A Pictorial: Royal Aberdeen's Balgownie Links!!! (18th Hole posted)

[Kyle Henderson]

A short par 4 that measures at up to 347 yards, the playing corridor of the 5th hole grows progressively more fraught with peril as one approaches the green


Laying up is a smart choice, leaving a full wedge in.


From the visitors tees in favorable winds, the green is very reachable. Shots that land just short of the green will feed to the right.


While the entrance to the green is narrow, the surface is pitched from back to front, allowing one to play a lofted shot past the yardage of the bunkers.

[Kyle Henderson]

At 499 yards from the tips, the 6th hole is an eminently accessible par 5. The rub is that the hole is very narrow. One must decide whether they should play three short shots that they can keep in play or if they want to bash a drive far enough that, should they miss the fairway, they can hack one back into play and still reach the green with their 3rd.


These cross bunker will affect wither the first or second shot, depending on the wind conditions and how well one executes on the tee box. Just beyond the bunkers, the fairway tumbles in a manner not unlike whitewater rapids.


The front of the green is open to long approaches, offering a very good chance for birdie or eagle if one manages to find a good position for their second shot.

[Ian Andrew]

Thank you for posting this - it's been great fun so far.

Through circumstance this is one course where I haven't been able to play.
I'm blown away by the front nine so far.
Is this almost in the same league as Royal County Down?

[Kyle Henderson]

Thank you for posting this - it's been great fun so far.

Through circumstance this is one course where I haven't been able to play.
I'm blown away by the front nine so far.
Is this almost in the same league as Royal County Down?

I've never been to Ireland, so I can't speak to your query specifically.

What I can say is that (IMHO) the front 9 is a Doak 7 while the back 9 is more like a Doak 5. The course is loads of fun from tee to green, but it doesn't offer as much in the way of creative recovery shots around the greens to put it in the same class as the truly elite Scottich links. Also, due to the out and back routing, I would hate to play this course in a strong and steady wind.

After my morning round at Royal Aberdeen, I walked the course at Murcar (just to the north, the courses share a boundary line) and found it to be a very different but equally spectracular layout to the Balgownie.

[Kyle Henderson]

For the 7th, a 428 yard par 4, the course moves a bit inland for the first time, though it continues north. The white building in the distance is the clubhouse for the Murcar Golf Club and is just left of the ideal line for the tee shot. You can just make out the left fairway bunker sitting a bit over 300yards from the championship tee.


After snaking between dunes and bunkers, the fairway meets a wide green that sits slightly aslant from short/right to long/left.

[Emil Weber]

Great pics, Kyle.

Only judging from the photos I feel like holes 2-6, while they all look great holes, are too similar playing through the dunes. Did you feel like that when you where playing?

[Kyle Henderson]

Great pics, Kyle.

Only judging from the photos I feel like holes 2-6, while they all look great holes, are too similar playing through the dunes. Did you feel like that when you where playing?

Holes 2-5 all play from a high point in the first ridge of dunes along the shore to the valley just left of them, so there is some similarity. 6 plays though the same valley, but the tee is more inland. Despite these congruencies, I found each hole distinctive and memorable until the course turned back to the clubhouse.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 8th hole plays to the southeast, the first non-northerly hole since the 1st. It is the shortest hole on the course at 147 yards, but the green is 3 clubs deep, very narrow, and a tough target to find in unfavorable winds.


The green is defended from aft to stern by four bunkers along the left and another nest of five bunkers protect the right side of the green’s front half.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 9th hole is a 465 yard par 4 & 1/2. The green is dead ahead, but the line off of the tee is to the left, towards the small patch of visible fairway.


From the 8th tee, players are offered a sneak preview of what the 9th has in store for them, doglegging right and heading up the hill to a green just shy of the Murcar Golf Club’s 4th tee.


Standing behind the 9th green a looking back towards the tee, one sees the course forging steadily back towards the clubhouse and downtown Aberdeen in the distance (scroll right).

[Bryan Izatt]

Pictures tend to flatten out elevation changes, and they certainly have in Kyle's pictures of the hill up to the 9th green.  Here's a closer view of the hill, one of my most favorite humpy, bumpy pieces of ground ever.  Imagine trying to run your second shot up through this terrain.

[Gary Slatter]

Great pics, Kyle.

Only judging from the photos I feel like holes 2-6, while they all look great holes, are too similar playing through the dunes. Did you feel like that when you where playing?

Not at all as far as I am concerned, they are all fun holes.  Until I actually played Royal Aberdeen I thought the front was great and the back nine just so so.  Well, in July I played and now feel the course is great, all 18 holes are fun with the exception maybe of 10 (better the second time you play).  We had a 20 mph breeze behind us on 2 through 8 and it felt like 50mph in our face on 11 through 16.
I now rate RA in a tie with Royal County Down, in my top 3 links experiences.

[Kyle Henderson]

Great pics, Kyle.

Only judging from the photos I feel like holes 2-6, while they all look great holes, are too similar playing through the dunes. Did you feel like that when you where playing?

Not at all as far as I am concerned, they are all fun holes.  Until I actually played Royal Aberdeen I thought the front was great and the back nine just so so.  Well, in July I played and now feel the course is great, all 18 holes are fun with the exception maybe of 10 (better the second time you play).  We had a 20 mph breeze behind us on 2 through 8 and it felt like 50mph in our face on 11 through 16.
I now rate RA in a tie with Royal County Down, in my top 3 links experiences.

That is very high praise. I loved RA, but it wasn't in the top 5 from my trip (granted I played 2 dozen courses).

I hope someone can speak to the changes that have occured on the back nine to bring it closer in wuality to the front as I post the remaining holes.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 10th tee shot is blind. The group of golfers on the right (scroll over) are teeing off on the 2nd hole at Murcar.


The second shot is played over a burn to a green that falls away at the front, left and rear.


This views gazes back across the 10th green to Murcar’s practice range (note the sizable transparent wind/rain shield) and clubhouse.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 11th is a fairly bland par 3 of 175 yards played into the prevailing wind. The green is protected by three fronting bunkers and features some testing contours.

[Kyle Henderson]

At 534 yards in total length, the 12th can be a long, challenging venture when played into burly breezes. The fairway is very wide, but I still managed to discover that a high, sweeping hook will find a hidden burn left of the fairway.


The fairway runs off at the edges in a few places, so pick your target wisely and avoid the right-hand fairway bunkers that sit around 290 yards from the tee. Past these hazards, the playing corridor narrows.


The green is protected by a left/front bunker and shaved banks along both flanks. Another set of bunkers are set a bit short of the green to challenge depth depth perception and long approaches.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 13th is a par 4 that stretches up to 435 yards in length. Play your drive over the brow to the wide, descending fairway beyond.


The second shot (if all goes well) is played to a large green (37 yards deep) angled diagonally from left to right.

[Kyle Henderson]

14th, 441 yards, par 4 (medal tees)

Royal Aberdeen’s Director of Golf, Ronnie MacAskill says,
"On a normal northeast day this is a wonderful hole requiring two perfectly struck shots. A dry ditch runs across the fairway at about 230 yards out which gathers more than its fair share of good tee shots. A long iron into the narrow right side of the fairway is the "safe play" leaving a simple!!! 190 yard second over an old dyke to a narrow well bunkered green.

Two putts completes the examination and onto the 15th with a spring in your step. On the rare down wind day and a kind bounce, a 9 iron to the green is the reward."

Tee shot


Dry ditch.


Old dyke


View from the green’s right/rear.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 15th is a 370-yard par 4.

Play a blind tee shot and hope you’ve guessed your line correctly.


Avoid the fairway bunkers, one on the right (pictured) and another two down the left (the farthest of which is pictured).


Running approaches are not a viable option.


Take a peek back to the fairway and the neighboring airport.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 16th hole, a par 4 of 411 yards, is bordered by a massive strand of gorse down the left.


The tee shot must avoid bunkers left and right. The left bunker is ~210 yards from the tee, the right around ~235


The green is narrow and deep, with bunkers protecting both flanks. Undulations in the fairway make it difficult to play pin-seeking approaches.

[Kyle Henderson]

A scenic par 3, the 17th plays at up to 187 yards.


Missing long yields a tricky up and down but is easier to manage than a flop shot over a bunker. Par is a score to be relished.

[Kyle Henderson]

Finishing on the par 4 18th hole, players must negotiate 440 yards defined by peripheral fairway bunkers and gorse that awaits highly misdirected shots.


The bunkering is appropriately penal while the elevated green requires careful club selection for approaches.


The green provides an ample target, and is suitably close to the 1st tee for those that can’t wait for another round.


In the clubhouse, there is an account of a man that played something like 6 or 7 rounds on the Balgownie in one day, to the tune of 30 + miles, in the early 1900’s. His highest score was 82, if I recall correctly (I’m sure someone in the tree house can provide more precise statistics of this amazing feat). The scorecards are all framed along with a written account of the day’s events.

By that measure, Royal Aberdeen’s flagship couse certainly passes the Mucci test.

[Brian_Ewen]

In the clubhouse, there is an account of a man that played something like 6 or 7 rounds on the Balgownie in one day, to the tune of 30 + miles, in the early 1900’s. His highest score was 82, if I recall correctly (I’m sure someone in the tree house can provide more precise statistics of this amazing feat). The scorecards are all framed along with a written account of the day’s events.

As Requested Sir .

[Tony_Muldoon]

Kyle thanks again for another fantastic tour these courses suit your approach of adding a pictures of holes by separations of days.  With the daily pressures on my time I so often find myself scanning through picture threads for an overall impression, doing it this way is much more rewarding.

I’ve also enjoy your written guides, although frequently I feel you seem to be playing that game with which and am not acquainted. 

The fairway runs off at the edges in a few places, so pick your target wisely and avoid the right-hand fairway bunkers that sit around 290 yards from the tee.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Kyle

Many thanks for another great photo tour.  I played RA a few years ago and thought it excellent.  Your photos certainly do it justice.

Have you any courses left from your grand tour for us to drool over?

[Kyle Henderson]

Brian,
Thank you for posting the actual, factual stories. I knew I could count on the treehouse!

Tony,

I’m glad you enjoy the 1- hole- at- a- time delivery. It’s much easier for me to post the photos in small portions, and easier for viewers to scroll over since the new GCA doesn’t support 1200 pixel  width images. 

Andrew,
I only have a couple of poorly-lit photos from the Eden and New courses at St. Andrews (ditto Nairn), but I plan to give grand tours of Carnoustie and North Berwick (West) before all is said and done. It was definitely the golf trip of a lifetime.

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