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Lykia Links, Belek
Is Belek’s top-ranked course actually a links? And just how
good is it anyway? Chris Bertram provides the answers.
T
he 2015 US Open was not short
of narratives, but the strongest were
centred on the course that played
host. In addition to debates over its
fairness, conditioning and all-round
suitability to host a major was the
question of whether it was a links. What
definitively constitutes a links is a muchdebated theme, due in some part to golf
course owners’ (and their marketing
departments) widespread eagerness to
have their course regarded as one. While
it’s an understandable desire – connecting
your own venue with the type of course
on which the game began and which is
regarded as its purest form – it is in many
cases a preposterous suggestion.
The description ‘links-like’ is often a
good indication it is not in the least bit
like a links, save for some long, wispy
rough that waves in the wind. The claims
of that kind of course are easy to dismiss.
But there are some much more difficult
calls too. Some good judges insist a links
must sit on low-lying sandy soil between
the sea and the start of farmland and that
LEFT: A view from behind the green of the par-4
12th hole, one of Lykia’s most aesthetic tests.
BELOW: A smiling bunker along the par-5 13th.
106 Golf World The Open Issue 2015
extensive earth moving to create the
course invalidates its claim. That would
(if nothing else did) exclude Chambers
Bay and also threatens somewhere such as
Kingsbarns (expertly built on farmland).
The playing surface is another factor; it
is turf that is firm and dominated by
native fine fescues – one of the few things
that will grow on the sandy land, hence
its availability for golf in the first place.
“To me the term links refers very
specifically to courses found on naturally
occurring sand dunes,” architect George
Waters, author of ‘Sand and Golf: How
Terrain Shapes the Game’, tells Golf World.
“The more dynamic a dunefield is,
meaning sand is in motion throughout
the landscape, the closer to a true links it
will be. Manufactured links can play very
much like a true links but do not reach
the full standard. This would include
Chambers Bay, where the sand moved
into the site in massive quantities will
never perform like naturally wind-blown
sand. A totally created environment will
never be the same as a natural one.”
The reality is that few courses built in
the last 100 years fit all these criteria.
These tales of topography and
agronomy were at the forefront of Golf
September 2015 Golf World 107
COURSES
World’s mind as we arrived at Lykia
Links (note the name) in southern
Turkey. And at the risk of rendering the
remainder of this six-page article
redundant, Lykia can be summed up with
two statements. First, it is an essential
experience for every well-travelled golfer.
And second, it is not a links as we
understand it in Britain.
Lykia isn’t just the most distinctive
course in Belek, it is one of the most
distinctive in all of Continental Europe.
Laid out on a long stretch of coastline
near Antalya, the images accompanying
this article illustrate how closely Lykia’s
terrain resembles that of the links we are
familiar with in Britain and Ireland.
Indeed it is probably aesthetically more
appealing than many familiar names in
our islands, owing to endless, dazzling
Mediterranean views as well as today’s
machinery presenting designers with the
ability to shape a course as they want it.
So duneland can be made more dramatic,
and views magically unobstructed.
At Lykia, the terrain of over half the
course – notably the four holes from the
“THIS WAS OUR SHOT
AT BUILDING A LINKS”
Exclusive: Architect Perry Dye on why the site
for Lykia made him so desperate to land the job.
You are based in America,
so how did you become
involved in Lykia Links?
I am, but the Dye family has
almost 300 golf courses built
around the world. The
property was perfect for
golf. So although the budget
was tight and the conditions
were very tough – it was an
all-sand beach-front and the
windstorms meant we were
redoing all our work
constantly – the view to the
snow-covered mountains
and the great Turkish food
kept my crew inspired.
‘The wind blew the course
away. When the owner
asked where it had gone, I
told him, back to the ocean’
2nd and then the all-star section from the
12th – sits on natural terrain. It was
simply ‘cleaned’ of scrub, then tees and
greens created. It is usually easy to detect
manufactured humps and bumps and
on these holes it feels authentic; the
topography of the 12th is like an excerpt
of Prestwick, Perranporth or Porthcawl.
And there is no denying the sandy
nature of Lykia’s site; sand hills are rarely
out of view and when you stray from the
fairways you are greeted by piles of the
stuff, populated by hardy indigenous
vegetation that thrives in this kind of
sand-and-salt environment. It really does
have strong echoes of our seaside courses.
However, the difference is in the kind
of game you play here. While the wind is
as much a factor as it is on our shores –
that there is minimal shelter from breezes
is a good indication of how unrestricted
and breathtaking the views are – your
tactics to counteract it are different.
So whereas at Portmarnock or Leven
or Saunton you will adopt the ‘ground
game’, at Lykia it is not a realistic tactic.
Yes, you will be attempting to hit
three-quarter, knock-down shots to keep
the ball lower and try to reduce the spin,
but you won’t be bumping and running
108 Golf World September 2015
ABOVE: A lone tree guards the fairway of the par-4 10th hole,
one of Lykia’s standouts. LEFT: The almost wave-like undulations
of the approach to the 12th green, with the 16th stretching out
beyond. BELOW AND BOTTOM: Two views of the testing
approach to the par-3 4th hole, played onto an infinity green.
What were your first
impressions of the site’s
terrain?
When I first saw the sight
I knew it could be a great
course and I let the owners
know our design would be
world class and my crew
would move to Turkey and
do a great job. I wanted to
let the world know the Dyes
could handle such a precious
seaside site with ultimate
attention and care.
The site was sea side with
few dunes… it was all sand
except where local famers
had brought in clay soil to
grow vegetables. I knew we
had immense possibilities if
I could convince the owners
not to build the hotel in front
of the sea… and I did.
Did you take inspiration
from any British or Irish links
for any of the holes at Lykia?
The Dye family has always
been inspired by Scottish
links… my father Pete
brought the concept to the
USA in the early 1960s. I also
travelled and studied links
golf and even did a golf
course in Las Vegas called
Royal Links, which is a cover
of all Scotland’s Open courses.
Which holes are you
especially pleased with
at Lykia?
I have always liked short
holes, and seaside short
holes only happen when
they are down wind. I think
Lykia always plays a bit
longer than I expected and it
also plays a bit shorter than
I expected… it is the wind,
it changes the course
everyday. It is never the
same course… just try
playing five days in a row… it
goes from beast to beauty.
Is there anything you would
do differently in hindsight?
Yes – I would build five more
courses in the area – plus
add a few more tees to make
the course change just a
little each day. The people
who play the wind beast only
one time leave with thinking
it is too hard, and sometimes
the ‘one-time’ player leaves
and says it was too easy. So
more tees would help solve
the changing degree of
difficulty problem.
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into greens as you would in GB&I. The
lolium/paspalum turf simply doesn’t
allow it, its lush wiry blades grabbing
your ball, rather than sending it on its
way as lean, barely-alive fescues do.
“Using fescue was discussed and we
tested some,” designer Perry Dye tells Golf
World. “It was a ‘might work’. The
paspalum was much more at home next
to the sea and the warm summer weather.
“The most important decision was to
get grass to grow on the sand and stop
the constant wind damage, which one
time blew the course back to totally flat.
When I told the owner that the golf
course was gone, he asked ‘where did it
go?’ I said ‘back to the ocean I think’.
“If you like, the ‘Love Grass’ and the
other bushes can represent the gorse (of
Scotland). But to be honest, I’d give up
all the other great Scottish looks for the
warm weather at Lykia to play a links.”
It is easy to pontificate with no money
at stake (had it not worked the cost of reseeding, coupled with the loss of a
season’s green fees would have been
astronomical) but it is intriguing to
ponder what might have been had they
gone with fescue and it’d been a success.
The result might have been a course to
rival those in Britain and Ireland, as so
few in Continental Europe can.
A fescue-covered links might well not
have made any difference to the success of
ABOVE: A view from
behind the green on
the par-4 7th hole,
with its par-3 8th
awaiting across the
water. LEFT: The end
of the road on the
par-5 12th, where
a long and
unforgiving green
complex awaits.
RIGHT: Water, sand
and unseen winds
offer protection to
the par-4 11th.
LOVE IS BLIND
Lykia’s 12th is one
of Europe’s very
finest holes.
© ILLUSTRATION GARY LEES
The 12th hole at Lykia is
the result of a late change
of plan by the designer.
Known as ‘Whipping Winds’,
the 435-yard, par 4 starts a
spectacular stretch of holes at
Lykia, taking you down to the
shore where three holes play
alongside the water.
Any one of those holes
would have been obvious
choices, certainly aesthetically.
But we loved this hole from
the moment we walked along
the path from the 11th to find
a scene typical of links golf
experiences in our islands.
There is a blind drive to
negotiate and to your left
you can’t help noticing the
awe-inspiring holes threaded
along the shoreline.
The 12th was not always
intended to be a par 4 though.
110 Golf World September 2015
In 2007 Perry Dye
came back from
Scotland and said he wanted
to change this hole because he
had been inspired by the blind
holes he’d enjoyed in the Home
of Golf.
The green was going to be
where the marker post now is.
Where the green sits was just
shrubs, so that all had to
be created. The beverage hut
and toilet had to be moved too.
“The reaction of Dale, his
associate who’d worked with
Perry for 15 years, was funny…
we’d nearly finished the
original hole,” smiles Kieron
Morrissey.
“The 17th had to
be changed from a
par 4 to a par 3 too as
a result.”
This was one of the holes
that was merely ‘cleaned’, and
it has remained as it was when
it opened in 2008. Only some
bushes were moved that were
causing playability issues.
So, you hit a blind drive over
the marker post on top of the
hill and then play to a narrow
‘coffin’ green that sits on an
angle. The walk down over the
humps and bumps of the
fairway takes you to a cool
green complex with bunkers
right and left. A stand-out hole
Lykia given it is thriving anyway under
the canny stewardship of Manchesterborn Director of Golf Kieron Morrissey.
Indeed, building a bridge between central
Belek and Lykia (you must circumnavigate
a river to get here, adding 20 minutes to
what would’ve been a five-minute trip)
might well have attracted even more
intrigued golfers than fescue grass.
And despite the reluctance to describe
this as a links, there is no doubt this is
one of the Continent’s top 50 courses.
Part of its allure is undoubtedly its
distinct nature. Golf on holiday is very
rarely this exciting or interesting.
Lykia is a unique combination of the
kind of sandbanks and shrubs that line
the fairways of Royal Hague or Le
Touquet, along with quaint British links
elements such as cool little sleepered-steps
into the dunes to help begin a ball search
or those familiar narrow-slatted wooden
fences to stop sand blowing around. They
don’t always work though – in the middle
of an event for Turkish pros, an inch of
sand blew in overnight, rendering the
11th hole unplayable; a problem only
courses right on the edge of the sea have.
‘Once a barren land
roamed by wild dogs,
Lykia is now alive with
lizards, owls and hawks’
It is only extreme weather that
threatens the course, now that the
shaping work that was done has settled
down and married with the existing sand
hills. And as if to emphasise the natural
feel of the environment, it is now thriving
with lizards, chameleons, sea turtles, owls
and hawks. Once a barren land roamed
by wild dogs, it is now a sanctuary used
by the University of Antalya to monitor
sea turtles and their eggs.
Lykia’s clientele is holidaying golfers
and to ensure it is ‘playable’ for them,
Morrissey has astutely edged back some
of the ‘Love Grass’ rough that Dye
brought from America. So, the wide-open
1st is a confidence-boosting, forgiving
opener. Yet no-one will come to this
corner of Belek and take it apart. Sea
breezes and often demanding green
complexes will routinely see to that.
While the earth moved on the 7th
included creating a lake that looks out of
place with the rest of terrain that mimics
our links, it was vital for irrigation. Now
enhanced by an additional pump station,
Lykia is in magnificent nick; notably lush
and green, rather than burnt and brown
(with greens better than Chambers Bay’s).
If you come to Belek and aren’t staying
at Lykia, a day here is absolutely essential.
Its holes offer consistently top-class fare,
with personal highlights including the
3rd and 10th that end on infinity greens,
contrasting short holes at the gorgeous
3rd and exacting 17th, the split fairway of
the 13th that takes you down to the sea,
and then the three holes along the shore.
Not links golf as we know it in Britain
and Ireland perhaps, but one of the best
experiences away from our shores.
KEY INFORMATION
Lykia Links, Denizyaka, Belek,
Antalya, Turkey
t: +90 (242) 744 19 00
e: golfreservation@lykiaworldantalya.
com w: lykiaworldantalya.com
September 2015 Golf World 111