Belek, Turkey 2013 day 1/5. The Gloria Resort is a huge one! The complex includes 3 beachfront hotels, 3 golf courses, the spa, other sports facilities such as football pitches and so forth. In other words, Gloria is a big player in the Belek-business.

Speaking of golf courses, there are 3 courses on the premises: the 18 hole championship courses ‘Old’ and ‘New’ and a 9 hole course ‘Verde’. I only played the New Course but I was really impressed with it. After the 18 holes I really said to myself ‘That was the most beautiful course I’ve ever played!’ …having in mind that I played in Dubai and some posh courses around London too.

But it was easy to impress me! The clubhouse to start with is quite big and doesn’t lack a thing. I love pine trees and guess what, Belek seems to be the inventor of pine trees! In short, I really liked the course, the grass quality, the design, the ondulating fairways, the tricky par-3s and the island green 17th (I had a short birdie putt by the way but didn’t make it!)

The temperature was at 30 degrees and I was walking. After 13 holes I realized my power and strength weakened, my concentration too and my swing got a bit wobbly. I was just not as trained as I wished to be. That was actually my first round after more than 6 months without touching a golf club. Hence I, was expecting something like that but it’s tough realising that you can’t win the pot and the scores go down.

Some words on the course itself: The Gloria estate offers a big clubhouse from which you reach the three courses. For instance the New Course starts just at the sun terrace, everything’s pretty close. It was built in 2005, is a bit younger that the ‘Old’ sibling and has a more open feeling to it. However, there a pine trees all over the place. So don’t confuse open with links style!

I had a pre-booked tee time and originally was grouped together with a Dutch couple in a cart. Since this really didn’t make sense I proposed to walk on my own and leave them their own pace. It was fine but in retrospect I was quicker than them and had to wait quite often (which gave me time to take some pictures).

Water comes into play but not too often, more on the back 9 I’d say. But it’s not an easy course; most fairways are narrow and ondulated and in case your drive is not straight like an arrow you really have to wait for the ball to come to a rest to be fully assured it’s safe.

Parts of the course follow a street that you can see and hear, that’s definitely a downside, as well as the new Gloria Football Center, two pitches in the middle of the course to host the football teams’ winter break training facilities. A bit unattractive I have to say.

But I had a great day on the course and was happy waiting for the transfer back to the hotel. A good start to this golf break!

Use the tag Belek 2013 to read all course reviews of that trip.

Follow this website for more information: www.gloria.com.tr