For decades, the only intersection between golf and turkey was a club
sandwich in the grillroom. But Turkey, the country that sits at the timeless
crossroads between East and West and has been a cradle of civilizations, is now
embracing another culture-crossing endeavor: golf. The only question is what
took so long. Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, first colonized by the Greeks and
later controlled by the Romans, fronts an azure-blue sea long popular among
sun-starved
Europeans.
They have been arriving to eat tasty kebabs
at outdoor cafes overlooking the sea, to savor aromatic tea or strong Turkish
coffee with the ebullient locals, to peruse local markets for hand-woven kilims
and other handicrafts, and perhaps most of all to see the imprint of history.
The world’s first agrarian settlers put down roots in the south of Turkey in
9,000 B.C. Other visitors have included Alexander the Great, who wrested the
Anatolian peninsula from the Persians in 334 B.C., and St. Paul, who traveled to
the south of Turkey on his first missionary journey.
Nowadays, it’s the
people who are the big attraction. Unfailingly courteous and welcoming,
modern-day Turks consider hospitality both a civic duty and a source of pride.
While predominantly Muslim, Turkey, a longtime NATO member and strong American
ally, is a modern secular republic. As such, the nation is very tolerant of
Western lifestyles.
So the Tourism Ministry pointed to Belek, 25 miles east
of the walled port city of Antalya, as the area to develop for visiting golfers.
It was a good choice. Set back from the shore beneath the Taurus Mountains,
which rise to more than 10,000 feet and are snow-capped in winter, sits rolling,
sand-based terrain covered in umbrella pines and eucalyptus trees.
The
obvious comparisons are to Spain’s Costa del Sol and Portugal’s Algarve. Belek
lacks their inventory of courses, but the region’s well-preserved classical
sites outshine those of any golf destination in Western Europe. Each site in
this area, an hour’s flight from Istanbul, opens a window to a lost world,
offering an unforgettable outdoor history lesson.
At present, Belek has nine
courses open for play; five will open soon, with several more on the drawing
board. Many are attached to resort hotels strung along the beachfront. With each
new course opening, Turkey, with one foot in Europe and the other in Asia,
raises its profile as a winter golf destination. It’s not quite the Myrtle Beach
of the Med, but it is a land that gave Alexander the Great a tussle and
delights those who enjoy retracing history’s footsteps.
As for golf,
it’s a modern golfer making history of his own who fascinates young Turks keen
on the game. Tiger Woods is their idol; once they find out you’re an American,
they ask you what he’s like. Not as a golfer. As a person.
