njc1973
Head Pro
I was fortunate enough to win a 5 night, 3 round golf trip for 2 to Paphos in a prize draw from YourGolfTravel.com and used the opportunity to go away for a break in mid-March.:whoo:
We booked flights through Easyjet which cost about £150 return to Pahos, these flights arrived and departed at sociable hours and took about 4 ½ hours each leg.
We stayed at the Capital Coast Resort & Spa which is situated on the Tomb of the Kings Road about 5 minutes drive from the Harbour area, the hotel is fairly new and very nice with the rooms having a lounge and kitchen area, and there are numerous bars and restaurants within a few hundred yards of the hotel.
We pre-booked our airport and golf transfers through iwantataxicyprus.com who provided an excellent service at a competitive price, the golf course were all 25-35 minutes from the hotel.
The first course we played was Minthis Hills, as the name suggests this is a fairly undulating course which is set in the grounds of a 12th century monastery, the course measured 6000 yards of the yellow tees but played fairly short with the firm fairways. The course is very tight with a 3 wood off the tee being the best option on a lot of the holes as there are a large number of trees which could hinder approach shots, having learnt our lesson we used this approach the second time we played as it was very windy that day. The stand out holes were the short par 4 12th which required a 150 yard carry over a ravine, or the more ambitious go directly for the green which would require a carry of 210-220 yards to safety; and the island green par 3 13th which went from being a wedge on the first day to a 6 iron on the second due to the wind.
We found the course to be in good condition, although the greens were virtually impossible to read and a little battle scarred in places, there are excellent facilities with a cliff top driving range and a very posh clubhouse serving very good food and the best pint we had on the trip.
We paid extra to play Aphrodite Hills on the second day, although it was fairly pricey at £100 a round this included a compulsory buggy and it is the premier course in the area with some brilliant golf holes, unfortunately they have a cart path only policy so you can be traipsing across the fairways with 3-4 clubs each time.
We found this course a lot more forgiving and in similar condition with firm fairways and fast deceptive greens, the tee shot from the back tees on the 3rd hole has got to one of the most daunting around as it involved a 220 yard carry over a deep ravine, unfortunately it was playing into a 3 club wind so we didn’t risk it! My favourite holes were the par 3 7th which involved a 175 yard carry over a deep ravine and a hair-raising drive to the tee box; and the par 4 8th which featured an infinity type green perched on the edge of a cliff.
The final course we played was the Elea Golf Course which was designed by Nick Faldo, having loved his course in Portugal I was really looking forward to this one and although it is a very good course, being relatively flat, it lacked the dramatic holes that the other 2 courses had.
There are a lot of bunkers but these can be avoided with sensible course management and are not too penal should you land in them and the course seemed to play very short in places of the yellow tees, the majority of the par 3’s were around 100 yards and we both hit 3 wood wedge into the par 5 9th, although there was a strong wind helping.
We both felt that the closing stretch of 16-18 were the best holes on the course with the 17th being a brute of a hole into the wind, as with the other courses the conditions were good and the greens very difficult to read.
Everywhere we went we received very warm welcomes and all the courses seemed to have a pretty relaxed attitude, I would expect some slow rounds in the height of the season as most of the golfers we saw would struggle off a 28 handicap, supposedly you can get up to a 54 handicap in Europe!
I didn’t find it a cheap holiday but really enjoyed the warm weather break and quality of the courses and the relaxed nightlife.
We booked flights through Easyjet which cost about £150 return to Pahos, these flights arrived and departed at sociable hours and took about 4 ½ hours each leg.
We stayed at the Capital Coast Resort & Spa which is situated on the Tomb of the Kings Road about 5 minutes drive from the Harbour area, the hotel is fairly new and very nice with the rooms having a lounge and kitchen area, and there are numerous bars and restaurants within a few hundred yards of the hotel.
We pre-booked our airport and golf transfers through iwantataxicyprus.com who provided an excellent service at a competitive price, the golf course were all 25-35 minutes from the hotel.
The first course we played was Minthis Hills, as the name suggests this is a fairly undulating course which is set in the grounds of a 12th century monastery, the course measured 6000 yards of the yellow tees but played fairly short with the firm fairways. The course is very tight with a 3 wood off the tee being the best option on a lot of the holes as there are a large number of trees which could hinder approach shots, having learnt our lesson we used this approach the second time we played as it was very windy that day. The stand out holes were the short par 4 12th which required a 150 yard carry over a ravine, or the more ambitious go directly for the green which would require a carry of 210-220 yards to safety; and the island green par 3 13th which went from being a wedge on the first day to a 6 iron on the second due to the wind.
We found the course to be in good condition, although the greens were virtually impossible to read and a little battle scarred in places, there are excellent facilities with a cliff top driving range and a very posh clubhouse serving very good food and the best pint we had on the trip.
We paid extra to play Aphrodite Hills on the second day, although it was fairly pricey at £100 a round this included a compulsory buggy and it is the premier course in the area with some brilliant golf holes, unfortunately they have a cart path only policy so you can be traipsing across the fairways with 3-4 clubs each time.
We found this course a lot more forgiving and in similar condition with firm fairways and fast deceptive greens, the tee shot from the back tees on the 3rd hole has got to one of the most daunting around as it involved a 220 yard carry over a deep ravine, unfortunately it was playing into a 3 club wind so we didn’t risk it! My favourite holes were the par 3 7th which involved a 175 yard carry over a deep ravine and a hair-raising drive to the tee box; and the par 4 8th which featured an infinity type green perched on the edge of a cliff.
The final course we played was the Elea Golf Course which was designed by Nick Faldo, having loved his course in Portugal I was really looking forward to this one and although it is a very good course, being relatively flat, it lacked the dramatic holes that the other 2 courses had.
There are a lot of bunkers but these can be avoided with sensible course management and are not too penal should you land in them and the course seemed to play very short in places of the yellow tees, the majority of the par 3’s were around 100 yards and we both hit 3 wood wedge into the par 5 9th, although there was a strong wind helping.
We both felt that the closing stretch of 16-18 were the best holes on the course with the 17th being a brute of a hole into the wind, as with the other courses the conditions were good and the greens very difficult to read.
Everywhere we went we received very warm welcomes and all the courses seemed to have a pretty relaxed attitude, I would expect some slow rounds in the height of the season as most of the golfers we saw would struggle off a 28 handicap, supposedly you can get up to a 54 handicap in Europe!
I didn’t find it a cheap holiday but really enjoyed the warm weather break and quality of the courses and the relaxed nightlife.
