I recently read about Dubai and the fact that golf is the biggest contributor among all sports to city’s economy.

According to a Deloitte study, at $270 million (Dh993 million) per annum, golf contributes almost 30 per cent to sport’s direct economic impact in Dubai. That may be a stunning number for some, but hardly surprising for those who have been involved with the sport.

I have been a regular traveller to Dubai because of golf-related work for more than two decades and while the development of the city has always amazed me, the exponential growth of the golf industry is something that I have personally experienced.

During my first visit to the city, Emirates Golf Club was the only green golf course — not just in Dubai, but the whole of the UAE and the Middle East. To have so many world-class courses in less than 20 years is a wow fact in itself, but more than that, I always marvel at how well all these facilities are maintained and how good the services are in almost every golf course that you visit.

Coming back to golf’s contribution to the economy, I am not surprised at all. Of all sporting infrastructure created in a country, it is a proven fact that the return on investment on golf courses is the highest. If done properly, there are so many avenues of earning — membership sales, green fee, food & beverage, merchandise, academies, real estate, events, rentals and so on.

Of course, then there is the tourism aspect. You will never come across football fans making a trip to London so that they could play a game at the Wembley Stadium. But you will find thousands who have come to Dubai so that they could play a round at either the Majlis course, or the Creek course or Earth at JGE, because that’s what golf allows you to do.

Also worth mentioning here is the importance of Dubai for us professional golfers. I have always maintained that the events here in the Middle East are among the best organised in the world. The Omega Dubai Desert Classic set a high benchmark for several years and the other tournaments have made that much extra effort to stand out.

The field, the condition of the golf course, the facilities and the hotel – these are the four most important things that a professional golfer wants, and they are absolutely the best in any of the Middle East events.

But Dubai’s significance is much more than that. The Desert Classic was among the first events that became a regular outside the geographical territory of Europe for the European Tour. And when you look at the schedule now, with so many events across the globe, the historic importance of Dubai becomes even greater.

I am often asked what could be the next step in developing the game in Dubai. My answer would be to build at least one municipal course and perhaps a couple of independent driving ranges. Affordable golf courses play an extremely important role in sustaining the other high-quality facilities because they are the ones that will create future members and players.

— Jeev Milkha Singh is a four-time winner on the European Tour