GOLF ESCAPES

BULGARIA’s pIoneeR
Thracian Cliffs
Directly overlooking the Black Sea coastline, this is one of Europe’s most spectacular destinations.
The legendary hotelier Conrad
Hilton once said that three things
were needed for a great business:
location, location and location.
As a renowned course designer as well as a
highly successful entrepreneur in his own
right, Gary Player no doubt will have been
reminded of that famous quote when he
arrived at Cape Kaliakra and first laid eyes
upon the 4.5km stretch of pristine Black
Sea coastline he had been asked to turn into
one of Europe’s premier courses. “When
I saw the land, I knew I had a once-in-alifetime
opportunity to create something
really special,” Player says. “I felt I could
build a course many people would say was
the best they had played in their lives.”
What Player probably didn’t realise at
the time was that he not only had the
opportunity to create a course with
outstanding aesthetic appeal, his design
could potentially put a whole country on
the golfing map. It’s easy to forget that every
established golf destination has one or two
signature courses that, in its early days,
captured the imagination of the public and
paved the way for further investment in the
region. Back in the ’80s, San Lorenzo, Vale
do Lobo and Vilamoura spearheaded
growth in the Algarve, Sotogrande Old and
San Roque were the catalysts for large-scale
development on Spain’s Costa del Sol, while
Le Touquet and Hardelot convinced us that
there was more to France than Paris,
vineyards and chateaux.
Although it is still too early to predict
just how big a player Bulgaria will become
in the golf travel market in the years to
come, Thracian Cliffs is beginning to
attract the attention of golfers and, just as
importantly, the industry. In 2012, the
International Association of Golf Tour
Operators named Bulgaria its
‘Undiscovered Golf Destination’ then two
years later voted Thracian Cliffs ‘The Best
Golf Resort in Europe’. In addition, the
resort was named Bulgaria’s ‘Best Golf
Hotel’ at the inaugural World Golf Awards
in 2014. Those accolades, combined with
the high-profile staging of the 2013 Volvo
World Match Play Championship have
prompted a 50 per cent year-on-year
increase in bookings from the UK alone.
The quality of the resort and the other
attractions of the Cape aside, there’s no
doubt the jewel in the crown is Thracian
Cliffs’ course. Player has used his vast
experience and every architectural trick
in the book – including sharp elevation
changes, dramatic bunkering, split fairways
and huge, undulating greens – to make
Thracian an unforgettable experience. At
the end of the day, though, the course is
all about the vistas, with every single hole
offering a sea view. Built into a thin strip of
land directly on the edge of the cliffs, the
opening holes play directly alongside the
Black Sea while the back nine moves
upwards and inland, offering more elevated
62 GOLF ESCAPES 2015