Ready for the Dubai Invitational

Some of the world’s best are competing in Dubai this week, and they’re being treated to a world class course in Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. Behind the scenes, it’s a well-traveled Ohio State Buckeye maintaining the course and he’s armed with a new Rain Bird irrigation system that’s dialing up conditions beyond what viewers saw in 2024.

“I can water the whole course in half the time as I (previously) could, and I’ve got a lot more accuracy,” says Harry Wells, golf course superintendent at Dubai Creek. “Before, our bunkers used to sit soaking wet. We’d get sandy waste edges. We had a lot of sprinklers that were just inside the turf lines. They were doing a 360 — throwing into lakes or sand areas.

“Now, all the sprinklers are in correct positions,” Wells continues. “You’re using less water and it’s going in the correct places.”

Dubai Creek’s journey to the new irrigation system is an interesting one, and so is Wells’ journey as a superintendent.

Meet Harry

Wells got his start in golf at a young age — his dad worked in the industry. At age 16 he fell in love with being on the course and started working at Brocket Hall Estate in England. His father asked him to come work alongside him at South Herts Golf Club near London as an assistant greenkeeper, and his on-the-job education continued.

Then, Australia came calling. An opportunity arose at Royal Sydney Golf Club.

“I did six months at Royal Sydney and they completed changed my life,” Wells says. “It was the best six months of my life working. It was the first time I worked on a high-end course with the highest standards. Obviously in the UK I worked with some good teams, but the guys in Australia were all a really good team. I emailed the guys back in the UK and I said, ‘Thanks for the opportunity and training me up and sending me to Australia … but I’m not coming back.’”

It was then that Wells knew he wanted to pursue high-end golf course maintenance as a career, and it was suggested to him to reach out to Mike O’Keefe at Ohio State University. He spent 18 months studying agronomy at OSU and then took a seven-month internship at Liberty National, Jersey City, N.J., under the tutelage of Greg James. The course was being prepped for the 2019 Northern Trust, which was won that year by Patrick Reed.

“Greg James is an absolute legend, I learned so much from him,” Wells says. “He’s such a great guy — I picked up a lot of managerial skills from him. He treated everyone like a friend. I looked up to him — we worked long hours, but he made it enjoyable at the same time.”

It was another star-studded stop for Wells following his time at Liberty National, as he traveled to Los Angeles Country Club for his next internship. He lived on-site as the course underwent a regrassing of the greens and an irrigation upgrade.

“It was a completely different style of golf course, different grasses,” Wells tells Golfdom. “I learned an awful lot there and had a great time living on-site.”

Following his time in Los Angeles, he made the move to Dubai for another internship, this one at Jumeirah Golf Estates. A full-time assistant position opened at Dubai Creek and he jumped at the opportunity. He worked as the assistant for 18 months and when his superintendent was promoted to manager, he was promoted to superintendent.

A major improvement

Dubai Creek’s course opened for play in 1993. The original irrigation system from when it was constructed was quickly becoming outdated and hindering what Wells and his team wanted to accomplish on the course.

“Our old system, it was just physically impossible to water the golf course from dark until daylight — the pipes were so small, we couldn’t get water around the golf course,” Wells says. “The water we needed to keep the golf course to the standard we wanted to produce, it was physically impossible.”

The irrigation heads were also outdated and the spacing was poor. On windy nights, the coverage was erratic at best. It pained Wells to see such a valuable asset to the course getting wasted regularly.

That old system was finally put to rest and to the rescue came a new Rain Bird ICM system. The course went from 1,500 irrigation heads to just under 3,000.

“Our moisture levels around the course are a lot more uniform than they were before,” Wells says. “It’s been a huge upgrade.”

Wells is most appreciative of how high-tech the new irrigation system is. The previous system was an old satellite system, and he struggled getting replacement parts for it. Repairs to the system were a constant challenge.

Now, with the ICM system, every sprinkler has its own computer which communicates to the control system in the office.

“I’ve got a computer in the office which is the main hub, but then all the smartphones, tablets, can also run it,” he says. “In the morning time when I’m driving around, if I see a dry area, I can straight away log into the system. I can do a diagnostic test to see if there is an issue with that sprinkler straight away.”

The course is in better condition, and he’s also happy to be more responsible with water.

“That’s how we’re saving water, because we’re only putting out more water in areas that actually need it,” Wells says. “We’re still in the desert. Water is hard to come by. We’re all on recycled water. Now we have water going where we want it to go, instead of just sort of going out there.”

Ready to roll

The course has made a few adjustments in terms of mowing lines and rough height in hopes of giving guys like Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and previous winner Tommy Fleetwood a challenge. Water comes into play on the last few holes, and if the wind picks up, the course can really show its teeth.

But whatever the winning score is, Wells is just excited to be the host superintendent at such a highly regarded course and use the skills he’s amassed from his many mentors along the way.

“Tournament golf, for me as a greenkeepers, it’s what I do it for,” he says. “I love being around the buzz of the tournament. Obviously the first one was great, but we learned a lot since then. We’re super excited to have the guys in and see where we get to.”