Regnum Golf and Country Club has officially opened its Tim Lobb-designed course – the first full eighteen in the resort area of Bodrum in Turkey.

“The property is rather hilly and, at 1,450 acres, rather spread out, with lots of long views of forests, valleys and hills,” said Lobb. “Because of the rocky conditions, we did a bare minimum of drawing in advance, and worked the design out in the field in close partnership with contractors Naki Evandr and Cengizhan Bӧlükbaşi of GolfTek. It was really the first time I have ever worked that way; it demands total trust between architect, client and contractor – as such I am grateful to have been working with such a strong project team that all knew each other very well.”

The par 71 course measures 6,579 yards from the back and 5,216 yards from the front of its four sets of tees. It occupies a former olive grove site, and the olive oil from the property is being marketed as a house product by Regnum.

Up to 275 villas will be built on the property over several years.

The course represents the second completed collaboration between Lobb and developer Fikret Ozturk, who also owns the Bodrum Golf & Tennis Club, a nine-hole course which is the only other operational golf facility in the area. Lobb and Ozturk’s first completed project together was at Carya Golf Club in Belek, and the pair are also working together on Ankara’s first full-length eighteen-hole course. The course at Bodrum is also the fourth course built for Lobb by Evandr and Bӧlükbaşi of GolfTek.

“Bodrum is a wonderful destination, with hills and mountains as well as the sea and the beaches, but the degree of development in recent years means that it can be a little frantic,” said Ozturk.

“Our goal for this estate is to give a feel for what the peninsula used to be like – calm, quiet and deeply natural,” said Ozturk. “As such, it was important that we built a golf course that sits lightly on its environment, and I am pleased that Tim and the construction team have done such a great job.”

Turkish government dignitaries present at the opening included minister of foreign affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, minister of culture and tourism Mehmet Ersoy and the mayor of Bodrum, Mehmet Kocadon.