IF YOU can hit the ball straight, you'll be fine.

It's a rule that's true of golf as a whole but even more so at the Gloria golf resort in Belek, Turkey.

Sadly keeping the ball straight is one thing I've never been able to manage, as my playing partners discovered very quickly.

Other golfers, motorists on a nearby road, and on one occasion even an unfortunate tortoise were all put in danger by my increasingly wayward shots.

But it didn't matter.

Gloria advertises itself as a place unlike any other in the world, and it's certainly difficult to think of many similar settings.

The resort, along with more than 10 other courses, is packed into a thin stretch of land on the southern Turkish coast near Antalya.

We arrived at the resort in darkness, which made waking up to blazing sunshine and a sea of lush green grass and palm trees on the first morning an even more pleasant experience.

By the time to play rolled around I'd managed to hit a few semi-competent wedge and mid-iron shots at the driving range and rolled up to the tee before remembering I'd forgotten to buy any balls to actually play with.

Thankfully a playing partner took mercy and gave me an emergency loan of six balls, all of which were gone by the end of the round.

We started on the Gloria New Course, which was constructed just a decade ago, and I stood up on the tee and hit a perfect drive which split the fairway.

And, of course, it was the best shot I hit all week.

It says a lot about both the new and old Gloria courses that my at-times-embarrassing level of performance didn't spoil the enjoyment at all.

For those who enjoy the walk as much as the golf there is plenty of wildlife on show, and even the odd tortoise if you keep your eyes peeled.

Measuring in at 6,181m and 6,239m respectively, neither course is particularly lengthy.

Instead, the difficulty is provided by relatively narrow fairways, plenty of water hazards, and trees lining almost every hole.

Some of the green approaches are so attractive you almost don't mind when you mishit a shot and watch the ball disappear into a glistening lake.

The ninth and 18th holes on the new course are particularly beautiful, running parallel alongside a lake with trees and bunkers on either side.

The clubhouse overlooks the final green, providing plenty of opportunities to applaud (or gently ridicule) your fellow players from a safe vantage point with a drink.

The golf aside, the accommodation and the nearby Gloria Sports Arena themselves would almost make the trip worthwhile in itself.

In spite of the climate the entire resort is covered in trees and thick grass, while there are a number of different restaurants offering a range of cuisine.

The sports arena is interesting enough to capture the imagination of 12 hit-and-hope golfers for a morning, and perhaps more impressively it hosts star football teams who use its facilities for pre-season training.

In the past Italian giants Juventus have put their players through their paces, while this summer an unnamed Premier League side will make it their temporary home.

For mere mortals the complex includes a gym with exercise bikes, treadmills, and an Olympic-standard swimming pool.

And for those who actually possess athletic talent, there is even more on offer.

There's an outdoor swimming pool, a weights room with a boxing ring, and for the truly adventurous there's the sports medicine and athletic performance centre.

While I was intrigued by the underwater treadmill and body fat measuring pod, the whole body cryotherapy machine.

For those - like me - who have never heard of such a machine, imagine a room the size of a sauna.

But instead of being comfortably warm, the room itself is plunged to -110C with a zero humidity level.

We were reliably informed that due to the lack of water vapour, the experience would be less horrifying than the temperature might suggest.

That's not exactly true.

Firstly our group of four hardy souls were told to remove all clothing and jewellery that might freeze to the skin, and with little to no fanfare we wandered into the contraption.

I'm certain it's not possible to put into words just how cold it feels, but I imagine it's akin to standing shirtless on the top of Mount Everest for three minutes while a DJ plays 'Ice Ice Baby' through loudspeakers.

Although the experience itself wasn't particularly pleasant it certainly felt oddly refreshing after stumbling out of the machine with my skin feeling like it was going to crack into pieces.

The machine is described as providing a climate found "neither on earth nor in space", and despite having never been outside the earth's atmosphere it's hard to disagree.

Factfile

Gloria resort: gloria.com.tr

Monarch, the scheduled leisure airline, operates flights to Antalya from London Gatwick airport with fares, including taxes, starting from £69 one way (£133 return)

For further information or to book Monarch flights, Monarch Holidays or Monarch Hotels, please visit monarch.co.uk

The Lounge at Gatwick Airport: offers complimentary food and soft drinks

Open 4am to 10pm daily and costs £35 per adult and £18 per child, or £28 per adult and £16 per child in advance.

To book visit no1lounges.com