010) — architect of Kingsbarns in Scotland
Nearest airport
Abu Dhabi (AUH) ~15–20 min; Dubai (DXB) ~1hr 15min
Best time
October–April (cool, dry); summer is extremely hot
Access
Public / resort — visitors welcome daily; advance booking and a handicap certificate required
Regularly ranked #1 in the Middle East; host of the DP World Tour's Abu Dhabi Championship
Kyle Phillips moved vast amounts of sand to create genuine links terrain on a reclaimed Gulf shoreline — humps and hollows, blind-ish rolls, revetted-style bunkers and fairways that use the ground as much as the air. The Gulf is in play on nine holes, and the water, wind and firm turf give it a feel far closer to Scotland or Ireland than to a typical desert target course.
The finish is the showpiece: a run of holes along the sea that is spectacular at any time and unforgettable at sunset, when the sky turns pink over the water. It's a proper championship test from the back tees — the tour plays it near 7,450 yards — but the multiple tee options and generous-enough landing areas make it a hugely enjoyable resort round for everyday golfers too.
How visitors play Yas Links
Yas Links is a public / resort course, so visitors are welcome daily — you simply book a tee time, ideally well ahead in the peak winter season. As at most top UAE clubs, a handicap certificate is expected and there's a smart-golf dress code. Carts are standard and, in the heat, sensible; the club is geared around giving visiting golfers a polished, tour-standard experience.
Because it sits on Yas Island, the course is wrapped in a full holiday resort — the Yas Marina F1 circuit, theme parks, beach clubs and big hotels are all minutes away — which makes it an easy sell for a mixed golf-and-family trip. There's also a floodlit academy for a post-round range session once the sun drops.
What makes it special
Yas Links matters because it broke the mould for Gulf golf. Instead of a lush, tree-lined target course dropped into the desert, Kyle Phillips built something that genuinely plays like a links — you can run the ball in, the wind is a real factor off the Gulf, and the bunkering punishes exactly like it does in Scotland. The result is a course that tour pros rate and rank near the top of the region, and that gives visiting golfers a taste of links strategy in guaranteed winter sunshine. The seaside closing stretch is the signature, and the reason so many players call it the best round in the Middle East.
When to go
The Gulf golf season runs October to April, when temperatures are warm-but-comfortable and rain is rare — this is when the DP World Tour visits and when you'll want to play. Midsummer (June–August) is brutally hot, often over 40°C with high humidity, so play is limited to very early mornings and twilight if at all. Winter also brings the liveliest resort atmosphere on Yas Island, with events around the F1 calendar.
Pairing Abu Dhabi with Dubai
The obvious move is a two-city desert trip. Yas Links is comfortably the standout in Abu Dhabi, and Dubai is only around 75 minutes up the road, home to Emirates Golf Club and its famous Majlis course. Playing both gives you the region's two marquee rounds plus two very different city bases — Abu Dhabi's Yas Island resort bubble and Dubai's full-throttle skyline — inside a single warm-weather week. Flights, transfers and stay-and-play packages between the two are straightforward, and the winter weather makes it one of the most reliable golf escapes anywhere.
What to pack
The kit this trip demands
Yas Links is hot, bright, breezy seaside golf in the Gulf — pack to stay cool and protected from strong sun and glare off the water:
Yes. Yas Links is a public/resort course that welcomes visitors daily — you book a tee time, ideally well ahead in the peak winter season. A handicap certificate is expected and there's a smart-golf dress code; carts are standard.
Why is Yas Links so highly rated?
It's the Middle East's first true links, designed by Kyle Phillips (of Kingsbarns fame) on the Arabian Gulf shoreline, with firm turf, real bunkering and water in play on nine holes. It plays far more like Scotland than a typical desert course, is regularly ranked the region's best, and hosts the DP World Tour's Abu Dhabi Championship.
When is the best time to play golf in Abu Dhabi?
October to April, when the weather is warm and dry — this is the Gulf golf season and when the DP World Tour visits. Midsummer is extremely hot, often above 40°C, so play is limited to very early mornings and twilight.
Can you combine Yas Links with Dubai golf?
Easily. Dubai is only about 75 minutes from Yas Island, home to Emirates Golf Club and its Majlis course. Playing both makes for a classic two-city desert golf trip in guaranteed winter sunshine, with straightforward transfers and stay-and-play packages between them.
