Golf in Turkey

[Tommy Williamsen]

I am thinking of going to Turkey on vacation with my wife. I would spend a few days in Istanbul but would also like to play golf for a few days.  The quality of the golf is more important than the other amenities of the resort. She likes to play as much as I do. So we would play 36 each day.
Where would you suggest we go?

[Bill_McBride]

The golf resorts are all along the Mediterranean.   There have been some interesting threads.  Looks like there are also interesting Roman ruins in that area too. 

[Adam Lawrence]

At the moment, essentially all the golf in Turkey is in the Belek area, near the city of Antalya (there is one course in Istanbul and at least two in construction in the resort area of Bodrum). The courses are mostly of a high-ish standard, though there is nothing truly world class there. The whole of the Belek area is sandy pine forest, and was zoned for golf development about fifteen years ago. Bill is right, there are interesting archaeological sites wherever you go in Turkey. Antalya city is fascinating, and the nearby theatre at Aspendos amazing. We made a thousand kilometre road trip across Turkey a few years ago, starting in Izmir and going via Pergamon, Ephesus, Pamukkale and Aphrodisias. The last is the most isolated, but also the most amazing - walking into the stadium, which seated 25,000 people and is almost perfectly preserved, was truly astounding. But you can fly from Istanbul to Antalya easily too.

GCAer Ben Lovett is superintendent at the Montgomerie Maxx resort, where the recent Race to Dubai European Tour event was held. It's a very nice facility - EGD architect Gary Johnson did an excellent job. Tim Lobb and Philip Spogard's Carya course is good too, as is the Faldo project, Cornelia. Perry Dye's Lykia Links is the one course that stands out from the rest, because of the property - it's a perfect piece of natural duneland alongside the sea. I wish he had been a little lighter of touch though - a site of that quality did not need a large lake built between the ninth and eighteenth holes.

Istanbul is one of the world's greatest cities, I love it wholeheartedly. I can hugely recommend the Sirkeci Mansion hotel, which is only a very short walk away from the Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia etc - one of the best run small hotels I have stayed in. But the Four Seasons, which is located in the former prison that featured in Midnight Express, is pretty cool too.

[Ben Lovett]

Hi Tommy,
As Adam mentioned I am based down there at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal. Let me know what time of the year you are thinking off and I can help you as much as possible.
Regards
Ben Lovett

[Tom_Doak]

Ben:

For future reference, what's the best time of year to go there?  What's the reasonable golf season, and when is it too busy?

[Joe Jemsek]

Lykia is Perry Dye at his best. It’s a small site just over 90 acres. Except for the central dune, the property was feature less, so once the routing was finalized; the shaping team went to work setting lines and sculpting the ground. The locals kept removing the routing & grading stakes, so the construction guys had to “stake” the greens, tees, turn points, and other key features with 2 meter conical mounds.  The lake was actually a key safety feature as holes 1,7,8, & 9 are wedged into a corridor less than 900 feet wide. But Perry loves those water holes and so do most of the players.  

Future plans call for a par three course on the west side of the hotel site.  
 

[Ben Lovett]

All the golf courses here overseed with the majority being closed for 2 weeks. Mostly this is done September and October, you then have golf until mid December and when I saying golf I mean mega busy low quality golfers! December and January are quite but the weather is cold and wet (  -5 last week). Febuary, March and  April are very busy again. May and June are the best months condition wise and weather wise although the weather is starting to get hotter with July and August being very hot.
Summer season also brings the Russian tourists who fill all the hotels and drive up the prices!
All a bit complicated, but if it was me I would come in May early June

[Ben Lovett]

On the golf side as Adam said the courses are all what I would term good resort courses. Lykia is one of my favourites but is 20 min away.
All the course are very successful and average over 30000 rounds per 18 holes

[Tommy Williamsen]

Thanks for all the information.  I think I'll go in May 2015.  I had thought about next fall but it sounds as though spring looks best.