Tee for two
Turkey is emerging as a top golf destination – you can tee off from an all-inclusive resort
It was the loveliest 19th hole I had visited for years – and I’ve been in a few. Although it had all the comforts you needed after 18 fantastic holes at the PGA National course on Turkey’s stunning golfing riviera, this was not technically a golf clubhouse.
Because in Belek, the centre of golfing nirvana on Turkey’s sun-baked southern coast, all inclusive has now become
The official clubhouse which serves the National’s two wonderfully manicured courses – Pasha and Sultan – has everything a golfer wants, from a luxurious bar to flatscreen TVS and picstures of Tiger and Rory and Justin in action.
But the postmortem of glorious drives and missed putts is held in the hotel beach bar where the drinks are already paid for. Because at the elegant Sirene Hotel, a three-minute shuttle ride from the fairways, golfers enjoy fivestar luxury as well as value.
The bar where we enjoyed our post-golf sundowners is perched on a jetty so close to the Med that if the barman goes all Tom Cruise in the film Cocktail but gets his hand-eye co-ordination wrong, he’d have to take the steep steps into the sea to retrieve the bottles.
The Sirene Hotel is a hungry hackers’ paradise where the dress-code is smartcasual and the vibe is laid-back. It has five restaurants scattered around the huge complex, serving Italian, seafood, South American as well as Turkish dishes.
Walking around the elegant Sirene, with its traditional Turkish architecture, you might think you’ve wandered into a sultan’s palace.
But the rows and rows of golf bags and accessories lining the lobby are a bit of a giveaway. A paradise full of putters.
The opportunities to play golf here are as varied as the menus and the hotel facilities. Don’t just take my word for it.
The PGA National’s director of golf Michael Jones is steeped in the sport and hails from the The Sirene has it all – and more
rugged Northern Ireland coast that has spawned Major champions Rory Mcilroy, Darren Clarke and Graeme Mcdowell. He followed in the footsteps of his father, the former tour professional David, who designed the course which Michael had invited me to play.
He fell so deeply in love with this golfing outpost that he has twice swapped blustery Bangor for balmy Belek, returning there 14 years after he first arrived as head teaching pro.
During a delightful round he told me why he rates Turkey as the current top