Royal Aberdeen Golf Club is a links course that has hosted many tournaments. Probably has one of the most understated entrances as you can tell below.

entrance to Royal Aberdeen golf
drive into Royal Aberdeen

I visited the course during The Open 2018 when it was played at Carnoustie. I was on a quick trip to Scotland to watch The Open and to play a few courses in the area. The course was very busy, but they allowed me to go out early on my own. That is a good service and worked well for this occasion where I was travelling to different places in the area and have limited time.
Royal Aberdeen clubhouse
Putting green with view of clubhouse

THE COURSE

View down the first hole
Hole 1, par 4

A fantastic view down the opening hole. It is a slight downhill par 4 where I hit my drive into the left hand rough and couldn’t get to the green. Made an opening bogey.
Royal Abeerdeen 2
Hole 2, par 5

You can just see the narrow fairway in the middle running along the natural environment. Wonderfull links.
hole 2, par 5
Quite undulating fairway on the 2nd hole

green 2nd hole
2nd green which is a small target with all the run off areas that most likely will end up in a bunker

hole 3 Royal Aberdeen
Hole 3, par 3

A difficult hole where my tee shot bounced over the green and resulted in a bogey.
approach shot to hole 6 Royal Aberdeen
Narrow fairway on par 5 hole 6

green side bunker on 6th hole
6th green where my second shot ended up in the bunker.

8th hole on Royal Aberdeen
Hole 8, par 3

Needless to say that it requires a good tee shot and most shots that miss the green is bunker bound. It is a relatively short hole and I hit a perfect 9 iron to set up a birdie.
Hole 10, Royal Aberdeen
Blind tee shot on 10th

There is a pin to aim for depending on the tee box you are playing from. I opted for a hybrid from the tee which is more than enough and leaves a wedge to the green.
approach to 10th green
10th green

My approach shot came up short and rolled back down from the green.
12th green
Nice views of 12th green at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club

hole 13
13th green

Royal Aberdeen Golf Club 14th green
14th green

Best par 3

17th hole is a great par 3 downhill with fantastic views of the ocean.

tee shot on 17th hole
17th hole

green view hole 17 at Royal Aberdeen Golf club
The playing conditions was very good with little wind and clear blues sky.

tee shot hole 18
hole 18, par 4

A strong finishing hole slightly uphill to the green
hole 18 green
Looking back down 18th

view of the ocean
Great views from the clubhouse

I didn’t have any expectations before arriving at Royal Abeerdeen, but I was impressed with the course. It is a true links course and deserves to be played if you are visiting the area. The condition was not 100% as they had some maintenance work done on some of the holes. Greens were good and running well. Overall highly recommendable.

MY SCORE

I played a decent round of golf and shot 79. Made a nice couple of birdies but also had a couple of doubble bogeys.
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