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Why Oman is the perfect winter sun destination for golfers

On a regulation winter’s day in Muscat – cloudless, 30C, light onshore breeze – a golfer I can’t identify plays his approach to the 18th green at Almouj, Oman’s Greg Norman-designed flagship course near the airport.

The swing looks good, but body language tells a different story and a puff of sand in the distance confirms it. Bad luck, whoever you are; still, better to miss on that side than the other, where the Gulf of Oman licks the boulders of the sea wall a few yards from the flag. I make a note to adjust my sights when my turn comes to do battle with Greg.

Five minutes later, the same golfer jumps down into the bunker, flicks his ball out, bangs the sand off his shoes and holes from seven feet for par. Understated fist pump; polite applause from the gallery. Several minutes pass before I work out that I have just seen Ricardo Gouveia, of Portugal, pull off an impressive double: a one-stroke win on the day, and the potentially life-changing breakthrough of overall victory on the Road to Oman.

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This may sound like a Bob Hope film but is, in fact, a serious part of golf’s professional treadmill, modelled shamelessly on the Race to Dubai, whereby the European Tour reached its annual climax last weekend not far from here. In this version, played out over 25 tournaments in 20 countries on four continents, professionals who are not quite good enough for the top tier compete for promotion.

Oman’s willingness to play second fiddle to Dubai in this copycat way fits in with its low profile, and a natural modesty which is part of the charm of the country and its gracious inhabitants. Muscat straggles for more than 20 miles along the shore, with no swanky hotel towers to overshadow the Opera House, Grand Mosque and other public buildings erected by Sultan Qaboos in his munificence. Unlike its noisy neighbour, the sultanate has tiptoed cautiously into tourism over the past decade.

Oman’s reputation for political stability and moderation in all things has led to an influx of heat-seekers who might otherwise have chosen Egypt, Tunisia or Turkey.

Having announced that it was going for golf, Oman can hardly be accused of rushing the job. Eight years have passed since I took a 4x4 preview of a golf resort overlooking Muscat from the foothills of the coastal mountains.

“Next time you come...” said my guide that day, giving an expansive wave as the dust settled over a fractured arid wasteland that looked to my inexpert eye about as golf-hostile as earth could be. Next time... a verdant Shangri-La for sport, leisure and luxury. Here a green, there a fairway villa with swimming pool. On that scrubby outcrop, a luxury hotel and clubhouse complex.

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Eight years on, the transformation is impressive – as far as it goes. Muscat Hills has been open since 2010 and the course is in fine shape: the fairway receptive, tee positions varied, greens well kept and quite fast enough, thank you. The hills are no more than pleasant undulations and there are interesting shots to play at holes with names like Leopard’s Leap, over and alongside the wadi, a rocky gorge that snakes through the course.

But the resort part of the project is still a work in progress. “Next time you come, it will all look quite different,” says the manageress. An Intercontinental hotel is on the cards, for next time. The move from a small temporary clubhouse to something grander is described as “imminent”.

No such complaints could be levelled at Almouj, where Greg Norman has put together a thrilling course combining the simple pleasures of seaside golf with the manicured production values and technical design features required of an exacting championship venue.

Lakes and an island green take their place among the hazards on holes set back from the sea, as well as man-made dunes to shape the holes, accommodate spectators and give the golfing landscape a linksy look. The rough swallows golf balls and the challenge is so absorbing you soon cease to notice the low-flying jets.

Muscat’s third course, Ghala, is a more modest affair, only recently converted from sand to grass. “It’s mostly locals here, just a golf course, nothing fancy,” said the professional. Having had our expectations thus dampened, our assortment of improvers and big-hitting scratch players all had fun and came in smiling after a more relaxed round than four hours of crisis management at Almouj.

It is known locally as the Valley and, rather than having a wadi run through it, Ghala occupies one: a dry river bed running down from the mountains to the sea. This makes for a slightly confined “out and back” layout but the canyon-like setting does interesting things to the wind and there are dunes to avoid and a pond guarding the last green.

At the end of our game we made inquiries about a light late lunch, whereupon the club’s Moroccan chef rolled up his sleeves and conjured up a feast. “Can’t you stay?” he asked. “It’s our DJ night.” Just a golf course? We hardly thought so.

The consensus among our group was that Oman still has some maturing to do before it can be considered a grown-up golf holiday destination. Almouj apart, the golf does not quite match the style and luxury of Muscat’s clutch of celebrated beach hotels, such as the Chedi, Al Bustan and Shangri-La. The lack of on-site hotels is a drawback for the golfer used to the golf-in golf-out resort experience.

But maturity is not everything. Escaping the international golf ghetto is an incentive to get out and see the place, and this also has the advantage of not being the Costa del Sol, where tee times are booked months ahead and must be met.

Three uncrowded courses, all different and well worth playing, are enough for a satisfying week with time for relaxation on the beach, a second attempt to unlock Greg Norman’s puzzle box and a chance to explore.

We made the short journey inland to Nizwa, toured the souk, visited the fort and learnt a little about Oman’s political history, which is not so harmonious after all. From there a remarkable hairpin road, presumably, leads to the 6,000ft summit of the mountain range, where a spa hotel, the Alila Jabal Akhdar, has been hewn from the unforgiving rocks and planted on a cliff edge.

In the cool of the mountains, it was a treat to turn off the air conditioning and savour the silence of the wilderness. In a more mature golf destination we might easily not have made it to Alila.