Live Blogging Bisharat Golf Club - Golf in the Kingdom (of Jordan)

  My caddy Saeed 

It's our last full day in Jordan. The itinerary calls for touring Desert Castles in and around Amman. I've no doubt that excursion would be an interesting and historically important addition to our tour, but... I've seen a lot of castles and historic sites over the last 3+ weeks. 

Alaa continued the planned itinerary with Sigrid, but first he dropped me off at the Bisharat Golf Club.

Blame Stuart.  Early in the trip he made a comment on Facebook suggesting I check out the new Greg Norman design that recently opened in Aqaba, but Aqaba was not on our tour. Nevertheless, the seed was planted. How often will I get a chance to play golf in the Middle East? I hoped to play earlier at the Mena House Hotel course in the shadow of the pyramids, but the course was closed for renovations.  Now it's the last day of the trip, and I'm lacing up my hiking boots in the parking lot for a round of golf.  

You read that right. You don't need spikes at Bisharat Golf Club. In fact, you don't want them, for reasons that will soon be obvious. Bisharat is a family run course, founded by Julia and her husband in 1990.

She used to live in San Francisco and ran a Lebanese restaurant on Lombard before moving to Jordan and opening Bisharat. Note the Warriors cap. 

I didn't bring any golf gear with me, so she set me up with rental clubs, golf balls, glove, tees, and a caddy - Saeed - who proved to be invaluable. 

Saeed is from Egypt, a 10 handicap, and I think you can see in these pictures how happy he is to be caddying for me, midway through the round.

As noted, this is the 2nd best course in Jordan. Before the aforementioned Ayla course in Aqaba opened a few months ago, it was the only course in Jordan. Nine holes, with double tees on each hole, you get a different look as you go around for your 18. All the tee boxes are rubber mats, and you carry your fairway with you.  Really. There are no real fairways in the classic "grass" sense, so the local rule is that you drop a small astroturf mat on the ground where your ball lands and hit your fairway shot off the mat.

Also the greens are black. Again avoiding the troublesome and expensive "grass" concept, the greens are oiled sand, groomed before and after each shot.

Although they look odd, the case can be made that they roll faster and truer than the Lincoln Park greens in San Francisco. Obviously, the course is not for purists, but I had a great time playing, and with Saeed's guidance, even sank a 10 footer for a birdie on 12.  I'll  eventually update this post with a video clip of my birdie, but in the meantime - here is a still shot that shows the track  and gives you an inkling of how a great caddy can help you with the line:

Net net - great fun. Even with local rules it felt like real golf, and my score reflected it.

100 on the nose (49 51) and I still had time for the afternoon excursions. A fine finish to our Jordan tour.

Editor's  Note: Okay, this is not actually a "live blog" of the round. The internet was a bit iffy from the course and I really just said that to get the attention of my regular "Bad Golf" playing partners.