Turkey joins the green revolution
Feb 5 2010 By Ray Dunn
Golfers have a new haven on the Mediterranean, but Ray Dunn advises them to beware the water hazards.
Here’s a question that might take some answering – can anyone name a Turkish Tiger Woods? Or, come to that, a Turkish golf course?
No, me neither until recently.
It is easy to conjure up an image of the traditional brochure offering: sun-soaked beaches, ever-expanding holiday towns, an explosion of beach-side bazaars and pile-’em-high cheap hotels.
But that perfect golfing getaway, like those on offer for years in holiday hot-spots like Spain and Portugal? It probably has not been up there as one of Turkey’s biggest plus points.
Well, think again. Suddenly the south of this gloriously sunny and welcoming country has mushroomed into a golfer’s Turkish Delight, offering a combination of luxury and a magic carpet of top-class courses to take the breath away.
More and more Brits are taking the four-hour flight across the Bosphorous for a top-class golfing experience in the specially-built tourist town of Belek, a sprawling centre of luxury nestling on the Turkish Riviera between Antalya and Alanya.
They may be a bit late coming to the international tourist tournament, but if this was match play, I’d wager that Turkey would have the game sewn up way before the 18th, holing out on style, luxury, location, friendliness and service.
In the past decade or so, Belek has sprouted more than eight championship courses, nestling between the Mediterranean shore and the Taurus Mountains, with a host of four and five-star luxury hotels to support them. I stayed at the Kempinski Hotel The Dome (when you walk in, you know instantly why it’s called that), a five-star palace that simply oozes Turkish chic and luxury.
On one side, the manicured sands of a private beach, sandwiched between the Med and the hotel’s complex of chequered blue swimming pools; on the other, two top-class golf courses, the Sultan and the Pasha, a few steps from reception. In the middle, a hotel of vast proportions that does not stint on architecture and luxury in the grand style.
The 175-room hotel, built in pre-Ottoman Selcuk tradition, includes 18 separate villas nestling among the fairways of the Sultan course, and one of the most luxurious and largest wellness centres in the country – a 3,600 square metre spa and Thalasso recreation centre.
Some rooms are aimed at holidaymakers with deep pockets: the Selcuk suite has a living room, two bedrooms, three balconies, a wardrobe room, two showers, a bath and a Jacuzzi – and a price tag to match at around £1,000 a night.
But there are affordable options for the rest of us. Until April, the hotel offers a week’s break with four rounds of golf starting from about £750, including guaranteed tee-times, breakfast and dinner, and based in a superior room.
I stayed in one of the Royal Golf Villas on the edge of a lake, overlooking the par-five 16th Sultan fairway clinging to a long stretch of the far shoreline (it later proved my undoing).
Unlike my game, the Villa was no disappointment: kitchen with all mod cons, huge living area with plasma TV screen, two double bedrooms, each with luxury en-suite, and our own swimming pool.
Travelling the 400 metres or so to the main hotel was no problem, either – each of the villas comes with a six-seater buggy-style transport parked outside.
The Sultan, along with the neighbouring Pasha, is part of the Antalya Golf Club, and the PGA standard shows: a challenge at each and every turn of this par-71 track beautifully blended into the forest landscape and looping around the central clubhouse and practice range.
We played twice – once, to our surprise, as part of the lead-off four-ball in a major Kempinski Hotel tournament which, needless to say, I didn’t win.
It’s a superb, challenging course, with top-quality fairways, greens that pack a real challenge, and a heck of lot of water that comes into play at a majority of holes. It’s a good idea to take plenty of balls.
After a stop at the 19th hole in the sunshine outside the magnificent clubhouse, it’s a good idea to slip into the peace and tranquility of the wellness centre, where treatments range from eyebrow plucking at €8, to a Golden Face treatment at €350 (yes, they put gold on your face).
We made do with a 40-minute body massage, then took a pummelling in the Thalasso pool, before rounding the day off with a more traditional Turkish bath.
If you’re not keen on golf, don’t panic.
At the Kempinski, you can relax on the beach or enjoy the water sports; enjoy one of the four bars and four restaurants; or visit attractions such as the Roman amphitheatre at Aspendos, or the lush waterfalls at Manavgat.
Alternatively, just get another round of golf in.
Perfect.
* Travel Facts
* If, like me, you find four-hour flights interminable and just can’t wait to get them over and done with, then you probably haven’t travelled with Turkish Airlines.
* Its Business Class offering makes it a journey to savour. Our flight from Heathrow to Istanbul included individual seating pods, multi-adjustable through several settings that included full length bed.
A swing-out entertainment screen offered games, TV, music, even email.
* And in-flight meals were a revelation – multiple choice menus that would grace the tables of a top restaurant, prepared by the airline’s supplier, Turkish Do&Co.
* Turkish Airlines: fly from Birmingham and Heathrow. Online: www.turkishairlines.com
* Kempinski Hotel The Dome, Belek: four-round golf package with seven nights in a Superior Room, two tee-times on the Sultan course, and two on the Pasha, including buffet breakfast and dinner, free access to health and fitness facilities, free wi-fi and newspaper. Cost: from €840.
* Online: www.kempinski-antalya.com
