The bunkers on Beirut’s golf course are in the crosshairs

From the first tee, you could loft a wedge into the compound of the Iranian embassy in Beirut, if you wanted. “They’ve been good neighbours…We haven’t had any issues,” chuckles a cheerful Karim Salaam, the president of the Lebanese Golf Federation, whose father founded the current course in 1963. On a good day he plays off a nifty handicap of nine. On other days he gets his team to repair bullet holes in water tanks, or reassures members that the sonic booms of low-flying Israeli jets aren’t a danger. Distracting as they may be, they are no excuse for slow play.