Course: Royal Aberdeen Golf Course (Balgownie) “ Aberdeen

The Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, originally known as The Society of Golfers at Aberdeen is one of the most remarkable courses in Scotland. For one its current layout has emerged from the successive deliberations of six architects over the years originally designed by Robert & Archie Simpson, the course saw changes made by Tom Simpson, James Braid, J. H. Taylor and finally by Donald Steel. Secondly, it is the 6th oldest golf club in the world having been founded in 1780.

The game was initially played on a small strip of land between the rivers Don and the Dee. When its popularity exceeded the available space, the club, instituted in 1815, moved the course to its present location in Balgownie in 1886. Royal Aberdeen is a true links course measuring 6,850 yards par 70 and fashioned in the traditional out and back links style.

Regarded by many as possessing the finest front nine in golf, Royal Aberdeen is inseparable from the shoreline where massive sand dunes play prima donnas. The first tee is placed right near the club house from where one would have to hit hard on a fairway that stretches straight to the sea. The rest of the first nine snakes through the sand hills and valleys with the magnificent North Sea making it hard for a player to concentrate.

If the first nine holes are a true test of a golfers skills, the back nine are probably tougher. This truth is brought home especially, on the closing hole which is a wicked par 4, measuring more than 400 yards.
While the first and the last holes are the most celebrated at Royal Aberdeen, the course offers a fine selection of par 4s, par 3s and par 5. Well kept greens change in elevation often and the well-thought bunkering makes for a challenging game at the Royal Aberdeen.