Golf In The Gulf

Nish: 0:00

Every story has an ending. Does our quest to play the top 100 courses in 10 years have a good ending? I’m Nish and I’m here to guide you through this golfing journey. This is the Top 100 in 10 Golf Podcast

Nish: 0:13

Bonus episode Golf in the Gulf.

Nish: 0:17

He’s known as Lee Harbs, or Lee-rance of Arabia, but we’ll go with Harbs because we’ll ditch the Lee-rance of Arabia. This is my mate Harbs. He’s best mate and best man with somebody who has been referenced on the podcast before. That’s Lee Lee Enright, or Lee Money Enright, as we call him up here. So, yeah, nice to meet you, mate, and nice to see you again.?

Harbs: 0:46

yeah, very good, mate, very good. It’s good to see you too. So.

Nish: 0:50

I think it’s always good to start at the start of people’s golfing journey. I think so tell us about you know your golfing journey, how you got into the game, um, what you like about it, that kind of stuff okay, so my golfing journey.

Harbs: 1:04

So I was first introduced to golf by my dad, um, so his sport was always darts, but I wasn’t really massively interested in that. I was always into my football. And then one weekend, when I didn’t have a game, he said I’m going to play some golf with some mates. Do you want to come along, um, to watch caddy, if you like? I didn’t have a clue about what he was talking about, to be quite honest. So I went along with him he’s kind of hacking his way around the course and I just thought how much fun does this look?

Harbs: 1:33

So then I became one of those kind of got myself a secondhand set of clubs and then once, probably once a year for maybe a decade, rocking up with my friends, play round of golf once a year, um, letting the football kind of do its thing. And then, when I hit my late 20s, I think football started to come to a abrupt, abrupt halt, if you like. And then that’s when I contacted one of my mates that I knew played a lot of golf, called Watto, and he introduced me to his friends at a society. And then I went from playing once a year to every month, and that’s when I really enjoyed playing golf. That was fantastic. I mean, I was absolutely terrible, but I think as a terrible golfer, it just takes that one sweet connection and you’re hooked, you know just hanging that ball dead straight and you think that’s it.

Nish: 2:21

This is for me never a true word said that’s it and that’s how it all.

Harbs: 2:25

That’s how it all started, really. So, um, yeah, I mean it’s funny that that initial outing with my dad’s probably the reason that stands out is because we’ve got a daft little story which makes me chuckle now. But we’re halfway around. He’s in a bunker, I’m dragging this bag around for him and he’s like go back and get my sandwich from the bag. And I’ve run back over to his bag and I’m rummaging through it. I’m like there isn’t a sandwich in here. I’ve gone back over to him bad, bad news you forgot your sandwich. And he’s like sand wedge, idiot. And I was like whoops. So, yeah, I was like okay, I need to understand what these clubs actually mean at that point. Um, that’s it. It’s my earliest memory of golf. It’s quite sad really looking for a bloody cheese sandwich or something in a bag.

Nish: 3:13

But oh yeah, I think that that would resonate with a lot of people. I think, um playing with your dad, I mean, that’s always, you don’t? You probably don’t appreciate it at the time, do you? But like now, as time goes by, that’s always, you don’t? You probably don’t appreciate it at the time, do you? But like now, as time goes by, you really appreciate those moments, don’t you?

Harbs: 3:28

That’s it, mate. Yeah, yeah, I think I think in our lifetime probably played like two rounds with my dad. I don’t see a lot of him. He’s in Cambridge. I’m over in Somerset now, so yeah, that sort of thing doesn’t happen anymore.

Nish: 3:49

But I think he’s uh, he’s always been into his darts, really focused on that side of things, so we never really had the opportunity. It was very rare outings for him. Now, I love how you say darts wasn’t my thing. And then over your left shoulder is a fully set up dartboard, led lights, the laugh but you know, it’s not your game, it’s fine, it’s not. I know how to play it.

Harbs: 4:02

You know, if I, if I could fit a pool table in here, I’d have one as well.

Nish: 4:06

Oh yes, now, it’s now, we’re talking, man cave stuff that’s right I was having a chat with a friend of mine, a player he’s been regularly with uh, another chris, chris k? Uh, and he was. He messaged me today just going we’re supposed to be playing zoom golf tomorrow but my son’s not feeling well so we can’t uh feeling well so we can’t go. But um sort of messaged him saying oh no, sorry, mate, can’t, can’t make it, and he went all right, well, I’ll do an hour anyway. He was like send me this picture of an inflatable um golf sim set up for your garden.

Nish: 4:38

And he just said my life ambition at the minute is figuring out how I can get a golf sim at home. So we kind of like I’ve got mate, that’d be amazing. That’s, that’s the dream, isn’t it? You know, you want you see it on Instagram, don’t you? Everyone’s got these in America, it’s always America, because I’ve got the space. But like this big simulator set up, you’ve got a bar on the side and darts and pool and all that kind of stuff. He said I’ve been really seriously thinking about this. I was like, oh no, that’s okay, fine, yeah, go on. Like chris is great, when he gets an idea in his head, he’s like it goes to the nth degree, sort of, and he goes um, I’ve worked out, though, the only way that I can make this happen is if my family move out. I was like all right, okay, when are you going to tell me the downside to this story? If you get your family to move out and there’s a golf sim, I can play sim, play golf at I’m all over that.

Harbs: 5:28

Yeah, you’ll have a new member of the family absolutely, yeah, you don’t you don’t need your family, you just need golf friends.

Nish: 5:33

That’s all you need, yeah I love it and you’re dead right.

Harbs: 5:36

One sweet connection, that’s all it takes yeah, yeah, and to be fair, to follow on from that mate, I’ve got um a double garage and I put a segregation wall up in the middle and I turned the left side into a gym. So when we first bought the house, I was massively into working out, so I built my own gym in there and then, when we moved over to Dubai, rented the house out. The new tenant said I don’t want a gym, which I couldn’t believe. I was like you’ve got to be kidding me.

Harbs: 6:05

I’m leaving you with, like all the like, state-of-the-art crossfit gym equipment frame everything and he was like no, I don’t want it, take it with you. So I had to take it all down and rip it out. So it’s all back in there now, because we’ve come back, obviously, um, and I’m in two minds whether to put that gym back up or actually get somebody in to properly turn my garage into a golf simulator, the downside being the wife keeps telling me that that garage area is going to be reserved for when our son turns 18 and he’s going to have his own annex. We’re going to convert the garage into an annex for him. You’re going to want to play golf though? Right, yeah, that’s what I said I’m like well, surely he’s going to want a golf simulator in there.

Nish: 6:47

I mean, he’d be like the most popular kid ever. Do you want him to have friends or not?

Harbs: 6:55

Yeah. Do you want him just to have friends or do you want him to be best mates with?

Nish: 6:58

everybody. Yeah, we talk about legend status, so we’re just talking like one of the lads. You know that’s it.

Harbs: 7:03

You know that’s, that’s exactly what um, yeah, as long as I can still get access to it, you can do what you want.

Nish: 7:09

Happy days, you gotta lay the groundwork early. Uh, I mean, obviously you mentioned that you’d moved out to to dubai. So I mean, I I sort of nerd out a little bit on golfing culture in other countries and it started for me with um, probably about five or six years ago, with american golf culture. So I find that quite different to ours, um, in terms of we, you know, british golfing culture is the game, is the thing that you’re there for. You know, you’ll very people will very happily turn up 10 minutes before their tea time.

Nish: 7:45

One quick warm-up swing out, done straight in the car and home, like the golf is the feature. That’s where you do all your socializing, all that kind of thing. The american’s a little bit different. It’s the full day out, it’s the beers as you’re going around, it’s the you know well getting plastered really while you’re playing golf. And I can’t think of anything worse because my golf dips and then I don’t like that at all. Yeah, so that that started it off and then I really started getting into like japanese golf culture which is so formal and like everything’s amazing, like pristine yeah, is that where you have like you have to book like eight hours of your day out so you can have some lunch halfway around?

Nish: 8:22

yeah, half a half, it’s not halfway, it’s halfway restaurant and they’ll do full-on food. Clubs are cleaned in between. Oh, wow, it’s amazing. Um, it’s a. It’s a far cry from the little little shoe cleaner that I’ve got to use to clean all the bits off the crap off my clothes but yeah, I think, I think british golf holds on to its traditions very hard I don’t think it’s going to change. No, we play golf.

Harbs: 8:46

That’s what we do. You’re here to play golf. You can stop for a beer afterwards if you like, and maybe grab a sausage roll if there is a halfway house, that’s it.

Nish: 8:53

That’s all you’re getting. Yeah, I mean, I think we’ve spoken about it before, haven’t we? But there should definitely be a halfway hut at every single half decent golf course. You can’t call it a golf course if you haven’t got one, so campaigning at mine to install one somewhere that all the scallies in Stockport will nick all the supplies, unfortunately. That’s the problem. But what’s the golfing culture like over in the it’s massive mate.

Harbs: 9:19

Yeah, in the UAE in general. So you know I’m talking Dubai, abu Dhabi. I played a lot of golf over there while I was there. The culture is huge, expat, focused. So you know we’re talking english, european, asian. You know anyone that’s moved there to start a life or you know a temporary lifestyle and stuff like that. It’s just that the golf is tailored to those nationalities that they know love golf, right. And obviously I don’t know if most people realize now that the majority of dubai and the uae isn’t dry anymore. So you’ve got saudi, where you can’t well, you’re not supposed to drink, and you’ve got other areas of near dubai that are still dry areas. But in dubai, in abu dhabi, um, it’s not uncommon to rock up for a 9 am tea, tea time, have a pint, bit of food, natter with your mates, hit the driving range and then, wherever you are on the course in your car, you can just press a button and a beer cart will come over to you. So it’s very much like the american style yeah that we see.

Harbs: 10:31

I mean, I follow a lot of youtube channels, um the american ones, and it’s very similar to those where you know you can kind of you’re, you’re in a car all the way around. There’s a couple of courses in Dubai where there’s several halfway houses, so like holes five and then holes 12. You might find somewhere that you can stop or they kind of cross over as you’re kind of going to the next hole, so you might swing past the halfway house twice if you like when you’re going around. But yeah, pretty much most of the courses, anywhere the carts are modern, you can press a button, call somebody over to you, buy a beer when you’re on hole three, if you want get some food, get a soft drink.

Harbs: 11:12

It’s very geared up to to expats right, and what’s the?

Nish: 11:19

what’s the uptake with locals like? Is that just an? Is it an inaccessible sport for them, or is it growing?

Harbs: 11:26

no, I mean if I’m honest I don’t know the answer that I played with just a handful of locals while I was there.

Harbs: 11:32

Yeah, I wouldn’t say golf is the thing that they’re interested in yeah um, that’s why I think it’s very geared up as an awful lot of golf courses, very geared up to your expat communities and your people. You know your nationalities that are into golf um, and they’re playing it really well. Um, what I will tell you about golf courses as well is, in the uae, obviously, pork being something that they don’t, they don’t have, they don’t touch um. So you can usually get a bacon sandwich or a bacon roll at the golf course as well. So you know they’ve, really they’ve paid for those extra licensing um fees, whatever they may be, which no doubt they’ll be very high. So, yeah, you can. You can have a 9am pint and bacon roll if you want. That’s unbelievable, yeah, which I found absolutely incredible because you know sometimes you’ve got a hunt high, far and wide in the uae to find some bacon if you’re really looking for it.

Nish: 12:25

But yeah, if you really want it.

Harbs: 12:27

It’s a golf, that’s it. You know, just just before I left, though, they started to do their renovations on the courses, and then, when I went in a couple of times, they were like no, we haven’t got bacon on the menu anymore, so I don’t know if they’re starting to turn that trend now.

Nish: 12:52

And it’s, it’s a, it’s a country decision. But here you go, and then, oh no, we’re taking it away.

Harbs: 12:54

Now, I know we’ve got you here, you we’ve got enough expats living here. Now we’re doing that. We don’t need to bribe you anyway. Yeah, anyway, shape or form the price, the price of golf out there, um, because they know people are going to play it, you do pay quite a bit of money. So right now it wouldn’t be a shock to pay 1,000 to 1,200 dirhams for a round, which we’re talking about 4.5 exchange rate dirhams to the pound. Oh, right, okay. So yeah, quite tasty, hefty prices. So yeah, quite tasty, hefty prices. And if you’re turning up as a tourist, you know, if you’re going to go over there for a little holiday and you think while I’m here I might hire some clubs and go for a round, you could be shelling out £300 for a round of golf because you’d have to hire the clubs for about 300 dirhams. You’d have to buy a set of balls, for three balls from the golf club. You’re talking about 120 dirhams. You know, 25 pound, wow, three golf balls. It’s crazy, mate.

Nish: 13:51

Yeah, the prices are crazy wow, yeah, the rate losing mate very rarely are the courses not packed. So yeah, yeah, there’s a lot of societies out there what’s the what’s the quality of the golf course is like. So some of this seed is just unbelievable yeah, incredible.

Harbs: 14:10

So I think I think, when I look at the quality of the courses, how well they’re maintained all year round, there are periods, obviously, where they’ve got to do maintenance. You have quite a brutal summer, so those brutal summers can obviously dry the ground out. They must get through an awful lot of water and I’m also aware that some of the golf courses they’ve actually flown the sand in from other countries, even though we’re in the middle of the desert because, they wanted the top quality sand at their golf courses.

Harbs: 14:39

So, um, you know, I’m sure people that have lived there longer than me can tell you some things that would probably raise your eyebrows a little bit more than that. But yeah, I mean that for me was quite fascinating, that you’re living in a desert and you fly sand in to fill your bunkers.

Nish: 14:53

It’s an interesting one, isn’t it? Because I think you know you’re sort of seeing it. I mean, this is now moving away from golf a little bit, but you are seeing the whole kind of like you know, a lot of investment gone into getting the f1 to the middle east. You’ve got, obviously, we have the, the football world cup and qatar. Um, you know, it’s kind of like oh, let’s, let’s what is, it’s badged, anyway, let’s grow the game in this area. But I mean is, is it doing that? Is it that kind of thing kind of impact? I mean, it may not be something you necessarily have experience of, but you know, is it doing that? Or is it just actually look, we’ve got the money to spend and we’re just going to make top class facilities and people like I said, I think they’re just aware that it’s.

Harbs: 15:35

It’s a sport that dominates English, european, american culture. It’s it’s something that an awful high percentage of people from the countries, of people that actually move there to live, actually play, and I think it just plays into their hands to keep everybody happy. What their intentions are, especially Dubai, is to keep growing. I think what they’re sitting around 3 million people now in Dubai and I think what they sit in around 3 million people now in Dubai and I think the intention is, by the end of 2030, to have like 10 million people and the infrastructure is loaded already. So, yeah, you know it’s, it’s they’re they’re growing deliberately, buying houses out there, all that sort of stuff.

Harbs: 16:22

It’s absolutely crazy. I mean, the prices of things are just eye-watering, um, but it’s not slowing down. It never slowed down for the entire time I was there and my, my wife’s brother lives there, my brother-in-law. He’s been there 16, 17 years and he’s watched it grow. You know, from this little kind of area, dubai, to what it is now, which is just absolutely massive. And now it seems that, um, areas like, like Abu Dhabi, are on the same path, the same trajectory, where they’re becoming more popular. People are moving out there, getting jobs, buying property, and it looks like Abu Dhabi is starting to kind of move in the same direction.

Nish: 17:00

Right, I think in Abu Dhabi, I think there’s a, there’s a course they do that the hero challenge there, or something like that. Yeah, yeah, it’s fantastic.

Harbs: 17:11

I mean abu dhabi yas links is my favorite course right. I absolutely love it. It reminds me a little bit of back home, but the quality of the course is just phenomenal. Have you played a?

Nish: 17:24

Lynx, course, yeah, I played a couple. Unfortunately, I played a couple. Now it’s a tough challenge.

Harbs: 17:31

at your goal, yeah so if you miss the fairway, you’re normally in a spot of trouble. Right, it’s quite tough to play a Lynx course from the rough. First of all, you’re lucky if you find your ball, and then you’re lucky if you don’t break your club trying to hack it out of the rough, because it’s quite challenging. And that’s exactly what yas links reminds me of. If you miss the fairway, you’re going to land in the rough. You’re going to be in quite a lot of trouble, whereas generally, the course is undulated by undulations.

Harbs: 17:56

And yeah, there’s a lot, yeah it’s beautiful, absolutely stunning, absolutely stunning course, I think. Like kind of going back to the question you asked me earlier, what’s the quality of the courses? I didn’t plan a bad course the whole time I was there wow, you know I I would rate every single course really high.

Harbs: 18:12

If I was rating every course out of 10, every course would be between seven and nine I would say for quality wow, is it right? Okay, I, I love them all. I mean my favorite course to play, I enjoyed the trump and the l’s. The trump, I thought, was fantastic the setup, the way it’s run. You just drive up to the front entrance. They valet your car for you, they take your clubs. You just kind of go in, get yourself kind of prepped, pop your stuff in the locker, come out your bags on a buggy and off you go. It’s fantastic setup and the course is brilliant.

Harbs: 18:46

And then the owls club. Uh, the owls course. We played that during, uh, open week. Um, so I played for a golf society called the british dad’s golf society. Uh, met some fantastic guys playing for that society and we went to the owls club during open week and they’d actually cut the greens down to resemble the quality, the speed of the greens during open week.

Harbs: 19:11

Amazing, I’ve never, ever in my life, played on greens where you just do like a couple of inches backswing and hit the ball and it’ll roll 20 feet. It was just. That’s unbelievable. But that’s probably the day I enjoyed the most playing there was under such challenging conditions and you know, made you, made you realize, playing on conditions like that, just how good these guys are at top level. When you get to finally play on a course and you realize this isn’t even the standard they play at, is slightly below it, but it’s miles above where I would normally play and it was just incredible. I mean, talk about trying to hold a green. I might as well have tried to walk, walk the ball up and just drop it on. There would have been my best bet. There was no chance, but yeah it’s magical though, isn’t it?

Nish: 19:55

and I think that that um is is a part of the game I think you could just never experience, but that is a part of the game. For me, that’s really appealing, and I don’t think he’s replicated in any other sport where you can play exactly the same track that the professional is playing. Yeah, you can play exactly the same thing. You know, if you start playing off the championship tees, you’re experiencing the whole thing exactly as they did. There’s no difference apart from pressure and whatever. But um, what other sport can you do that? And you can’t do that in tennis. You never get in.

Nish: 20:30

You know, if you like tennis, you’re never getting on center court or wimbledon unless you could be amazing. And even then, you know you could be amazing at tennis and never actually get to that. How many british players probably have never, you know, made it onto the center court? You’re never going to get onto unless it’s like some kind of charity thing or it’s just not a thing, whereas you can go around these golf clubs and you can be like actually, this is a spot that somebody else has had exactly this shot from I’ve seen on telly yeah, yeah, to be honest, I think the closest thing I’ve ever seen is playing football.

Harbs: 21:04

If your team goes on a great run through the cup and it’s a you know like when, when I was in petersborough, they used to hold the local finals at London Road but as a kid growing up like you know, your eyes would light up thinking I’d absolutely love to play. You get to go and watch the pros play football there and then to realise, as you hit your teenage years or your 20s and you’re playing in a cup and you get to the final, that’s where you’re going to play, your final. I mean, I agree with you. That’s kind of as close as I’ve ever come to feeling like I’m walking the same grass as these absolute robots, because that’s what it seems like now. Like I said, now I’ve experienced some of the courses that they’ve played on and the conditions that they would play under. You just realize they are on a whole different planet when it comes to how good they are.

Nish: 21:50

They’re playing a totally different game to what you and I are playing, aren’t they?

Harbs: 21:53

you know, but it’s fantastic to know that. Yeah, I’ve played it also followed them around, especially um in the january one, uh, jumeirah golf estates at the fire course. Um, I followed rory around for a bit but he had about 3 000 people just following him. So you you kind of still looking from miles back. And then I got to watch a bit of tommy fleetwood and a couple of the other pros where the crowd doesn’t not so many people follow them around. So there was a couple of times when you know I’m almost kind of touching distance away from them on the t-box before they go and play their shot and to get to stand that close, watch the way they take their shot, look effortless and the sound and the impact is just ridiculous it’s. They cannot explain it to someone that hasn’t experienced it no, you know what?

Nish: 22:40

you’re absolutely spot on. It’s difficult to actually describe that, that feeling. Um, I’ve been fortunate, I’ve been to a couple of rider cups and and, same thing, the first time that was the first. The first first one went to was celtic manor, so that was the first golf tournament I’ve ever been to and it was absolutely amazing atmosphere. You’re partisan because you’re cheering for europe, and and then, yeah, you’re like, hang on a minute, like like those american, like phil mickelson’s just stood right next to me playing and trying to play a flop out of this, like what, what’s going on here? Um, and I think that’s the kind of yeah, you’re right, until you’re there, they’re like they’re just these superhuman people, aren’t they that you just see this highlight that they’re playing. And then, yeah, but next thing, you’re like he’s not even that big, like he looks massive on tv, but he’s like it’s my eye, like there’s no difference except for you can hit the ball an extra hundred.

Harbs: 23:33

Yeah, yeah, yeah I could.

Nish: 23:35

I could definitely do that. You know, if I, if I had phil’s training, I could actually. Maybe I’m just left-handed, I’ve just never realized.

Harbs: 23:41

I’ve been playing the wrong way around the whole whole time I’ve got a couple of friends that have changed hands and I’m like how is that even possible? That coordination doesn’t work for me no, I mean, I’ve got a couple of friends that left-handers and they play right-handed because that was the way the clubs were set up when they were kids so they swung it that way and they’ve always done it that way. So left-handed, left-footed, everything’s left dominant, but they play golf right-handed. I’m like that’s that’s my favorite.

Nish: 24:10

Yeah, too much talent sickens me. That, uh, yeah, and well, the other one the other one that’s, I think, comparable to that is the first time you go and see something like formula one and like the noise hits you. And that’s different now, because I don’t have that. But you know when they did a McLaren did a big exhibition thing in Manchester once and it was down Deansgate. You know big, high buildings everywhere, and the first time you hear that car just rip past you and it just your whole body shakes and like, oh, my god, I’m addicted to this, this is amazing. Um, and then those engines, so it’s great. Um, you know, be hooked by that, aren’t you? That’s it.

Harbs: 24:47

Well, I experienced it for the first time while I was living there as well. I went across to the abu dhabi grand prix and it was just fantastic and getting to see the actual speed they move. Like you, the cameras don’t do things justice, do they? You kind of get so comfortable and used to the way things happen. You’re like oh great, you know, you know they’re going fast, but until you actually see it, you’re like okay it was the same thing again when we went to watch the, when we did watch the ride of.

Nish: 25:11

you know we were sitting in a grandstand and you’re at this green that they’re playing these approach shots to, and you’re like he’s hitting it, he’s a mile away, he’s going for the green here, isn’t he? I would not be going for the green there at all. You’re like, no, he is. He’s going on the green like just, you’re right, the tv will never, ever do that justice. You need to get the watch, don’t you?

Harbs: 25:48

yeah, no, absolutely. And do you know something? Great? I mean, I’ve never really been into it until about three, four years ago, and I started watching a few things on YouTube and I realized what a fantastic tool YouTube is to see things I wouldn’t normally have seen.

Harbs: 26:02

Social media in general is great for seeing things that you might want to watch or you have missed just recently, recently, but youtube. I’ve really enjoyed looking back over things and I I kind of went through some of the tiger woods shows where he did like little tutorials and how he ball shapes and he was even talking about even with like a pitching wedge and he was showing you that even with a pitching wedge he has a swing thought of into, out for a draw for like a 20 foot pitch a chip and I’m like what’s he talking about?

Nish: 26:32

what’s he talking about drawing a chip? I just want to get it on the green, that’s all.

Harbs: 26:36

Yeah, so he’s talking about drawing a chip so that it can run with the grain of the green and turn into the hole exactly how he wants it. And I’m thinking please don’t blade this through the back and get someone in shit.

Nish: 26:46

There was a great video I don’t you probably. You probably will have seen it in your your travels on on youtube and social media, but I think it was a. Phil mickelson did a. It was like 30 seconds of describing how he um just sets his distances for how far he thinks the ball’s gonna go. So he’s like if it’s morning, then it’s, you know, you take a couple yards off. But then if it’s, and he’s naming types of grass and he’s like but if you’re with brain or you’re like he’s settled into, that’s another two yards off. So I know that’s going to be not 58, it’s going to be 56, like what?

Harbs: 27:18

have seen it, mate. Honestly, the amount of information that came out of him during that segment, I was just like I am blown away because there was so much information. There cannot take all of that in. That was just ridiculous and that’s all going through his head in milliseconds every time he steps up to a ball the power of the human brain? I suppose yeah but mind you, I guess, if that’s something that you did, 24 7 that was your life.

Harbs: 27:39

You pick it up and you, you kind of enhance it as much as you’re capable of doing so he’s probably chucked in a few little variables just to make it sound better as well.

Nish: 27:48

You know, it feels like he’s been self-promoter, isn’t he? So um now you, I know, I know you have um, but you play night golf, um, yes, what is that like? Because that just looks epic, it’s great, it’s brilliant.

Harbs: 28:01

You know like you can’t do it in the uk unless you’re going to go to top golf. Um, you can do it all year round as well. That’s what I love about it. So the hard times in the uae are the summer period, so we’re talking like may all the way through to, you know, september, october time. Uh, we’re hitting highs of mid 50 degrees there, and it’s just brutal during the day. It’s still stupidly hot in the evenings. But the great thing is, even in the worst temperatures over there for the, you can still get out and play some night golf. So you know, one immediate perk is 24-7 golf every day of the year. It’s fantastic. But, yeah, it kind of makes the courses all look different as well, right? So a prime example is while I was in, while I was living in Abu Dhabi sorry, my dogs just decided to let me go, it’s quite all right. While I was living in abu dhabi sorry, my dogs just decided to let it’s, it’s quite all right.

Nish: 28:54

While I was living in abu dhabi, I moved click with it when I saw his kid walks.

Harbs: 28:58

It was a newsreader but this is my office, where I’ve been a consultant usually and there was. I was on a meeting once and he opened the door, came in and just jumped up and stood over my shoulder and I’m on a. I’m on a meeting with people from the government and I’m just like, oh hi, I hope you all like dogs.

Harbs: 29:16

Yeah, it’s my dog, yeah, yeah, no, I was living in Abu Dhabi for a couple of months and I joined a society while I was over there called eggs, and they did a nine hole evening course and I played it about six or seven times. It was every couple of weeks and I realized I’d never seen that course during the day. So when ens came over to stay, which we were talking about earlier um, he came out to see me in abu dhabi. I booked that course and we went and played it. And he’s asking me questions because I’d said you know, I’ve played it seven or eight times and I’m like I have no idea, mate, I could not tell you anything about this course because it looks completely different. So you know, it’s one thing I will say fantastic.

Harbs: 29:56

Playing in the evening, things look incredible. The focus is all on the fairway and it sort of almost zones you in and I think it really does kind of reduce everything in your peripheral when you’re playing night golf as well, because everything’s so dark outside of you know where you’re hitting the ball. Um, the lights are all so focused down that it’s lit up like, you know, like a runway, and it’s just fantastic. It looks stunning, um, but yeah, it does. It can make it feel like a completely different course. So that’s a you know, a bonus, if you ask me. You know playing the same course twice and it feels like you’ve played two different courses absolutely.

Nish: 30:32

Yeah, I think there’s um something I saw. Uh, we’re going up to play trump international, sometimes for the tail end of the of the year. Um, they do up in aberdeen, they do five holes of night golf, so I think they’re selling a couple of packages at the end of january, as it happens. Okay, uh, so you get like a neon ball and they’ve got and these light sticks and the greens are lit up and the fairways are lit up, but everything else is which, again, I suppose you get to a Lynx course like that and they’re pretty brutal. If you can’t see the rough, then it’s there. So it’s all fine, it’s just gone into the image.

Harbs: 31:07

Might fix any slice issues you’ve got.

Nish: 31:15

If you can just see, that’s it. I mean, there’s a lot to be said for that. Yeah, get everything out, cancel all the noise. But yeah, I’d love to. I’d love to do that.

Harbs: 31:20

It looks like an amazing experience yeah, I mean, don’t get me wrong I, you know, lost my fair share of golf balls, like I do on any round, but it didn’t make me invincible. Um, but I do think I do. I do genuinely think it helps you kind of focus in on where your target lines are yeah, I suppose.

Nish: 31:36

So what do you think your most memorable experience has been of playing playing golf in the Middle East.

Harbs: 31:44

I mean, the first time I played out there, I played the earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, went along with my brother-in-law. He did it as a bit of a kind of surprise welcome to Dubai kind of thing. Lasted seven holes before he got bored and drove off and started drinking on his own at the bar, left me to it. But yeah, I ended up going round on that course with a Swedish chap and he was telling me about the properties he owned around the golf course and he’s a full-time member and you know, the realization of how much it would cost you to be a member of a course like this is ridiculous money we’re talking. And here I am in the middle of it having a round of golf with a bloke. I don’t know.

Harbs: 32:23

I’m happy as Larry, you know, can’t, can’t knock that sort of thing. It’s fantastic. But I think once I joined a few societies and started really making some friends and kind of playing a lot more golf, that’s when I really enjoyed it and one of the most enjoyable times I had was my last round of golf in Dubai. Well, it was in Alhambra. So with the British Dads Golf Society we did a kind of Ryder Cup style two teams paired up with someone on the first day, individuals on the second day, it was just absolutely fantastic. But to play on these pristine golf courses and having a beer, having a laugh, and taking it serious.

Harbs: 33:08

You don’t know that the captain certainly didn’t want to lose, so they were trying to put their best teams out. And you know it’s fantastic and the handicap system helps Everybody in the society all has to log their scores through the same tool. So once you’ve kind of committed, you tell them what your handicap is. You have to send a screenshot as proof of what your handicap is, and it really does help kind of make it an even playing field, and then it’s just fantastic fun a couple of days, a couple of nights.

Nish: 33:39

The evenings are great fun as well, and then such a social sport, isn’t it it’s just brilliant, absolutely brilliant yeah great, we um sort of very seriously got back into it post, post, covid, because it’s one of the first things you could do. Uh, go out and have a round of golf and uh, I just found it was amazing for my mental health. You know, you’re out in the fresh air with a pal, two pals, three pals. At that time you hadn’t seen anybody for ages as well, you hadn’t done anything with anybody and it was like this is amazing and kind of keeping up. Then making a promise to keep up and try and play every week was was. You know, it was like actually this doesn’t feel like hard work now, this feels like the thing I need to do. Um, yeah, great, I think it. Just it’s a just keeps on giving, I think yeah, absolutely agree.

Harbs: 34:24

To be honest, before covid I didn’t play an awful lot. I played a lot more than when I was younger. Um, probably talking about five, six times a year I’d upgraded to, but that was about as much as it got. And then we had lockdown. And then my wife said, as football’s a no-go zone, now you’re too old, why don’t you play golf? And so she encouraged me to get a membership. I’m a course called the Isle of Wedmore down here in Somerset, beautiful course. A course called the Isle of Wedmore down here in Somerset, beautiful course. I said go for it. So got, got the membership and then started competing in a few competitions and that took my golf game to kind of the next level, if you like. I went from pottering around shooting 110, 120, not really knowing what I was doing, to playing more regularly and started to rapidly get better, got my game down to around the 100 mark and then started to get some lessons and that’s how my golf grew and went from there.

Nish: 35:20

Um really enjoyed it yeah, and then it just started trying to try and convince sophie to uh to play golf or is that that’s a sore one, mate.

Harbs: 35:32

That is so I’ve always thought to myself I could play a bit more golf if she was interested yeah, yeah, she’s never been interested right, so I’m gonna go for it. So for her birthday about three years ago, yeah, um, I made the mistake of buying and wrapping a new golf bag, clubs, glove, you know, the whole kit and caboodle and, as she’s opening, it’s not a mean task.

Nish: 35:59

By the way, it’s a bloody hard thing to wrap up a set of golf clubs, yeah well you know.

Harbs: 36:04

So it’s all there, she’s got it and she’s I think she’s got an idea that she knows what she’s got for her birthday. And she, as she’s opening it, she went oh good, a golf bag, oh good, golf clubs. And she’s sort of looking at me as if to say is this real?

Harbs: 36:19

and I’m like yeah, it’s gonna be great. We can go out play golf together. It’ll be brilliant, blah blah. We did go out and play a couple of rounds. I even got bought her some lessons as well, which I think she went for one, um, but we went and played around together and she’s not terrible.

Harbs: 36:34

She’s got a bit of a hockey swing so you can hit the ball, but also she’s she’s never really played it before. So you know, she’s literally gone out there a couple of swings and she’s already on a golf course with me. She’s, she’s landed in the bunker and it’s about like a 30 foot wide bunker and her balls over in the left side and she’s just walked into the right side and just straight through the bunker all the way to her ball hack, hack, hack and then walked all the way back and I was like why have you just done that? Like why would you walk around to the left? We’ve now got to rake the whole bunker and she just goes to me. Do you know what? You’re such a fun. This is the last time I’m playing golf with you. I was just like that’s it then.

Nish: 37:17

Game over. Yeah, sorry, sorry, that’s just golfing etiquette, it doesn’t have to do with that.

Harbs: 37:23

She was like I don’t care.

Nish: 37:26

It’s boring. I love that. With the greatest amount of respect to your other half, you don’t give a damn about them. You’re thinking. You’re worried about the people who are behind you thinking negatively of you not having raked your bunker that was it.

Harbs: 37:39

That was it. And also on the basis that it was just me and her playing and the group behind had already caught her, because obviously she’s brand new at the game, so she’s taking multiple shots just to get five, ten yards down the down the course. Every now and again she’s striking one really well. So you know it was going well and I’m so conscious of how close the people behind us were all the way around. And then obviously that incident with the bunker and I think she was just like this isn’t for me. I don’t want to follow these I’m not doing this.

Nish: 38:05

Yeah, I’m not a rule follower. Yeah, I’m a rule maker. There’s no way I’m uh, I’m following. That’s right, yeah. Yeah, it’s funny, isn’t it? I think there’s. There’s there’s very few pressures in life like the pressure of group behind you that you know you’re holding up and you’re like is that? Do I make the decision now? Do I let them play through? Can I, can I recover it? Can I speed it up? Yeah, that’s it.

Harbs: 38:29

You know we had some really awkward incidents in uh, abu dhabi. Actually, because we’re all on a, an application uh gosh, I can’t remember what it’s called, but you can see basically everyone scores what hole they’re on, um, and we’re all in a big whatsapp group and we could see that some of us were on like hole 13 and some people were still way back on like hole nine and we’d done a shotgun start. So we couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. Then this WhatsApp group just blew up, people going what the hell’s going on? We’ve now got four groups in front of us waiting to tee off, and that’s what it can take is just one group of a couple of two or three slow players and the the knock-on effect it can have oh, yeah, I know it’s.

Nish: 39:15

Yeah, it’s not great, not great, it’s a nightmare, isn’t it? That really is a nightmare. Um, yeah, I did actually know about that story. I’m afraid, lee, because I did tap sophie up for, uh, I did, I did lead you into that, um, knowing full well that’s what the story was you’re trying to get dirt on me nish. Oh, my god, have you got anything? Like come on, give me something. And she went oh, yeah, yeah, there is this time when I got golf clubs as a birthday present.

Harbs: 39:41

So yeah, um honestly, if you could see the look of disgust on her face, I can imagine I can’t believe you’ve done this my um, yeah, my my um other half is uh, she, she doesn’t hide how she feels very well.

Nish: 39:54

So if she’s not happy, you know about it.

Harbs: 39:57

Yeah, I certainly did.

Nish: 39:58

At least she tried, though she did come out with me, oh fair play, but I’ve managed to convince Emma to because we’re obviously with two boys, you know what? Seven and three, absolutely golf mad already. There’s no way that we’re going gonna have weekends where we’re not just off for the whole weekend playing golf. So he’s like I can’t miss out on that, I need to play. He’s like yeah, great, wonderful, that’s exactly I am mate.

Harbs: 40:21

Exactly, I’m reaching around right now to see if anyone’s doing like a youth academy where I can take my five-year-old, who’s soon to be six, and I’d love for him to get involved in golf it’s funny, I’m a little bit the same.

Nish: 40:32

So Adam’s turning three in February. I will say already he has a better golf swing than I do. He’s got the grip sorted, he’s got the balance through, he’s got the power that he puts through. He holds his pose at the end, all this kind of stuff. You know. I’m going to our local professional. I’m like can I get him some lessons, something? And he’s like, oh no, we don’t. I don’t start till the night, seven or eight, like why? Everybody that you hear about who’s amazing at this game? They start at that age and it’s just a love that sticks with them.

Harbs: 41:09

Yeah, I think I wouldn’t be surprised they kind of have, like the, the support at home that they need people that actually know what they’re doing showing their kids how to play. Yeah, I mean, I’m coaching a young football team at the moment, under sixes, and I can’t imagine any of them having the attention span to listen to someone tell them where to stand.

Nish: 41:28

Golf club. I just couldn’t imagine. We took, uh, so the, oh, the old one, aaron, he, uh, so he’s seven. We um the, not my golf club. Another one they set up like some taster sessions or something like that. So like, right, get him doing everything and he’s great, he’s, he’s like a real like am I doing it right? You know kind of worries about it. The, the little one, he’s just like I’m gonna grip it and rip it, like let’s just let me at the ball. So we’d gone to go pick him up after the session and adam was like you could just see he’s like a caged animal. He was like let me at the clubs, let me at the clubs, come on. I was like get the driver out the guy was called dave.

Nish: 42:06

I was like dave, I know he’s a bit, he’s a bit young, but is there any chance you can just hit one one golf ball please? Is that all right? Like just with you doing it? I think you would, you’ll make him feel part of the class. But okay, yeah, yeah, fine.

Nish: 42:18

So he went, as he’d done this before. I went kind of not really, but you know he’s got a plastic set and whatever. So all right, okay, well, give him this one. So he’s like trying to like hold his head in the right place and all this kind of stuff. I said they just just put the ball down, just let him hit it. And he absolutely cracked this hybrid. And he’s this day.

Nish: 42:37

Guys turn around to me, he’s gone. Oh, forget him, mate, he’s the one. He’s the one. I was like yeah, all right, can you do some lessons or anything? He was like no, just get him just hitting the ball as hard as he can one. I was like yeah, all right, can you do some lessons or anything? He was like no, just get him just hitting the ball as hard as he can, like. I was like okay, yeah, fine. But honestly I couldn’t believe it. Like he stepped up.

Nish: 42:52

It was basically the way I described the way he hits. It was, you know, when you you play a tee shot and you’ve just driven it way out of bounds and you go provisional ball in the tee ball on the tee and he just swing and hit it and he crack it straight down the middle. He did exactly that first time round. Just carry on doing that, son, don’t do anything different. That’s it. And it’s just like he was like come on again. I want to hit another one. Right, come on again, another one. It was great, nice, nice to see that. That’s awesome. But yeah, can’t can’t convince our professional to do any lessons for him at the minute. But there you go. Um, so, lee, have you played now? I don’t know if you’ve seen our list, but people generally have an idea of where the courses are in there. But have you played any of the the top 100 or or close to? If you haven’t, are there any that you’d really like to play?

Harbs: 43:47

I haven’t, and there’s one on my doorstep which is burnham and barrow, so that’s in the top 100. It’s in like the top 30, I think, in the uk. Um, I’ve played, so that’s the championship course, so I’ve played the general course next to it. Um, and that’s tough, really hard, but I, when you play that course, you walk past some of the holes on the championship course and you just stand there and admire it. Mate, honestly, beautiful, it just looks fantastic. Uh, the undulation, the way the greens are designed, that the challenge of that course looks phenomenal and I would love to give that a go and I’d love to give the belt, I’d love to have a play at the Belfry and then the old Sunningdale course, something well so, yeah, that brilliant, I’d love to put it in one, they do.

Nish: 44:40

They do like pairs events. So we’re playing a pairs event in June or July, I think, up at Ganson, because there’s really only in Yorkshire. You’ve got Ganson, which is near Scarborough, you’ve got Allwoodley and Mortow, which are near Leeds, and that’s really it for Yorkshire. For Corsair, which I was really surprised about, if I’m honest, because that coast is pretty rugged and you’d think you’d get a really good golf course on there, but clearly not. Um, but they do these pairs events, uh, and they do sunnydale quite a lot as a double. You know old and new.

Nish: 45:17

So, um, yeah, I mean I, I imagine sitting there that’s the way we’re going to end up playing it, because it makes it a reasonable to play and so, and b, there’ll be other people who are going to be like us. They’re just sitting up and like I’m from sunningdale, you know you’re not too out of place then. But um, yeah, we’ll, we’ll let you know when we’re playing there. Mate, that’d be great to do. Yeah, I know, obviously you yourself have been documenting your own golfing journey because you’re on a bit of a quest to kind of get your handicap down. So how did the idea come about and how are you getting on?

Harbs: 45:55

So the idea like I said, I’ve watched a few YouTube kind of golf pages Foreplay Golf and Bob does sport so I started watching them and then they started coming up on my Instagram so and I just thought that’s really interesting even though I’m absolutely crap at golf and you know it’s something I want to get better at and it’s like getting to watch.

Harbs: 46:22

There’s a chap on foreplay called Trent and he started well in the hundreds, like shooting 120 regularly and he’s got a big old slice and I’m watching this guy and I’m captivated by watching this guy slice a ball going. That’s me, you know, I’m really good at that, I can do that and I can just see as well that the fact that they record it, document it, they turn I mean they’ve turned theirs into proper videos, they’ve got a proper crew following them around and stuff. But I thought you know, I can see this guy getting progressively better and clearly the drive to do that is he knows people are watching him, there’s an accountability there and it kind of made me want to give it a try. So I set up Harb7Golf on Instagram.

Nish: 47:04

That’s the handle is it.

Harbs: 47:06

Yeah, that’s the handle Harb7Golf and, yeah, a fair while back now. I’ve not put a massive amount of content on it. Just recently I’ve obviously been transitioning back from Dubai to the UK. The whole job hunt’s ongoing and bits like that, but you know we’ll play as much golf as possible. I’ve got a round of golf this Sunday actually with my friend Michael, so we’re going to be going and having a round Sunday and I’ll get a few clips on.

Harbs: 47:32

The last time I played with him and we played at the course we’re going to, he actually hit it into somebody’s house twice or in their back garden and there was a caravan there, and the second time he managed to hit the caravan, which was really impressive. It’s actually on my page. It’s quite, it’s quite entertaining. How do you do that twice? Yeah, yeah, two big pulls as well. Quite bad. He was, like he said. He even said in the clip I think I need to get some lessons, but yeah, so started documenting it.

Harbs: 48:03

Mate, set that page up and then it really spurred me on to get the lessons and start training. I started to put a bit of my lesson clips on there and started to show some of the swing detail and what I was working on with the coach Liam from the Isle of Wedmore, and I also had another coach called Lee Caulfield, who was at Burnham and Barrow, which is where the one of the top 100 courses is, and I just learned so much from both of those guys and took my game from 115, 120. And my lowest score to date is 82, but consistently in the 90s at the moment I’d love to get it lower but yeah, so that’s great progress, mate.

Harbs: 48:44

Yeah, the progress has been great and I’ve documented it. It not massive detail and not with any order or anything that someone might look at and think well, that makes sense. It’s just whenever I feel like it, I put something on there and share my my joys and woes with everybody else I mean, that’s that’s.

Nish: 49:01

that’s part of it, I think, isn’t it? You know everyone’s, you’re not alone in that. Everyone’s been through that whole journey themselves and and I think that, um, that authenticity of just like, look, I’m not, I’m not played for a couple of years, so whatever, but now I’m getting back into it, right, let’s get back on it and everyone’s the same, you know, life gets in the way and you’re not, um, I think you can spot and I’ve realized this now from from accounts, from having my own podcast, and I realise you can spot the people that are doing it for likes, for shares, from the people who are sort of and I’m not denigrating that at all, I think that’s great content, it really is but you can spot that from them, the authentic person. They’re the people that you probably get more of a connection with.

Nish: 49:48

Where you go, yeah, and certainly through that first bit of the journey, because I don’t begrudge anybody getting to that point where they go. Actually, I could turn this into something Great, go for it. But that early part is the bit that gets you hooked, doesn’t it? And you go, yeah, absolutely.

Harbs: 50:08

I where these people are and I see myself in that. I agree, mate, I agree, and honestly I think if I could turn my page into something where I could make a living off it, I absolutely would do that it would mean I’d play golf every day and I that that would be like the dream for me.

Harbs: 50:18

I absolutely love playing golf, um, but yeah, I do it, like I said, I think for the accountability to keep me wanting to play, because I’ve been through a few phases where I’ve gone. You know I’m not getting any better. This sucks, but you know, I think we mentioned it earlier. It just takes one good shot and you’re hooked. You’re back in it.

Nish: 50:36

That’s within the round, isn’t it, mate? You go in and then you start playing and you go oh my god, what am I doing here? Quit, quit, I’m never playing this game again. Yeah and yeah, you get to the 18th and you’re like you’re par the 18th and you hit like the perfect drive, perfect approach, to put it, and you go oh right, same time next week, it’s just exactly before you’ve, even before you’ve even made it off the 18th green, you’ve already booked the next one in.

Harbs: 51:01

Yeah, absolutely it does. It keeps you coming back and it’s brilliant. Um, but now the the reality for me is obviously, being back in england, that there’s a limited window to playing golf at the moment, so it’s kind of checking the weather app and praying that it it is what it says.

Nish: 51:17

It is on the day find yourself a course that stays open through the winter, I think, is the key, isn’t it? I mean, I was talking to the guys in america for the basic bogeys uh, basic bogeys podcast. So they’re up near syracuse, so that’s kind of upstate new york, quite near like the lakes and things like that, and so when did I? When was I on? I think I was on towards the tail end of november with them early december, and they said we’re probably going to be able to get around in this weekend, but then after that, till april, we can’t get back on the golf course because it’s like snow and blizzards and the course gets wrecked and then it gets repaired. So imagine having a membership and five months of the year you’re just never going to be able to play and there’s there’s not a chance of playing. Is that the course? Yeah, the other option you’ve got is you start playing. I’m playing SimGolf this weekend. Oh yeah, there’s a new place just opened up, just up the road. It’s just a three hour drive.

Harbs: 52:18

No, thank you makes me feel like I’ve got to stop complaining about the weather and the fact there’s a driving range just 20 minutes drive.

Nish: 52:24

I totally got a renewed appreciation for winter golf here. I’ve never minded wrapping up warm um, you know, getting the gloves on and hand warmers and all that kind of thing. Never minded any of that. I’ve paid my dues. I’ve kind of played in hail, storms and all sorts because I didn’t want to lose my tenor and the green fees, you know, um, but the fact that you can still play then, like you go, okay, right, yeah. What am I complaining about this is that you know the fact, if you, if you just had it taken away for you from for five months and you just couldn’t do anything, then that would just be that kill you, wouldn’t it yeah, it’s one of those as well where I think I’d get so used to not playing I probably wouldn’t even start again.

Harbs: 53:05

You know, until something like one of my mates goes, I’ve booked us a round of golf. You come in. Yes, weird situation. I definitely wouldn’t enjoy that.

Nish: 53:15

No, no, me, neither me, neither. Well, Harbslott has been an absolute pleasure. I’ve certainly made a little note here that I want to get out and play golf in Dubai now because it sounds absolutely amazing. So, yeah, maybe we can build that into the that. I want to get out and play in Dubai now because it sounds absolutely amazing. So, yeah, maybe we can build that into the top 110 somehow.

Harbs: 53:32

Yes, mate, yeah, I mean give me a shout. I mean I’d be more than happy to come out and play a round or two in Dubai with you. I mean I know the place quite well now and, yeah, I know the courses just as well.

Nish: 53:44

Maybe we’ll get Mr Enright to shout us for a landmark birthday or something. That would be a good way to do it, why not? Actually now we put it out there. This is out in the public domain. Now, that’s it.

Harbs: 53:54

There’s no going back and also I didn’t mention this. You mentioned this, so my wife can’t really say anything about it.

Nish: 54:02

That’s it. What kind of man isn’t going to take his mates out to Dubai for a golf? I mean, what a guy he is, what a guy. Well done, lee, thanks. Well, look, we’re going to stay in touch. We’d love to get you back on and certainly when we were heading down your way, we will give you a shout, mate, for coming and having a round of golf with us, and we’ll get onto your Instagram feed.

Harbs: 54:27

That’s it. With us and we’ll get onto your instagram feed, that’s it. Yeah, well, do you know what? I’ve always wanted to play the burnham and barrow championship course. So when you come down for that one, I’d love to join you and then I’ll try and get some, some juicy content absolutely on that one.

Nish: 54:37

And get it on my page, I’ll be a good one. Will I go, can you? Can we? Can you get us on the last tea time, please, the day, because we don’t want anybody up behind just going to be gorging on like putting filming everything and I’ll just play that when I can yeah, yeah, yeah I love it.

Harbs: 54:52

I’ve got 1500 followers.

Nish: 54:54

Come on give me a break. Yeah, um no, thank you. I really really enjoy that chat. Thanks, man, until the next time on the top 100 in 10 golf podcast.