1 May 2023|Golfing with gratitude
What a week that was. Fantastic golf courses, nice weather and most importantly great company and banter with good friends. While we were obviously there to play golf, in reality, it was the camaraderie and company that really made it special. The post-round socialising and sharing of war stories. How many balls went into the water on the tricky par three? How tight was that hole etc....
Travel & Hotel
We booked with TriGolf and flew from Glasgow with Corendon. The flight times were excellent, both leaving and returning early afternoon. We were at the airport in plenty of time for our departure so getting checked through and loading up the bags was reasonably stress-free. A few of the guys had airtags in their bags so we were able to keep an eye on clubs. I found this video quite helpful when I was packing my clubs.
https://youtu.be/SLfOywExLTU
We stayed at the Sirene Hotel in Belek. It is starting to look a little bit tired but it had everything we needed for our stay. The rooms were large, comfortable and clean, but could do with a bit of modernisation. The aircon didn't work for any of us and if you were there in summer it would be unbearable. Looking from our balcony you could see areas of the roof that were in need of repair too. The buffet restaurant served an excellent range of food and there should be something there to satisfy everyone. The bars were good, with efficient service, but if you like beer it was pretty much Effes or nothing - they occasionally had Miller too but not always.
The hotel was packed with golfers. Given the weather is 20-25*C at the moment then this is the perfect time to come and play golf. In a couple more months it will be too hot for golf and the school holiday crowds will be back. Our holiday was Friday to Friday with 6 days of golf and 2 days of travel. We played Pasha, Sultan, National, Carya and Montgomerie.
Pasha & Sultan
We played Pasha on our first day and Sultan on our last day. I've put them together here as they are at the same venue and are the courses related to our hotel. Common to all the courses there is a good driving range, a chipping area and in this case, two putting greens. Note that range balls cost €3-€5 extra at every course. You will get roughly 35 balls and they are not the best so unless you really want to pound balls before you play then I'd suggest sharing a basket between two of you.
The Pasha course was in excellent condition. It's a fair layout that lets you find your ball in the trees. The fairways were firm and you rarely had a bad lie. Greens were well watered, making them receptive and it was easy to stop your ball. That greens comment would generally be fair of all the courses we played, very different from links golf back home in St Andrews.
When playing the Sultan, we unfortunately only managed to complete 13 holes before the course was closed due to the risk of lightning. This was a real shame as the Sultan is an excellent course and the back 9 was shaping up to be really interesting. We were also 2 up in our game and I was playing well! It's a bit more undulating than the Pasha and presents quite a different challenge. I'd like the chance to go back and play it again.
The National
This is an interesting setup with three loops of 9 holes. We played the conventional 1-18 but the last time the guys came they played a different layout. Tighter than a Fifers wallet, I found this course really tough. While aesthetically it is very attractive, it just didn't suit my eye, generally being more suited to a fade than my draw. I was also struggling with my driver which was a recipe for disaster! Like most of the courses here though, it's about plotting your way around and if I were to play the course again there would be more fairway woods and irons off the tee. My poor play doesn't get in the way of this being a very attractive course though but I have to say it was (relatively) in the worst condition. The fairways had been cored and were a bit scrappy and the greens suffered more pitch marks and patchy hole placements.
Carya
Possibly the highlight of the trip, although run close by the Montgomerie (see below). A host course for the Turkish Open it was in fantastic condition, has amazing practice facilities and was a challenging but fair test of golf. As it's such a good course, it is on most "must-play" lists, so don't expect a quick round of golf. Most of our other rounds took about 4 hours but we were behind some particularly slow players here and the round took almost 5 hours. That meant we finished under the floodlights, which was an interesting experience. I know floodlight golf is one of the novelties of golf in Turkey and there are a few courses that offer it but just playing two holes under the lights highlighted the extra challenge it presents, especially if you leave the fairway. I'm glad we had a couple of holes like this but I wouldn't want to play a full round like that. This is the course where the professionals play off the roof of a house on the 16th hole. Supposedly you used to be able to sneak up and do that too but there was no way to get up there this time with it well blocked off.
Montgomerie
Another host course for the Turkish Open and an "all-inclusive" day where the refreshments, snacks and food pre or post-round are all included (range balls €5 though). It adds a bit to the cost of the holiday but it really is worth it for the different experience it brings. It's another exceptionally good course, as you would expect with it being an Open host. The food and hospitality in the clubhouse afterwards really added something extra to the day too and made a nice change from the buffet at the hotel. There are a few more hills on this course but nothing dramatic. It is a fair test of golf with no holes being too punitive. Again, I'm sure I would play it differently a second time as there are a few short holes where the driver is the wrong club from the tee.
Conclusion
The weather in April is ideal for us heat-shy Scots. The temperature during the day was in the low to mid 20's centigrade, which is ideal for golf. At worst, you needed to wear a sweater in the evening if you were outside. There are a few biting insects around so it would be worth bringing some spray or antihistamines. There is some rain risk at this time of year too and we did have one round cut short due to lightning, but that's just an unavoidable risk. We were a group of 8, which from experience feels like the ideal number. You all get to play at least one round with each other, it's easy to get two tee times, you can all fit in one transfer bus and dining is easier as you generally only need two tables together.
It's just occurred to me that none of the courses appeared to offer stoke savers, or maybe I just didn't see them offered. If nothing else I would have quite liked to have one to keep from each course.
Would I come back to play golf in Turkey again? Most emphatically yes. There are more courses to try and despite inflationary pressures everywhere it still represents excellent value for money, especially given the all-inclusive hotel options. For a relaxed group trip, I struggle to see many better options.
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