Cullinan Links Golf Club — Local services in Serik

Played Cullinan Belek "Olympos" course on Friday 24th November 2023. The course is fairly flat and level, and holes are relatively straight with only a few doglegs. There's a couple of holes running laterally along beside the beach, offering nice views out to the med. Similarly there's a hole that runs along the river. The rest of the holes are 'inland' with some lakes and bunkers dotted around. Overall not a long course. The course itself was in very good condition despite heavy rain the day or two before. Greens very quick.

Booking beforehand was fairly easy, contacting the clubhouse regarding green fees, buggy and club rentals. Note that to 'reserve' a buggy costs 10 euros more.

Green fees are 'all inclusive' which I think means that you can get food and drink in the clubhouse as part of the package. The golf club is part of the Cullinan Belek hotel and whilst hotel guests get a slightly reduced green fee I felt I was 'paying twice' because the hotel itself is 'all inclusive' already, so why did I then have to pay a premium green fee to be 'all inclusive' yet again. As it happened after our round we ate in the hotel.

The clubhouse shop was, unfortunately, a bit of a disappointment. I don't know if visiting in November is 'end of season' or 'start of season' but the shop didn't appear to have a large range of golf clothing available, specifically I was looking for a polo shirt with the 'Cullinan' logo on it. Most shirts in stock were single sized, mostly XS. There was one range of 'Abacus' shirts which were logoed but they were a bit plain and I wanted something like Adidas, Under Armour, or similar.

Club rentals are paid separate to your green fees (green fees are paid at the golf reception desk, along with any buggy or trolley your hire; Golf club rental sets are hired via the shop). Unfortunately I got overcharged my golf clubs: All emails received stated that as a hotel guest I'd pay 30 euros per golf club set but I was actually charged 40 euros. The rental clubs provided were ok but I was disappointed with the limited choice: I was provided a set of Cleveland irons and driver. I realise as a 'lefty' the choices are limited but I've been to other golf courses (e.g. Melonaras in Gran Canaria; Las Americas in Tenerife; Lumine in Spain etc) and provided TaylorMade or Callaway as an option, sometimes agreeing to pay 5 euros extra for the 'latest irons' or 'latest driver' to try out. The initial reason given for being charged 40 euros by Cullinan Links Golf was that the Cleveland set were brand new... they didn't look that new to me and I googled the particular model of clubs afterwards they seemed to be 2022 sets, so not that new. I eventually, the next day and after some discussion, got refunded 20 euros (2 sets overcharged at 10 euros each). The pro shop told me I should have received an email from them saying the prices were increasing but I showed them my inbox and no such email; They had also not replied to an email I'd sent to them 3 days prior asking about loaning clubs to use on the driving range (which I did, and each iron cost 5 euros to borrow to hit on the range).

Overall I had a nice round of golf on the Olympos course, I was just a bit disappointed by the pro shop in the clubhouse, by their choice of mens clothing and also the issue of being overcharged for the...

A total disgrace. Run away from this golf club, run away, run away!!! The photos show the view of the Ocean course from the clubhouse. The only decent photo is of Tom & Jerry on the Aspendos course. Run away from this golf club, run away, run away, and don't book if they offer it to you. Unfortunately, a rating of 1 is the only one I can give because I can't give a Big, Fat "0". This doesn't concern the courses, but the welcome from the staff at the clubhouse reception and the restaurant staff. What a disgrace, they're arrogant, contemptuous, and above all, they don't seek any solution to a problem that wasn't created by our group of 21 players + 1 non-player. Our travel agency (which didn't live up to expectations during this week of golf, but they'll recognize themselves perfectly) had booked and confirmed that we would play the Olympos course. Upon arrival, we were told that we would play Aspendos and that's how it was and no other way. You can imagine how a great day of golf begins, and the criticism doesn't stop there. Despite our insistence and the reception team's complete refusal, we received our tee times and played a course that was nothing exceptional and, for me, the worst of our stay. For being April, the fairways were dry and the greens were not at their best. The overall setting of the course was absolutely nothing exceptional. We have played other courses such as Montgomerie, Lykia, Carya, and Kaya, which were top-notch compared to this one, and the same goes for the professionalism of the staff. I note here the departure time of the first flight, 2:48 PM, because it will give a good indication of the following problem upon our arrival. As mentioned above, there were 21 of us, or 7 flights of 3 people. The second bad news was that we had an "All-Inclusive Package" at this club. Imagine our surprise when we went to the clubhouse terrace for a drink and something to eat after finishing the round. The restaurant staff informed us that the "All Inclusive" ended at 4:30 p.m. and that we had arrived too late, and that if we wanted to eat and drink, we had to pay!!! So you pay in advance and then you get ripped off. It's amazing how customers can be taken for fools, and this is as much the responsibility of our travel agency (which will never be mine again for my future trips to Turkey) as of the clubhouse, which said nothing when we received our tee times. I therefore advise all golfers that if you want to play at this club and they offer you the All Inclusive option, be very careful of being scammed if you leave in the early afternoon. Oh, I'll end on one last note. I wrote above that we had someone with us who was accompanying us and wasn't playing. When we had our first drinks at the restaurant before the flights departed, according to an employee, everyone was all-inclusive, because he had a list of 22 registered people, not 21 players. It was when we left the clubhouse that a girl ran after us, asking us to pay for the drinks ordered by the 22nd person. Of course, with all our finesse and politeness, we explained to this employee that we wouldn't be...

Disappointed with our experience at Cullinan Links. Before and during the round everything was fine, good food and drink, course in good condition. However we'd booked a late tee time (16.30) specifically to enjoy floodlight golf, only to find that when we returned not only had they closed the bar and restaurant, they'd shut all the lights out and made it very clear we were not welcome there anymore, even just to sit and wait for our transfer. It was only around 10PM at this time. We would have been OK with no more food (though we had paid an all inclusive tariff) but it seemed very petty and rude to shut all the lights out while we waited to leave. Why offer floodlight golf is you will behave this way?

In addition it was very hard to get refreshments on the course in comparison with Sueno which we played the next day. We had no visit from the drinks man for the entire front 9, and only received any attention when we complained up the clubhouse after 9. In addition, when the guy eventually arrived he just complained with swearing that he didnt like our friends (playing ahead of us) because they didn't tip him. None of our group had any cash with us... Very unprofessional behaviour.

All in all, I would consider the "all inclusive" concept to be somewhat misleading. Yes we had a meal prior to playing with a couple of drinks, but that was pretty much it except a couple of cans of Efes when the cart man eventually turned up.

Lastly we were charged in the region of 450 Euros for 'damage' to buggies across our group of six golfers. We've been on many golf trips before and never experienced anything like this so obviously didn't check and take pictures beforehand. There was talk of involving the police if we didn't pay there and then, and we had no way out of there in any event. A very sour end to a good day, and I would advise you to be warned about this type...