ISTANBUL

The city where East meets West in a profusion of sounds and colours. Istanbul is its own tumultuous monument to a long, rich history, with Greeks, Romans and Ottomans contributing to its variety. The beautiful Topkapi Palace and the great domes of Hagia Sophia contrast sharply with the decaying wooden houses hanging precariously from the old city’s steep slopes. The sacred, soaring beauty of the Blue and the Suleymaniye Mosques seem worlds away from the noisy trade of the Grand Bazaar nearby. The mighty Bosphorus, packed with vessels, divides continents and links cultures.

The first golf club in Turkey, known as Istanbul Golf Club was founded in 1895 in the Maslak district of Istanbul and featured a 9 hole course. Various other Golf Clubs were established on the heels of the Maslak club's foundation, though without golf courses of their own and closely affiliated with the Turkish Tennis federation the sport never gained the necessary foothold to expand. The current infrastructure and increased popularity of Golf in Turkey is owed to more recent developments.

In the early 1990's Many affluent residents began to move to areas on the outskirts of the Istanbul where they could easily commute to work and also enjoy the greenery, open space and quiet these areas provided. Developers saw a need to create leisure activities and sports to draw more residents out of the city. Hence the first professional golf course in Turkey was completed in 1994 at Klassis Country Club in Istanbul, followed by Kemer Country Club shortly after.

While plans were being drafted for Kemer and Klassis, the Turkish Tourism Ministry was beginning to recognize the combined importance of promoting a new sport to The Turkish people and the potentially lucrative endeavour for Turkey's growing Tourism sector that golf could provide. In 1990 they set aside land in the Mediterranean resort towns of Izmir and Antalya to be developed into golf courses. Today the land is occupied by 4 world class golf courses making Antalya an attractive destination for golf tourism and adding yet another facet to Turkey's diverse and developing tourism sector.

Clubs and courses in Istanbul and Antalya continue to be the most important in Turkey due to the quantity of courses, several annual Pro-Am tournaments and programs aimed at involving youngsters of all economic backgrounds (some of the best golfers in Turkey are former caddies) in the game.

At this moment more courses are being planned for Turkey's Mediterranean region, and membership figures at Istanbul's clubs continue to climb. It would take a stretch of the imagination even 20 years ago for one to conceive of the advances and increase in interest that Turkish Golf has achieved in such a relatively short history.