Antalya (PGA Sultan) - Turkey

The PGA Sultan is one of the courses created in the last 20 years along the coast, as with a majority of layouts it’s set out on sandy ground with tall pines lining most holes, a definite Surrey sand belt feel.

There’s no doubting the ambition and where the investment has gone, impressive practice facilities and club houses with first class service are what it’s about. The Sultan was the first course I played on a trip to Belek, an excellent introduction to what to expect.

The front 9 is relatively flat albeit many the holes do have plenty of rolling fairways and sculptured green complexes, a gentle start, coming back is much more interesting with a lot more elevatio change. I didn’t think the course really got going until 7 with a fun dog leg left par 5 which can be got in two if you're bold with your driver and long irons. 9 is a superb short par 4 which asks questions from the tee, a big lake on the left and bunkers right require either an accurate long iron or long thump with the driver to fly the trouble. If the flag is left you’ll still need to carry the water with a wedge. 10 then follows with a similar challenge to thread your drive through the bunkers and short of the water, anything left into the green will be wet.

The closing stretch of holes from 16 provides grandstand finish, 16 to for me was the best hole on the course, a par 5 routed around the lake, the bolder you are from the tee carrying the lake the easier the approach, longer hitters will certainly have a chance of reaching in 2 with a bail out area short of the green which is where my second shot ended up setting up a birdie. 17 is a simple par 3, while only SI 18 is an easy green to miss. 18 brings water into play again both from the tee and approach, would be a great matchplay hole to finish on.

Condition of the course was fabulous, the only criticism were the greens, quite slow and grainy, very hard to read putts and often the grain pushed the ball into strange lines, possibly my inexperience in those type of greens contributed to the lacklustre short stick performance.

With the new WHS the course rating throws up some interesting handicap adjustments, I couldn’t believe I got extra shots, caused some comments from the lower handicap members of the tour!

Ok, so we chose the worst time ever to come to Turkey. Freezing winds from the North in March, 10 degrees with 3/4 club winds making it feel like 5 degrees at best. Horrible!! At least it was sunny!

Played off the back tees at 6500m (7100yds) and it would be a strong test even without the freezing cold!

For some perspective the 18th hole, a 404m par 4 (445y ish) I needed my best Driver and a 2 iron into the green! I usually hit it 270m+

Business seems to be booming once again in Belek with hotels and golf courses running near to full capacity. It's not difficult to see why, as we experienced high quality golf, all-inclusive 5-star accommodation and superb value for money throughout our trip. Our group stayed at the excellent Sirene Hotel, which is situated a few hundred yards from the clubhouse and belongs to the same group which owns the Sultan and Pasha courses.

There are so many great layouts to choose from locally but it's the Sultan course at PGA National Antalya that offers the toughest test. Even a few big name tour players found it to be a brute from the back tees but with some careful tee selection, this is quite possibly the most exciting course in the region. With two very different courses to play, literally acres of water to negotiate and some pretty intimidating bunkers to avoid, this is resort golf at its very best. As many as eleven holes have water in play but a combination of wonderful conditioning and fast undulating greens will hopefully distract you from the inevitable lost ball or three.

The front nine is solid throughout and culminates with two particularly strong holes. The par-3 eighth requires a courageous shot of around 190 yards to reach a green protected by three separate water hazards and the tricky ninth is a real beauty with water running the full length of the hole before jutting in front of the green to significantly toughen up the approach.

As good as the front half is, the back nine is even better. A fine run of par-4's get us away, the twelfth with a beautiful downhill approach to an angled green sat between lakes probably being the pick. Attractively designed and well-positioned bunkers are a constant threat throughout these holes. We leave two of the best till last with water interfering on all three (or more)shots approaching the tricky sixteenth and more water left and right on the memorable eighteenth to make this a very tough finale indeed. It's a destination that I would happily return to again and again. Brian W

I was taken aback a few months ago when I saw that Turkey occupied six of the top thirteen places in Golf World’s inaugural Top 100 Golf Resorts of Continental Europe listings, with Antalya ranked at number 7. After my recent trip to Belek, I now understand why these golf facilities are rated so highly.

The PGA Sultan course doesn’t have a great tournament track record – apart from a couple of very high profile amateur and professional events played within a week of each other back in 2012 – but this is a big, expansive layout that’s more than capable of hosting major golf competitions.

It doesn’t take long to see why it’s currently ranked just outside the Top 50 of Continental Europe because the par three 2nd is a wonderful short hole, played slightly downhill to a green that’s beautifully framed on three sides by umbrella pine trees – no wonder it’s called “Surrounded”.

I really liked the par four 5th (originally called “Sea View” but a hotel now obscures the field of vision behind the hole) and it plays from an elevated tee before dropping steadily down to the green. The par five 7th is another terrific hole on the front nine, even though it’s a little tight off the tee before the fairway then doglegs right and down to the green.

There’s only one par three on the inward half (at the 17th) and it’s easily the blandest hole on that nine, which was a bit of a disappointment. Six demanding par fours between the 10th and 15th define the main challenge, despite the fact that the par five 15th is probably the best hole, with water featuring all the way down the right before a creek then slashes across the fairway in front of the green.

According to the course guide, the PGA Sultan slope rating from the back tees is 142, which gives a fair idea of just how tough a track this can be. I can understand why people come back here every year because there’s quality everywhere you look around, both on and off the course, but if it’s resort golf you’re looking to play then I suggest you go elsewhere as this is a course for serious golfers.

Jim McCann