WORLDWIDE
Golf Est:1999
MANY experts agreed that it was a brave step for us to take when we launched our monthly golf magazine Worldwide Golf in November, 1999. At that time the only grass golf courses in the UAE were Dubai Golf’s 18 hole Majlis and Wadi courses at Emirates Golf Club, the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, the nine hole course at Jebel Ali Golf Resort & Spa and Nad Al Sheba, which is currently closed, due to redevelopment of the Racecourse. We believed that golf in Dubai and the UAE would grow in line with business, tourism and residential developments. But we couldn’t have predicted the dramatic increase in golf during the past nine years. The enthusiasm, support and commitment of our Chairman, Sheikh Saeed bin Hasher Al Maktoum was such that we were convinced Worldwide Sporting Publications and Worldwide Golf would be a success in the long term. Mike is a former Fleet Street national newspaper editor with a lifetime’s experience in international publishing at the highest level and Alex, a golf ‘nut’ who decided to pursue a career in new media and graphic technology instead of taking his place at Coventry University to study Architecture. Alex moved to Dubai with his family in 1999 and was instrumental in getting Worldwide Golf off the ground. David Burke, who had considerable experience in the golf scene in the Gulf, joined Worldwide Golf in May 2001 as Advertising and Marketing Director and has played a vital role in driving the company forward. Our initial thoughts have been proved correct. The parent company, Worldwide Sporting Publications, has become arguably the biggest global publisher of official golf tournament programmes and during this decade it has produced official magazines for some of the biggest tournaments in world golf consistently in more than 20 countries, many of which are in dual languages. Through our international official golf tournament programmes we have been able to spread the word about Dubai as a golf and tourism destination. The Middle East has a history of new magazines springing up from nowhere and disappearing just as fast but we were able to convince our readers and advertisers that we were here for the long term. We did receive vital backing from several farsighted people who believed that one day the UAE could become a genuine golf and tourism destination. For their help and support we are very grateful. It is significant that among our Columnists we have three legends of the game in Gary Player, Greg Norman and Ernie Els, which in itself is testament to the prestige Worldwide Golf has achieved.As we mark our 100th edition of Worldwide Golf with this January 2009 issue we can look back on nine years of progress where we have gained a lot of friends and made a genuine contribution to the growth of golf in the Middle East – and taken golf in the Gulf to a worldwide audience. We are humbled at the many messages we have received from a number of individuals in the golf industry whom we greatly respect and who have been an enormous support to us over the years. We can look forward to our next 100 issues of Worldwide Golf with renewed confidence.
Mike and Alex Gallemore
On behalf of Sheikh Saeed bin Hasher Al Maktoum, Chairman of Worldwide Sporting Publications and Worldwide Golf, we thank all the individuals who have taken the time to offer their congratulations to Worldwide Golf on reaching our 100th edition. WHEN we started Hydroturf back in 1995, we covered the entire Gulf plus Egypt but in this large land mass, there were only four or five grass golf courses. This year Hydroturf is supplying product and services to more than 50 grass golf courses, so this reflects a huge increase driven by real estate and tourism over the past 13 years. This year will end with the golfing world looking at The Race to Dubai culminating with the Dubai World Championship at the Earth Course. During the past nine years Worldwide Golf has successfully recorded the growth of the golf industry and is the clear market leader. Hydroturf congratulates Worldwide Golf on its 100th edition and its successful past and looks forward to both Hydroturf and Worldwide Golf being part of an even more successful future for Golf in the Middle East in the years to come. Colin Baxter, Managing Director, Hydroturf.
MY family and I have had close associations with Dubai for many years and in all that time I have seen Worldwide Golf become a better and better magazine. The publication has kept pace every step of the way with the rapid increase in golf course design and construction and carried interesting features and interviews with many of the leading players in world golf. The magazine has also covered every angle in The Race to Dubai and the Dubai World Championship. Not only that but Mike and Alex have very cleverly utilised the many official golf tournament programmes they publish around the world to promote and publicise golf and tourism in Dubai, the UAE and the Middle East. I congratulate them on their 100th edition and I wish them well for the future. Thomas Björn, European Tour Chairman of the Tournament Committee.
WHEN Mike and Alex Gallemore approached me early in 1999 with the idea of launching Worldwide Golf I welcomed it with open arms. Their concept of combining international news, views and features with coverage of golf in the region seemed like a real benefit for us all. At that time Dubai only had Emirates Golf Club, Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, Nad Al Sheba Club and Jebel Ali Golf Resort & Spa as grass courses, with the sand course at Dubai Country Club. It didn’t seem much on which to base a publication of such magnitude but Mike and Alex were enthusiastic and determined to make it work. There were rumours and plans afoot for numerous golf courses throughout the region but nothing confirmed or underway. I could see that a monthly magazine of such quality would help to increase the interest of golf in Dubai, and that the official tournament programmes that Mike and Alex published for the various Tours provided a further outlet to promote and publicise Dubai and the region to a worldwide audience. I was pleased to support Mike and Alex’s Worldwide Sporting Publications company and Worldwide Golf from the outset and I have worked closely with them ever since. Their success has paralleled that of Dubai Golf, and Dubai itself. Worldwide Golf has provided a vital service for the golf industry in the region and they must be congratulated on achieving the milestone of their 100th edition. There have been a number of golf publications that have been and gone in the UAE in recent years but I always believed that Worldwide Golf would stay the course. I’m pleased to have been involved in the success story of Worldwide Golf from the beginning, and I wish Mike and Alex well for their next 100 issues. Maybe by that time Mike will have taken up my challenge of a round of golf in exchange for a year’s advertising! Rodney J. Bogg, Managing Director, Dubai Golf.