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JA The Resort, Jebel Ali bracing for a blockbuster season

Director of Sports, Stuart McMurdo shares his grounded theory on how the historic venue has retained its year-round appeal

In his wider role at JA The Resort, Jebel Ali, where he is the Director of Sports, Stuart McMurdo has been witness to a lot of development and activity around the Dubai golf and sporting scene over the past 18 months.

Encouraged by what he has seen McMurdo aims to pay attention to the needs and interests of the famous golf resort that promotes participation and physical activity just as much as it offers world-class leisure pursuits to its guests.

Khaleej Times met up with a 45-year-old entrepreneur who shared his views on what is in store at JA The Resort, including the further development of the facilities at the golf course, hosting international football teams and a special 25th-anniversary celebration.

“We have done a lot of summer maintenance this year on the golf course which will benefit our nine-hole facility for our guests this coming season,” he said.

“Business forecasts for Q3 and Q4 in golf are strong at JA The Resort. Our Summer Swing holders will hopefully roll over to the winter season which is a core business strength of ours.

“We have a very loyal clientele of both golfers and other guests here at JA The Resort which we are very proud of. This complemented with international golf rounds, primarily through hotel guests, and midweek business from the local market will put us on track for another successful golf season,” McMurdo added.

Highlighting the modifications conducted on the historic golf course, which has hosted the Pro-Am to the Dubai Desert Classic for several years, he said: “On the Driving Range we have extended our back tee at the top of the range. We host a lot of Tour players and golf coaches here at JA when they come over from all over the world for the professional tournaments hosted here in the UAE, which has proved mutually beneficial.

“The Tour players love the special practice and training facilities here sort and more quality space for hitting balls will result in an improved service for all." he added.

“We have also enhanced the practice of chipping and putting green facilities over the summer. Our chipping and putting facilities used to be quite sloppy and restrictive and we have, through some minimal and creative reshaping, essentially added about 50% of the available space for practice."

“All our work is done in-house so I would like to say a big thank you to all the agronomy team. This will also enhance the facilities for Yasin Ali, our Head Teaching Professional and his teaching team," said McMurdo.

“We will have more exciting news on the golf teaching facilities at JA The Resort coming soon,."

JA The Resort, Jebel Ali will also mark its 25th anniversary of the opening of the Peter Harradine-designed golf course with the club planning a celebration golf tournament at the end of October 2023.

The resort is also a preferred destination for overseas football teams for their off-season training camps.

McMurdo said: “We have just had the Bahrain international football team with us and they are back here in January.

“Three Premier League teams will stay with us in the international break in November and a further nine football teams are set to be here in the January break while more are expected in March.”

McMurdo shed light on why this business area has expanded over recent years and why top European football teams like. and keep returning to JA The Resort.

“We have 795 rooms in total on property, with our three hotel facilities which include private dining areas and meeting room facilities,” he said.

“Our JA Lake View Hotel is especially popular for these large elite football groups.

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“Finally, and certainly not least, ‘COP 28, the UN Climate Change Conference, will be hosted just down the road at EXPO City, Dubai from November 30 – December 12, 2023. This will be an important event for the hotel group with JA The Resort being as close to any of the hotels to be one of the key venues of this global event," McMurdo added.

By the looks of it, JA The Resort is certainly bracing for a very busy 2023 – 2024 season.