I remember, in the early years of golf in the gulf, arriving in the middle of the night in Dubai airport without an entry visa and having to wait for eight hours for the red tape to be unravelled before I was admitted to the most progressive of the seven Emirates.
I thought at the time that this was an awful lot of unnecessary hanging around to gain admittance to such a staid state. The immigration policy has been relaxed to Irish passport holders since then, but the lingering remains.
Nowadays you linger on the other side, in a guaranteed traffic jam which can only be attributed to extremely bad planning. This ultra modern "city" has not benefited from foresight.
Skyscraper after towering skyscraper has invaded the skyline with little thought for how to deliver the people into these invasive structures. It is like the brave new world, where you would need to be brave to keep up with the novelty of the place.
Picture the Dublin skyline, littered with endless rows of cranes, and multiply this image by 50 and then you can come close to visualising Dubai.
Golf in Dubai has grown quite quickly, with seven-and-a-half courses in the Emirate. That may not sound like a lot in comparison to China's rampant golf development, but it represents a lot of grass in a desert and gallons of desalinated water to keep it green.
From its formation in the early 1990s, the Emirates Golf Club has been the host to the Dubai Desert Classic, with just a few years' break when the Dubai Creek club staged the event. Back in the old days there was a real ex-patriot feel about being at the club. There was an exotic air about visiting guests coupled with a liberal attitude to alcohol which created a very festive atmosphere.
What a difference a decade makes. The old ex-pat feeling is long gone, you might as well be in a south east English suburb - apart from the weather that is. With big screens around the clubhouse, and the Six Nations rugby was on display all Saturday afternoon to keep the entertainment going after the golf had finished, the Desert Classic is definitely the major of the Middle East.
The event attracted some major world players in Tiger, Ernie Els and my boss, Retief Goosen. As ever with the incentive schemes invented to attract the best golfers to compete in their events, the policy is a success. With Tiger prevailing over Ernie in a play-off, who could argue about the merits of such a scheme?
There was rumour the local dignitaries would not be able to present the trophy to Anders Hansen from Denmark if he had holed his fair share of putts on Sunday and went on to win the tournament. Given the contretemps between some Muslims and the Scandinavians at present over this cartoon issue, Anders might have had to pick the trophy up himself if he had won it.
As ever with the world's best golfer, it is hard not to stand back and marvel at his unyielding ways. We played with him for 36 holes and his golf was far from textbook. He hooked his tee-shot off the first on Saturday, and scolded himself for not having the control to refocus after a spectator clicked a camera just before he was about to hit his shot. He muttered that he would need more discipline than that if he was going to perform at his best. It was his swing that seemed to lack discipline; his mental attitude was well controlled.
A lesser player would have crumbled under the pressure of dealing with an errant swing. He was visibly searching for something to clutch on to in his swing. He felt so uncomfortable he frequently couldn't even hang on to the club after impact. Having been paired with him on numerous occasions over the past couple of years, I have never seen him hit his irons as short as he did in Dubai last week.
Not only was he short with his irons, due to poor striking, he was well wide of his mark to boot. So for him to get into a play-off is a remarkable achievement. But to win is his raison d'etre, his purpose in setting foot on a golf course is to prevail no matter what obstacles he is presented with.
Not only is he a remarkable competitor, he is a gracious and respectful one. He has the utmost respect for his fellow competitors and their caddies.
Despite his lack of form, Woods still managed to capture his 64th title. It was his caddie's, Steve Williams's 112th victory. To an average good caddie, the 12 of the 100 would be more than acceptable. To the average player the 4 of the 64 would be considered to be a success. Not Tiger. He figured that he had cleaned some dirty laundry in his last two events. Despite not knowing in which direction his ball was going, he managed to find a fix somewhere on the back nine. It wasn't visible to the naked eye, perhaps he was referring to his uncanny ability to recover with his deadly short game.
Dubai may be in a permanent state of change and development, becoming less recognisable as the place you remember the previous time you visited. Tiger's game seems to be in a permanent state of change too. There is one important constant however: he still wins no matter how badly he is hitting the ball.
