Advanced cookie settings

Turkey, a green kingdom on the edge of the big blue

Belek, in the south of Turkey, not far from Antalya, is a 3.5 hour flight away. It has 15 golf courses on the Mediterranean coast - and more than 50 5-star hotels. The destination is prized as much for the quality of its courses as for its 300 days of sunshine per year.

An impeccable organization, a warm welcome and thanks to the Turkish Airlines Open, the region has received international media exposure. Tiger Woods arrived like a king in Turkey, for the first competition in 2014, where Victor Dubuisson held him up. Excuse the little and the show!

The competition took place at Maxx Royal, designed by the English player Colin Montgomerie. We knew this course when it was still called Papillon, a much nicer name that pays tribute to the butterfly wings design often formed in nature by the 18 holes designed by golf architects. The courses in Belek are located a few kilometers from each other, such as the elegant Cornelia course, designed by another Englishman, Sir Nick Faldo, which is played in an elegant pine forest, often in play. On this course, as on all those of Belek, the maintenance is irreproachable, just like the quality of the greens.

Not far away, Lykia is a surprising links course, the only Turkish links designed by Perry Dye, son of the great golf architect Pete. On the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, you will experience the amazing sensation of playing on a deliciously sculpted layout that marries perfectly with the light of the setting sun. It is as if the sun's rays were imprinted at our feet, for one last time on the grass of the greens when your ball falls into the last hole.