GOLFING HOLIDAYS IN ABERDEEN
Reviews of the best golf courses for Aberdeen golfbreaks.

If you want to know how good you are at links golf you can find out at Royal Aberdeen!  This is a true test: long carries across dunes festooned with thick fescue and marram grasses, pot bunkers like chasms of the night, North Sea gales and glassy Greens - not for the faint hearted.  A traditional links course that extends out along the shore to meet Murcar at the far end before returning on the inland side.  A very traditional and quite formal Clubhouse too, although these days there is no need for a jacket and tie in the lounge (just for dining).

The next-door-neighbour of Royal Aberdeen, the terrain here is very similar and provides every bit as good a test of golf.  In truth, the course has a few more twists and turns with a stream and one large hill coming into play adding variety to the structure of the holes.  If you've come to play Royal Aberdeen, stay to play Murcar too!

Golf on the grand scale: everything at Trump seems larger than life, from the giant Saltire straining at the flagpole outside the Clubhouse to the wide lush pathways through the dunes, no expense has been spared creating this course.  Martin Hawtree is one of the great modern architects and here he was given a special piece of land and a free hand (not to mention a large budget) to indulge his creative talents.  The result is extremely impressive, albeit with a slightly 'manufactured' feel as opposed to its centurion neighbours that seem to have just occured...  Green fees include range balls and strokesaver.

Another stunning stretch of linksland (no wonder golf started in Scotland!) that offers pretty much everything you could wish for in a links golf course.  There are even some amusing little quirks to entertain you on the way round: the sunken Green on 14^th and completely blind, par 3, 15^th with its signal bell high on the hillside linked to the Green by 150 yards of rope and just a diagram on the Tee to guide you to the pin!  A wonderful golf course, endlessly entertaining, well worth the drive up from Aberdeen or perhaps a stay in this small Scottish seaside resort?

At first sight Peterhead appears to be a modern Club with a (very welcoming) Clubhouse accessed by a sleek footbridge across the estuary.  Once on the First Tee however the age of the course becomes apparent with holes that initially skirt the dunes before slowly sinking amongst them only to reappear at the picturesque 17^th with its views of the town across the bay.  Quite a small patch of land so the holes run closely together in places - but you get to meet a lot of people!

If it wasn't so remote, tucked away in Scotland's top right hand corner, Fraserburgh would be overrun by itinerant golfers.  It has a wonderful collection of golf holes.  The first and last might not overly impress, but the middle sixteen are pure gold!  The course rises up, over, around and back down a central hill offering great views and some enticing Tee-shots.  It then flattens out towards the far end offering classic links golf (and an ultra-hummocky 13^th) before sinking into a handful of dune-lined holes on the return.  Great golfing and a cheery, old fashioned, Clubhouse filled with ruddy locals.

A splendidly natural golf course that starts off inland over some rounded hills surrounded by farmland with good views and uniquely features a ruined chapel as part of the course.  It then descends and finishes with a flat back-9 around a loop of the river Ythan overshadowed by the spanking new Clubhouse.  Apart from this outcrop of shining modernity, there is nothing superfluous out on the course - everything seems just as it was back in 1912.

A very basic set-up, atop the cliffs just south of Aberdeen.  Cheap 'n' cheerful golfing offering priceless sea views, plenty of slopes, Greens terraced into hillsides and a quaint little Clubhouse reminiscent of an old railway station.  A course with history though - it was founded way back in 1887 and one of its early Professionals (George Duncan) was an Open winner in 1920!

Other courses to consider

A delightful Deeside course on the banks of the river that is pure parkland.  Perfect for anyone looking for a break from windswept links followed perhaps by a visit to Balmoral (or the Royal Lochnagar distillery)?