Royal Aberdeen Golf Course

Royal Aberdeen isn’t just one of the oldest golf courses in the world, it’s also one of the best.

Royal Aberdeen is one of the stellar and pedigree links in Scotland, having been founded in 1780, meaning there are only five more senior in the world.

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The club was originally titled ‘The Society of Golfers at Aberdeen’, which has echoes of the celebrated group who play their golf at Muirfield further down the east coast.

It wasn’t, though, until over a century later that the Society began playing on land at Balgownie, the name it is often affectionately known as today.

Archie Simpson, Tom Simpson, James Braid and the Hawtree family have played a part in sculpting the links, but as with all the golf around Aberdeen outside of the Trump estate, it is Mother Nature who deserves much of the credit.

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The front nine has few peers in British golf and begins in explosive fashion with a drive from what feels to the nervous visitor like a square of turf under the window ledge of the clubhouse bar.

Yet, unless the pressure of onlooking members has serious repercussions on your swing, you should be able to find the wide fairway, from which you must then try to reach the raised, sloping green in front of the beach.

The tempo is maintained at the 2nd, a magnificent par 5 through a sheltered valley between the dunes and gorse. Then comes the first of a fine collection of par 3s, often requiring a driver off the tips for even gifted players.

The 4th hardly offers respite; it’s stroke index one and its elevated tee is exposed to the coastal winds. Then come a couple of sporty holes where career birdies are not beyond mere dreams, before the dangerous 7th leads you to a fabulous short hole, where an approach to the left half of the green might save you from one of the 10 traps.

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A first half of relentless quality ends with an exacting uphill two shotter.

The back nine along the plateau might be a little less spectacular but don’t mistake it for uninspiring fare, certainly not when there are holes of the class of the 14th – a par 4 of over 440 yards that asks you to avoid the dry ditch across the fairway then hit a sweet approach over the dyke to a narrow green.

The climax is special too, another par 4 of similar length played into the prevailing wind with out of bounds along the left; find the elevated green in regulation and you will find it difficult to keep a smile from your face.

The course gained further prestige with its noteworthy staging of the 2011 Walker Cup despite some seriously inclement weather (even by the standards of north-east Scotland) as well as the Scottish Open.

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