I first fell under Turkey’s spell more than 20 years ago on a cruise from Greece to the Black Sea, mesmerised by the minarets, domes and vitality of Istanbul, which have attracted visitors for centuries. But now the country is attracting visitors for a different reason – golf.
Until recently, the game was virtually unknown in Turkey. Although the first golf club – the venerable Istanbul Golf Club – was established over a century ago, the game was largely overlooked. Then, in 1984, the first course opened in the fledgling resort of Belek, 40km east of Antalya on Turkey’s southern coast in an area of pine and eucalyptus woodland fringed by rivers, with orange groves and cotton fields behind and fronted by a pristine beach where endangered loggerhead turtles return each year to lay eggs.
Today, Belek is the hub of the country’s golf boom and one of the most thriving resort areas along the Turkish Riviera, with several dozen four- and five-star resort hotels strung out along the beachfront. And that one golf course has become a whole cluster of facilities, attracting designs by some of the top names in the golf world.
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