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Golf Hotels
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No matter where business takes you, always make time
From Amman to Athens; San Francisco to Colombo, a
round at these exquisite courses is worth the airfare alone.
Roderick Easdale offers a guide to golf’s hidden gems
amman
The 31-storey Le Royal Hotel
Amman is the tallest building in
Jordan’s capital. Built this century,
the hotel has 281 rooms and 13
restaurants and its business and
conference facilities include the
Ishtar ballroom, the city’s largest
venue which can accommodate
1,800 guests. A side of this
ballroom opens on to a hydraulic
lift that can transport a car from
the underground parking lot
straight to the ballroom.
There is only one golf course
in the Jordan, Bisharat Golf
Club, about 10 miles south of
Amman, on the road to Queen
Alia International Airport. It has
nine holes but a different set of
tees for the second nine provides
for a par-67 layout. The clubhouse
is built into a natural cave.
80 Upward Curve January-March 2012
Where to stay
Le Royal
T: +962 6 460 3030
W: leroyalamman.com
Where to play
Bisharat
T: +962 79 552 0334
E: bisharatgolf@yahoo.com
Athens
Hotel Grande Bretagne is ideally
situated across from Constitution
Square, the House of Parliament
and the National Gardens, and
within short walking distance of
the business district. There are a
dozen meeting rooms, the largest
seating 600 people. The GB
Roof Garden has Mediterranean
gourmet cuisine and offers
Right: Hotel at Half Moon Bay
Golf Hotels
Garden Court is part of 53,000
square feet of meeting space
which includes three ballrooms
and four boardrooms. The
552-room hotel is within walking
distance of Union Square, the
financial district and the Moscone
Convention Center.
But if you prefer to be within
walking distance of the first tee
instead, head 25 miles south to
the Ritz-Carlton and Half Moon
Bay, with its two 18-hole courses.
The inland, parkland Old Course
has a stunning cliff-top par-4
18th played downhill from the tee
across a creek and then uphill to
an elevated green alongside the
terrace of the hotel. The shorter
Ocean Course is a links offering
with an American twist.
views of the Acropolis – if you
also fancy this view from your
accommodation, request a room
at the front of the hotel.
The Glyfada Golf Club of Athens
opened in 1966 and is Greece’s
oldest club. Greece has precious
few courses, and this is the only
one in Athens, in the seaside town
of Glyfada, a suburb of the capital.
It was the venue for the World Cup
of 1979, and the club now hosts
the Faldo Series and the Greek
Senior Open. Laid out between
coast and mountains, there are
13,000 pines fringing the narrow
fairways. The course is publicly
owned and the conditioning can
let it down, especially in summer,
due to a lack of funds.
82 Upward Curve January-March 2012
Where to stay
Hotel Grande Bretagne
T: +30 210 333 0000
W: grandebretagne.gr
Where to play
The Glyfada Golf Club of Athens
T: +30 210 894 6459
W: glyfadagolfclub.gr
San Francisco
Palace Hotel’s Garden Court’s
stained-glass dome has looked
down on many historic events,
including the official banquet
honouring the opening session of
the United Nations in 1945, and
there are thrice-weekly historic
tours of the hotel building. The
Where to stay
Palace Hotel
T: +1 415 512 1111
W: sfpalace.com
Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay
T: +1 650 712 7000
W: ritzcarlton.com/hmb
Where to play
Half Moon Bay
T: +1 650 726 1800
W: halfmoonbaygolf.com
Colombo
Taj Samudra is set within 11
acres of landscaped gardens in
Colombo’s business district and
has views of the Indian Ocean.
Conference facilities include
the Samudra Ballroom which
overlooks the Ocean, and the On
Golden Pond which opens out
to its own private water garden.
There are seven banqueting
halls in total catering for 50 to
400 people and two lawns can
accommodate up to 2,500 guests.
The hotel has a swimming pool, a
gymnasium and tennis and squash
courts.
Founded more than 130 years
ago, Royal Colombo is the second
oldest Royal Golf Club outside the
United Kingdom, reflected in its
display of golf memorabilia in the
clubhouse. The parkland layout
in the centre of the city features
many water hazards and, on the
6th, the Kelani Valley railway. The
abundance of water attracts many
water birds, with the 13th hole
reckoned best for those golfers
seeking birdies of the feathered
type.
Where to stay
Taj Samudra
T: +94 11 244 6622
W: tajhotels.com
Where to play
Royal Colombo
T: +94 11 269 5431
W: rcgcsl.com
Above: California’s superb
Half Moon Bay course
Below: The sublime Taj
Samudra in Colombo