Golf at Korineum: Course, Seasons, Fees (Esentepe)
📍 Esentepe, Kyrenia
At the Korineum Golf & Country Club course in Esentepe, the busiest months are not July and August but November through March. When the facility opened in April 2007 it became North Cyprus's first 18-hole course; David Hemstock designed the layout and Peter Harradine acted as construction consultant. That is how the land became a championship course. Still, that measure is not where anyone planning a round starts their calculation, because the course in July and the course in February do not give you the same game. In the information we gathered on golf at Korineum, the distinction begins at exactly this point. So the first decision comes down to the date...
Can You Play in Winter, and Why Is Summer Hard?
A North Cyprus summer is heavy going for golf, and in the weeks when the temperature pushes forty degrees an eighteen-hole round turns from a game into an endurance test. Being open all year does not mean summer play is comfortable. The club defines its high season as mid-September to the end of May. In other words, the real playing season coincides with the months when Northern European courses close, and if you are coming from the north, finding a green course in March is reason enough on its own.
Winter is this course's trump card. What shape is the playing surface in during those months? Thanks to salt-tolerant Paspalum grass and R&A maintenance standards, the ground is kept playable in every month of the year. That said, there can be maintenance closures of a few days. Our advice is to check the day you intend to play with the club before you buy your flight.
The Course Itself and the Academy Course
The main course at Korineum is 18 holes, par 72, measuring 6,232 metres from the championship tees. In the course data we reviewed, the real difference is not in that figure but in the fact that each hole has an average of five separate tees. Thanks to those five tees, the same piece of land opens up like a different course for a low-handicap player and for someone in their first season. A group of mixed ability can share the same round. The terrain is hilly. Water hazards and strategically placed bunkers punish anyone who tries to cut corners, and on a course laid out between the mountain and the woodland, that same slope rewards you with openings that look out to sea...
There is a small trap to watch for here. The three-hole Academy Course consists of a par-3, a par-4 and a par-5; this short layout does not replace the main round and is for warming up only. On the academy side there is a long driving range, two putting greens, a chipping green and a bunker practice area, so if you want to test your level before heading out onto the main course, this separation is useful. The three holes do not count toward the main round; the warm-up and the real game do not get mixed up.
Green Fees Depend on the Season
The course is open to the public. Even if you are not staying at the resort you can book a round, so the "green fee" question does not concern hotel guests alone. As of September 2026 the Korineum green fee schedule is published on the official website, and since it changes with both the season and the day of the week, the same question can get two different answers on two different dates. A single figure you see on some other page will mislead you. Bookings go through the pro shop, and that channel answers both the price and the availability question, so get the current fee from there before you fix your date.
Before You Load Your Clubs onto the Plane
You have the fees sorted and now it is time for equipment. If you do not want to carry your own clubs, you will not struggle here. Taylormade club sets can be hired at the club, and the list also includes golf shoes, soft-spike shoes, trolleys and electric trolleys; on top of that, a fleet of forty-four quiet battery-powered golf buggies serves anyone who would rather not tackle the hilly terrain on foot.
The dress code is short and clear. Appropriate golf attire is expected and metal-spiked shoes are not accepted. Beyond that, details such as collared shirts or shorts are not spelled out item by item on the official list, so if there is a piece you are unsure about, it is worth asking the pro shop. Does the club ask for a handicap certificate? It imposes no such requirement, but stating your level when you book sets up the right tee choice from the start. Those five tees on each hole only mean something when they are chosen correctly.
The Rest of the Day After the Course
If you have read this far, you have the course itself figured out. A day on the course is a programme in its own right, but since there is also a hotel inside the same complex, the sums change for anyone wanting to stretch the holiday to two or three nights. The resort has a spa with two massage rooms and a sauna, a four-court tennis academy, a swimming pool and nature walking trails, and the spa and the tennis courts are within walking distance of each other. Everything stays within a single estate. So the rest of the day needs no extra driving.
The beach, however, is outside the complex. At the private beach a kilometre and a half from the main building you will find a seventy-metre stretch of shore, a jetty and changing cabins. Hotel guests are taken there by free shuttle. So someone who spends the morning on the course can fill the afternoon without leaving the resort. Since the resort itself sets the package contents and the arrangement by number of nights, the round and the room booking are discussed in a single conversation.
The Road from Kyrenia to Esentepe
Leaving central Kyrenia, the Korineum golf course is roughly half an hour away. The route heads east along the coast, passes Catalkoy and reaches Esentepe, about twenty-six kilometres from the centre. Do not confuse kilometres with minutes, because the final section climbing up the mountainside stretches the drive a little beyond what the figure promises. Apart from its villa districts and the property boom growing around the course, Esentepe offers no busy sightseeing programme, and that calm works in favour of the player getting up for an early tee time...
CMC Golf Club, at the other end of the island, calls for a completely different route: it sits in the Morphou (Guzelyurt) area, at Yesilyurt, near Lefka (Lefke). The course was founded in 1926 by the Cyprus Mining Corporation for its own employees, so the island's introduction to golf is far older than the one in Esentepe. The first Cyprus Open was played here in the 1950s. After 1974 the running of the course passed to Ian Cooper, a former employee, and in 1995 the facility was restructured and became a member-run, publicly accessible course under the name Cyprus Mediterranean Coast Golf Club. In the sources we compiled, today's layout is listed as nine holes, eighteen tees and par 71. At roughly 5,328 metres, its length also falls some nine hundred metres short of the course in Esentepe. Combining the two courses in a single trip is possible, but for anyone looking for one round of championship standard, the Esentepe side is enough, because it is the only course on the island that keeps eighteen holes in one place.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Course name | Korineum Golf & Country Club |
| Location | Esentepe, Kyrenia (TRNC), ~30 min from town centre |
| Opened | April 2007 |
| Designer | David Hemstock (construction consultant Peter Harradine) |
| Holes / Par | 18 holes, par 72 |
| Length | 6,232 m (from the championship tees) |
| Tees | Average of 5 per hole |
| Academy course | 3 holes (par-3, par-4, par-5) |
| Practice facilities | 300 m driving range with 34 bays, 2 putting greens, 1 chipping area, 1 bunker area |
| Season | Open year-round, high season mid-September to late May |
| Price | Paid, varies by season and day (confirm on the website as of September 2026) |
| Second course | CMC Golf Club, Yeşilyurt/Lefka, 1926, 9 holes (18 tees), par 71 |
| Booking | proshop@korineumgolf.com / +(90) 533 888 65 65 |
We cover the village where the course sits and its surroundings in our Esentepe village guide; for options beyond golf see our things to do in North Cyprus guide, and to drive from Kyrenia to Esentepe yourself, our Kyrenia car rental guide.
