Aberdeenshire
The Granite Coast.
Golf this far north has no business being this good.
The Aberdeenshire coast holds some of the most spectacular and least-visited links golf in Scotland - running north from the city of granite into increasingly empty country. Royal Aberdeen. Cruden Bay. Murcar. A coastline of great links courses that most visiting golfers have yet to discover.
Aberdeen sits at the point where the River Dee meets the North Sea, its coastline runs in a series of bays and headlands toward Fraserburgh: a long stretch of North Sea shore on which, improbably, some of Scotland's finest links courses lay in wait. Royal Aberdeen - the sixth oldest golf club in the world, founded in 1780 - plays over links land at Balgownie that has been used for golf for over two centuries. Cruden Bay, thirty miles north, is among Scotland's great eccentric links: dramatic, slightly Gothic, and consistently underplayed by visiting golfers of international ambition. Murcar, adjacent to Royal Aberdeen, is a traditional links of real quality that its proximity to Balgownie tends to overshadow.
For those combining golf with the Aberdeenshire castle trail or a Speyside whisky itinerary, the region offers considerably more than its coastline alone.
Royal Aberdeen (Balgownie)
One of the oldest clubs in the world - founded 1780 - and one of the finest links courses in Scotland. Balgownie plays in two distinct halves: the outward nine exposed to the North Sea, demanding in a direction directly into or across the prevailing wind; the inward nine through higher dune land, more sheltered but more technically complex.
Signature hole - 8th: A long par four at the furthest point of the outward nine. The second shot crosses a ridge to a green invisible until the crest is reached — the kind of blind approach requiring course knowledge, trust in the line given, and acceptance that the result is partly beyond your control.
Pair with: GlenDronach 12
The GlenDronach 12 presents its demands clearly and fairly, without theatrics. Royal Aberdeen's Balgownie Links has the same quality. A straightforward pairing in the best sense.
Cruden Bay
Twenty-three miles north of Aberdeen, overlooked by the ruined shell of Slains Castle - the building that reportedly inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula. Cruden Bay is unlike any other links in Scotland: dramatic, slightly Gothic, with holes that climb into the dunes, disappear over crests, and emerge on greens positioned with a logic that only becomes clear once played. Among the top twenty courses in Scotland on any objective measure. Among the least played by visiting golfers of international ambition. A significant opportunity for those who know where to look.
Signature hole - 14th, Whins: A par five through a dune valley before climbing to a green perched above the bay. Three entirely different shots required; a different test in every wind direction. One of the most satisfying par fives in Scottish links golf.
Pair with: GlenDronach 15 year old Revival
GlenDronach, in Forgue near Huntly, is forty miles west. Its 15 Revival - heavily sherried, emphatic, built for contemplation - suits a course that demands patience and intelligence in equal measure. A natural Aberdeenshire pairing.
Murcar
Adjacent to Royal Aberdeen at Balgownie, Murcar plays over ground that is in many ways the equal of its neighbour. A tighter, more heathland-influenced design by Archie Simpson, with gorse pressing in on several holes and a character that rewards local knowledge. Regularly used for Open Qualifying. A natural second-day course for those who have played Balgownie the day before — and consistently better than those arriving second-day expect it to be.
Signature hole - 4th, Ellon: A short par four that plays deceptively. The green is more complex than the yardage suggests — invisible borrows, a run of the land that makes distance control the decisive factor. A hole that takes several rounds to fully understand.
Trump International Golf Links
North of Balmedie, on a site of extraordinary natural drama: the largest mobile sand dunes in the United Kingdom, producing a landscape of shifting, theatrical proportions. Gil Hanse's design is widely considered one of the finest modern links in Scotland, irrespective of the political context that accompanied its development. Worth playing for the golf, which has no relationship to the name above the door.
Signature hole - 8th: A par three from a high dune tee to a green far below, the North Sea and shifting dunes filling every angle of the view. Club selection from an elevated position in any wind is the entire game.
Hidden Gems
Newmachar (Hawkshill)
Inland, north of Aberdeen, Newmachar provides a parkland alternative to the coastal links - long, tree-lined, hosting Scottish PGA events. The best option in the Aberdeen hinterland for those seeking variety or preferring parkland to links.
Fraserburgh
At the most northeasterly point of the Aberdeenshire coast, Fraserburgh plays over links land virtually unknown to visiting golfers but entirely serious as a test. Founded 1881. Untouched in character. One of Scotland's genuinely overlooked courses.