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.
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.
THE COURSE
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.
You can just see the narrow fairway in the middle running along the natural environment. Wonderfull links.
A difficult hole where my tee shot bounced over the green and resulted in a bogey.
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.
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.
My approach shot came up short and rolled back down from the green.
Best par 3
17th hole is a great par 3 downhill with fantastic views of the ocean.
A strong finishing hole slightly uphill to the green
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.