Author Topic: Kalkan Golf Course? (Read 23198 times)

Buster · « **Reply #40 on:** February 19, 2009, 04:16:11 PM »

Hi all

I beg to differ:-

A modern 18 hole golf course with proper water course management and greens with captive drainage, has minimal impact on the environment.

Look at any modern golf courses in Europe and you will see an environment where amphibians, mammals and birds thrive and not the polluting environment that has been suggested.

Many of you may wish to live in a time warp, but I believe the benefits to the many young Turks living in Kalkan, Berzigan and surrounding villages of having a sports facilities which would see high spending tourists visiting for more than just the 6 month summer season, which would bring jobs and benefits to the local economy that far outweighs any concern I have heard, voiced here.

Berzigan is a village currently populated by the elderly. If we are to see beautiful Turkish villages such as Berzigan prosper and not die it needs to keep its young people employed locally and not see them drift away looking for work.

It is a fallacy to say that golf courses need to be of championship standard to succeed.
In my experience the vast majority of golfers are looking for a neat well kept course which is designed to flatter their golfing ability and is set in stunning scenery.

Berzigan has sufficient land to build a golf course and provide good value golfing holidays during the British winter months in a stunning location.

Please PM me if you have the odd 5 million pounds available and I will help you build it.

Buster

Lougie · « **Reply #41 on:** February 19, 2009, 04:43:41 PM »

I think you might have a riot on your hands now.

I can not see any of the Turks being interested in golf, it would be just for the benefit of tourists and English residents.

What right has anyone (especially when it''s not your contry to dictate what should be done) to ruin a beautiful place like Bezigan, there is not just old people living there, I know plenty of people who come from there, they work in Kalkan in the summer & return there for winter, they are certainly not old.

I''m sure if you speak to local people that actually come from Kalkan or Bezigan, they would not want it.

foreverkalkan · « **Reply #42 on:** February 19, 2009, 05:06:23 PM »

if I wrote a reply to Buster I would be kicked off the forum

misty · « **Reply #43 on:** February 19, 2009, 05:47:44 PM »

Buster I have played golf all over the world and in most cases the only way you will see the locals there is behind the bar parking cars tending the course etc etc. They can never afford to enjoy the facilities !!!

Also five million wouldn''t build you a pitch and putt course......

Blue Lizard · « **Reply #44 on:** February 19, 2009, 06:08:34 PM »

I am not a golfer but Why not just create a driving range if anything?....uses less land/uses less resources/can be situated "away"/gives golfies a fix/employs local folk etc..................clever little lizard!!

hellothere · « **Reply #45 on:** February 19, 2009, 06:13:03 PM »

Everyone loves Kalkan and the surrounding areas for the charm and natural beauty. If we want to practice our swing, play tennis etc etc then we should be holidaying on an American mega cruise liner not a place that was, until only a few years ago, a small fishing village.

And besides that, I go on holiday to spend some quality time with my partner. Open a driving range in Kalkan and I won''t even see him on holiday!

Blue Lizard · « **Reply #46 on:** February 19, 2009, 06:23:00 PM »

HaHa.......does hubby feel the same?

i have been going to kalkan for 22 years...the changes are immense as you can imagine....but it''''s to some extent unavoidable...it''''s a victim of it''''s own charm and beauty,but it can be done sympathetically! you will notice although i''''m not agreeing with it i stated it could be "situated away" eg not Kalkan

Blackpool · « **Reply #47 on:** February 19, 2009, 10:07:14 PM »

Yesilkoy perhaps? No shortage of water and good quality, level land there. I agree with Buster - employment for local people 365 days a year, off - season tourism money, more restaurants open all year, and greater prosperity for the area as a result.

Why would that be bad?

Lantana · « **Reply #48 on:** February 20, 2009, 09:55:38 AM »

Just to set the record straight. All independent studies (which have not been funded by golfing authorites) are quite clear about the negative impact of golf courses on the environment, infra-structure and employment in rural areas.

Look on the internet and do some research if you find this difficult to accept.

What jobs would be created for young Turks on a golf course ? Groundsmen, bar staff, cleaners, waiters, hardly aspirational and hardly a reason for not moving to a city to use your qualifications if you have them.

Why should there be an assumption that local people should be grateful for employment in poorly paid service industries. Would you want that for your children? All over Britain, young people leave rural areas in order to seek better employment opportunities, it does not mean that the communities they are from are dying.

There is one narrow, steep, winding road to Bezirgan. As we have witnessed in Kalkan, the creation of new, wide roads to accommodate heavier traffic loads does not enhance the environment.

Every winter a large part of Bezirgan floods. It gets far more winter rain than Kalkan and is on average 6 - 10 degrees colder. At night, between October and May there are frequent heavy frosts. Not quite ideal conditions for winter holidaymakers

Very few local people who live in Bezirgan would say it is dying. In fact it is an isolated, rural community, which does have life, but life which is not perhaps openly apparent to the casual observer. Our friends who live there year round can keep us entertained for hours with stories about village life.

As to the assumption that there is no water shortage in Yesilkoy, that surely must be a joke since nobody could be that uninformed. Water shortages do not begin and end at village boundaries. All of Turkey is suffering from severe water shortages. Last summer, the capital city Ankara had no water supply for 12 hours a day throughout the summer to try and conserve dwindling supplies.

When we lived in the UK I played golf regularly but I did not assume for a moment that my life in Kalkan would be less than complete unless I could continue to play here. If playing golf was that important to me I would have bought somewhere where there was a golf course.

This is such a beautiful, relatively unspolit area. Why try and fix what isn''t broken?
Lantana

misty · « **Reply #49 on:** February 20, 2009, 10:07:06 AM »

A very good point well made.... also remember no golf courses makes any profit from green fee''s they rely on memberships and other activities.. competitions etc etc

Lougie · « **Reply #50 on:** February 20, 2009, 10:14:22 AM »

Well said Lantana, I really don''t understand people who move to an area or holiday in a certain destination because they love it & then want to change it!!

Lets also not forget golf courses attract wealthy people therefore resulting in increased holiday prices and restaurant, bars & general costs of living increasing.

Enişte · « **Reply #51 on:** February 20, 2009, 11:48:10 AM »

I was almost going to apologise for having initiated this strand, but it has raised some interesting debate, with good arguments on both sides.

As I said earlier in the strand, I am no golf fan (a good walk spoiled?), but some of the concerns raised about the calibre of employment opportunities that might result from a golf facility could equally apply to a large proportion of the businesses in Kalkan. Is any poorly paid job in a service industry, such as waiting on tables and serving drinks in any establishment in Kalkan, a valid reason not to move to the bright lights to use your qualifications? Another message suggested that the golf course would cater only to the tourists and English/British residents. Again, much of the business already conducted in Kalkan does exactly that.

I think we could all benefit from looking at the photos of Kalkan from years ago. I, like many, feel I would have loved to live in the village back then and hope that Kalkan will resist the temptation to develop too much further, risking becoming a cross between Bodrum, Benidorm and Blackpool (sorry, Blackpool!). There will be changes, over which we will have very little say, but the pages of comments show that we all care.