This story was first reported by Golf Course Architecture magazine.
“Somabay as a destination has been growing in popularity both domestically and internationally for some years now,” said architect Tim Lobb. “Whilst there are miles of coastline and diving activities are at the core of the leisure pursuits here, the rise in golf participation globally and at Somabay has led to an expansion of their golf offering.
“Our new 18-hole golf course is created to complement the existing Gary Player Design layout. It was not our intention to design a traditional championship course but to create a family friendly and manageable test of golf for the holiday golfer.”
Lobb’s design has been in planning for several years, with the Covid pandemic delaying the project’s early momentum. The course is being built in three phases of six holes, with the first six now being built and grassed. The full 18 is expected to open in winter 2026, with some preview play before then.
“The golf course will occupy some of the internal land of this epic peninsula and offer sea views from nearly every hole,” said Lobb. Somabay lies on a peninsula that juts into the Red Sea. “The original site lacked detailed contouring but had the expansive views of the Red Sea. The views and scale of the site were the main inspiration for the golf course intent.”
The course is being built by the same Egyptian teams that Lobb trained during the construction of the club’s golf academy, which he designed with James Edwards of EDI Golf.
The shaping philosophy is to ‘make it look like Mars’. Course superintendent Andrew Hughes is the project manager and will look after grow-in of the Pure Dynasty playing surfaces from Atlas Turf International and Pure Seed.
“Fun is the intended playing experience at our new course at Somabay,” said Lobb. “We have not created a long course – it will be a par 71 of 6,200 yards. We started with eight formal bunkers in the design and have already taken a few out. Sand waste areas and abrupt landscape mounding with native grasses with give a striking visual appeal and provoke the strategic challenge for this ‘sleeper’ of a golf challenge.
“We were very keen to connect our golf course with the Red Sea location as much as possible. Phase one (holes 12 to 17) comes closest to the sea, with the par-four thirteenth and par-three fourteenth playing directly towards it with no interruption to the view.
“Another highlight of this first phase is hole fifteen, which will have great a split fairway option using the mounding technique. It should look very striking and be a puzzle to play and only around 320 yards with the wind behind.”
