Travel
GOLF RESORTS IN ANTALYA, TURKEY
SPOILT FOR CHOICE!
by Rahul Sood
Gloria Golf Resort New Course
y a stroke of good
fortune I won the
Lucky Dip at the recent
Turkish Airlines golf
tourney held at my
home club, Mumbai’s
venerable Willingdon
Sports Club. And,
thanks to the airline’s
golf-loving GM Ibrahim Guntay, got to fly
Business Class on the six-hour direct flight to
Istanbul, with a quick connect and a short
hop south to Antalya. Luxurious flatbeds,
service fit for a king, and access to the
enormous Turkish Airlines Business Class
lounge in Istanbul that has to be amongst
the very best in the world. Thanks, Ibrahim.
In tourist-friendly Antalya my wife
Harinakshi and I got to stay in Turkey’s
golf capital, Belek. Along the deep-blue
Mediterranean on what is called the
Turquoise Coast or Turkish Riviera. Where
almost 1000 hotels operate! Several 5-stars
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f P l f l P
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have their own golf courses, offering a total
of 15 courses in the region to play on. It may
not match the numbers at the Algarve or
Costa del Sol, but certainly most adequate.
With a temperate climate at all times. The
first thing that strikes you at Antalya’s golf
courses is their visual appeal: All stunningly
lush-green, thanks to year-round water
from the local Acisu river, which feeds into
the larger Euphrates. And all impeccably
manicured,
thanks
to
experienced
greenskeepers and managers who work
there.
Most of the golf courses I visited
looked somewhat like the other: Built on
a flat terrain. Fairly wide fairways, typically
lined with pines and the taller eucalyptus.
Strategically-built waterbodies and bunkers.
And greens allowing for a comfortable
2-putt. Catering mainly to the average golfer.
Retaining the dominant mantra resort golf
managers follow, “Gotta keep your guests
happy, so they keep coming back…!”
F E F B E R B U R A U R A Y R Y 2 0 2 1 0 9 1 9
Yet, top-level pro tourneys are also held
there. For example, the big-ticket $7 million
(2018) Turkish Airlines Open, previously held
at the Maxx Royal’s Montgomerie, now an
annual feature at the Regnum’s Carya course.
Attracting the likes of Justin Rose, who has
won it the last two years. For such events the
course is tweaked to be more challenging,
tees taken back, fairways narrowed, and
roughs allowed to grow. So that even the
pros have to work hard to score low.
All three golf resorts we stayed at
(Regnum, Maxx Royal, Gloria) were just
spectacular! Offering all amenities any guest
would want, from well-appointed rooms to
a wide choice of eateries to bars to pools
to waterfront lounge chairs to Hamams
to kiddy activities to golf and much more.
And for all of this, you are charged just one
‘All-Inclusive’ daily price, an unusual pricing
approach, but one common to Antalya
hotels.
For example, at the grand, 500+-room