The eyes of the UAE golfing community will be firmly fixed on the Dubai Desert Classic, which starts a week from today, and what a Classic it is shaping up to be!

With the likes of the big-hitting Woods, Stenson, Els, Bjorn, Westwood and Garcia leading the pack and the precocious young talent of McIlroy, you have to be seriously devoid of enthusiasm not to have your tickets in a safe place at this stage.

As many keen golfers will know, the local qualifier for the Dubai Desert Classic took place at Emirates Golf Club this week, and aside from the noticeably higher standard of play from the amateurs in comparison to the professionals, the topic on everyone’s lips was the new “driver clubhead” regulations and how they will affect the game.

I was fortunate enough to catch up for a game with a good friend of mine last week at Arabian Ranches, Phil Archer. Phil is enjoying a great couple of years on the European Tour and is over in preparation for the Middle East tour events. We were juniors at the same club in the UK, Birchwood in Warrington, and we both turned pro there also. While playing, we got chatting about the “good old days”.

We got on to the subject of the golf course, as Birchwood was always recognised as a great parkland track with a lot of water hazards – it was pretty challenging 15-plus years ago.

The week that counts has just arrived for the top regional PGA professionals and amateurs – their chance to qualify for a European Tour event. This coming Sunday and Monday will see 24 local PGA professionals and 14 top local amateurs compete for a spot in the Dubai Desert Classic and the chance to play in the same field as Tiger Woods.

The organisers and promoters of the Dubai Desert Classic, "golf in DUBAI", very generously give the local talent places to play for each year (one for professionals and one for amateurs) and it is an opportunity that very rarely exists in the golfing world.

It is every golfer’s dream to have the opportunity to peg it up alongside the best in the world and to soak up the atmosphere of an event on a major tour. In other established golfing regions such as the US, Europe or Asia, the qualifying criteria for local professionals to gain entry is not so straightforward, even if it exists at all.

As the European Tour prepares to take the Gulf by storm with the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Qatar Masters and the Dubai Desert Classic; those colourful characters that are often referred to as the 15th club – “the caddies”, will be seen pacing the fairways and making final preparations in the hope that their advice will make the crucial difference for their player.

I’ve often heard people refer to caddies on the major tours “as having a dream job”. Getting to see the world, the best courses, mix with the stars, but 99 per cent of caddies will tell you that the saying “the grass is always greener on the other side” was created for their job.