Colin Montgomerie officially launched his latest design project with European Golf Design at the recent BMW Championship.

Appointed by Papillon Hotels, Colin will design a new 18 hole golf course in the Belek region of Turkey, near Antalya. The Montgomerie Course at Papillon Golf Club will form part of a new $100 million golf and hotel complex. To compliment the 18 hole championship golf course there will be a 9 hole short course and a golf academy, as well as a luxury 5 star hotel and up to 40 holiday villas which will join the four existing Papillon hotels in Belek.

Design work has already begun with construction due to commence later this year, the course will be completed at the end of 2007.

Source : http://www.egd.com/pages/egdnews.htm

We have listed below some tips which we think will be useful if you are planning your golf vacation in Antalya - Belek / Turkey!

• Book Early

You are never too early to begin planning your golf holiday in Turkey. Early booking helps finding appropriate tee times at your selected golf courses.

• Handicap Restrictions

It is recommended that all golfers carry a current handicap certificate as majority of golf clubs may require proof of handicaps. On most courses a maximum handicaps will apply.

• Over seeding periods

Check if your vacation period is within the over seeding periods of the courses that you would like to play. Most of the courses over seeding periods are between second half of September until middle of October in the area. During the over seeding periods some courses will keep 9 holes open so that the players needs to play same 9 holes twice or the others will close the course during over seeding and buggies are not allowed.

• Decide on the courses that you want to play.

Every golfer have different preferences on golf courses to play. Golf Course selections should be done before hotel selection if your main purpose is golf for your vacation.

• Hotel Selection

Choose your hotel from the partner hotels of the courses that you want to play. Because courses offers discounted green fees and priority on tee times for the guests of their partner hotels and also partner hotels offers free shuttles to those courses. This is a critical decision because correct choices will help you to reduce overall cost of your vacation. Choosing the cheapest hotel may result higher costs and difficulty for finding available tee times and transportation.

Another point to notice is accommodation types of the hotels in the area. Some of them serves in HB basis which means breakfast and dinners are included but all drinks are excluded and some offers all inclusive accommodation which means all meals and drinks are included.
And there are hotels which offers both options. Some golfers prefers half board because they spend most of their times on courses and others prefers all inclusive depending on their requirements.

All inclusive concepts may vary between hotels, Some of them includes local drinks only, with time restrictions and some others includes local and import drinks and keeps their facilities open for longer hours.
If you are not sure just ask your travel agent details of all inclusive at your selected hotel.

• Non Golfers

If there are non - golfers in your party there are many alternative activities at the hotels. They may enjoy open - closed and heated pools, or Mediterranean sea and also can take advantage of SPA - thalasso packages that most of the hotels in the area may offer. Sightseeing tours another alternative for non golfers to spend their time visiting historical and natural beauties of Antalya Region. We also advice golfers to join sightseeing tours on their free day.

• Flights

Check flights schedules available and try to find direct flights to Antalya from your origin airport and plan your vacation duration depending on the flight schedules. There are many resources on the internet and you may find most of them by googling “Flights to Antalya” keywords. We have also listed some external sources at http://www.golfturkey.com/flights.htm page. Flight prices may vary depending many different factors but finding a good deal on flights will help you to reduce your vacation budget.

• Caddies, Buggies, Pull Carts.

Caddies , buggies and pull carts are available at almost all golf clubs. Those can not be reserved in advance in general and payments must be made by the golfer directly to the club houses.

• Dress Codes & Footwear

Soft spikes are obligatory on every golf course. Generally smart casual attire is acceptable in all areas of the every golf clubs.

• Weather / Climate

We have 300 days of sunshine per year in the area statistically.
The best time to play golf is from beginning of September until middle of June
You may find detailed weather information and sunrise sunset times at http://www.golfturkey.com/weather.htm

• Currency

The currency in Turkey is New Turkish Lira. However Euros and dollars are widely used at almost everywhere Credit cards are accepted and ATM machines available at many places.
golf turkey

We had many comments about the courses in Turkey.

Some says National has narrow fairways and others says that it is a real challenge, some finds Tat beautiful because its location by the sea and some mentioned that Cornelia Faldo is unforgiven. Low handicappers loves Sultan and some others Gloria New.

We have noticed that opinions about the courses are depends on how good you played there. But anyway let everybody know your favorite golf course in Turkey by leaving your comment so that the others should not miss the chance to play on your favorite course.

We have tried to cover all information for you to easily plan your next golf vacation in Turkey.

You may find weather conditions, sunrise-sunset hours, hotel facilities and room descriptions, many pictures, golf course details, scorecards, handicap limitations and overseeding periods etc.

But we might be missing to publish the information that you need. We are open to any suggestions. Please let us know what else you would like to see in a golf holiday website… Your comments counts..Thanks in advance.