Yas Acres was developed by Aldar Properties and opened for play, in 2021, as yet another entertainment attraction on Yas Island, located just off-shore in the Persian Gulf. When the desert-style design took its place beside its sister golf property, the renowned Yas Links, F/S partner Dana Fry hadn’t set foot on the property for two years — due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Yet the success at Yas Acres is a good illustration of why Fry/Straka insists on creating the most detailed construction and grading documents in the business. According to Fry, “We strongly prefer to be on site, of course. However, a skilled contractor can look at our plans and effectively build a golf course to specifications. Additionally, we had talented shapers on-site who would use live video to walk us though construction progress. That’s the whole point of construction documents and having a strong on-site team in place — something that can get lost if too much emphasis is placed on freelancing.”

Yas Island had been a naturally formed peninsula, until the UAE government separated the sandy expanse from the mainland — by constructing a man-made, salt-water channel. The entire island is pure sand. “That is catnip to any architect,” Fry adds. “First thing we did at Yas Acres was build a man-made ridge that runs right through the property that reaches heights of 30 feet. But before that, the entire 156-acre site was raised up 5 feet — to make sure all the turf and vegetation would not be affected by groundwater levels, which fluctuate because of the proximity to the sea. All the holes interact directly with this ridge, via tee boxes, fairways or green sites. That sort of elevation also allows for lots of running water and streams. Naturally, our design called for a substantial desert vegetation of the entire course, but especially the ridge. Without that, it’s difficult to make such a landform that big look natural.”