Sueno Golf Club Pines

The verdict

Belek is Turkey's golf coast, a band of pine forest behind the beaches of Antalya packed with resort courses, and Sueno is one of its heavyweights, a 36 hole complex wrapped around the large Sueno Hotels. Of the two layouts it is the Pines, opened in 2007 to a design by the British firm International Design Group, that carries the championship billing. It is a par 72 of around 6,400 metres, close to 7,000 yards from the tips, and it has been used for European Tour qualifying and pro events when the circus comes to Belek in the off season.

The character is classic Belek: wide, generously watered fairways threading between tall stands of pine, water in play on a handful of holes and big, receptive greens that suit the resort golfer as much as the scratch player. It will not redraw your idea of what golf can be, the way the heathland experiment up the road at Carya does, but it is a polished, well conditioned and genuinely testing course that anchors a complete golf and beach holiday. For a winter week in the sun with the family in tow, Sueno covers every base.

The holes worth the trip

Pines plays through avenues of mature pine, so the tee shot is framed and the eye is drawn down the fairway, but the trees rarely choke the line the way they might on a tighter parkland course. The width invites you to open the shoulders, then the second shot does the defending, with bunkering and the odd lake guarding greens that are large and quick by resort standards.

Water comes into focus on a cluster of holes where the design tips from comfortable into careful, and the par 5s reward the player willing to weigh up the carry rather than simply lay back. The closing stretch is the one to score on or come unstuck, a finish built to settle matches in the team golf for which Belek is famous, with a green complex that asks a precise approach under pressure.

Conditioning is the quiet headline. The fairways are lush, the greens roll true and the whole property is maintained to the standard a five star resort demands, so the round feels a notch above the green fee. Pair it with a loop of Sueno's Dunes course and the neighbouring Belek layouts and you have the makings of a serious golf week.

Where to stay nearby

The obvious base is the Sueno Hotels Belek itself, the resort the course belongs to, which puts both the Pines and Dunes loops on your doorstep and packages golf, rooms and transfers into one booking. For a golf and family trip it is hard to beat for convenience.

Belek is built for golf holidays, so the wider resort strip offers a deep choice of five star hotels with their own courses and direct buggy access, all within a short transfer of Sueno. Antalya airport, about forty minutes west, keeps the region within easy reach of much of Europe for a winter sun week.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts near Sueno and Belek.