Royal Aberdeen Golf Club (Host of Walker Cup) Front Nine Pics Posted

[Peter Ferlicca]

Royal Aberdeen was designed by Archie Simpson, and is the 6th oldest golf club in the World.  The five minute rule was invented here for looking for a lost ball.  The Walker Cup was held here just a month ago, the conditions of the golf course were SUPERB.  From the member I was playing with, he said the conditions used to be average but they got the Super from Royal Dornoch a while ago and ever since then the conditions have jumped up a notch.  

This course was by far my favorite on the trip, the front nine was just spectacular, with amazing golf hole one after another.  Though everyone says the back nine is nothing special, I thought there were still plenty of great golf holes on the back also.  

Hole 1 Par 4  (409 yards)  Probably the best opening golf hole I have played, heads straight toward the sea, and it a great golf hole on top of that, with a big dip right in front of the green.  








Hole 2 Par 5 (558 yards)  This hole is crazy, the fairway goes all over the place, the wildest undulations on a thin fairway I have seen.  GREAT par 5.










Hole 3 Par 3 (240 yards)  A long par 3 downwind into a bowl green, not as hard as it looks





Hole 4 Par 4 (464 yards)  Another hole where if you don’t place your tee shot right in the middle of the fairway you are going to be left with a difficult uphill blind second shot




Hole 5 Par 4 (347 yards)  A short par 4 where everything slopes hard right to left on the tee and the approach to the green.






Hole 6 Par (491 yards) Another topsy turvy par 5, where the fairway undulations are wild and the approach to the green in fantastic







Hole 7 Par 4 (428 yards)  A par 4 that angles a little inland, a good par 4 that has bunkers staggered off the tee




Hole 8 Par 3 (147 yards)  A short par 3 with 8 bunkers surrounding it, heading back towards the ocean.  Must hit a solid iron shot here or you could be ping ponging it back and forth from the bunkers.






Hole 9 Par 4 (465 yards) This is one tough uphill par 4, plays a lot longer than the distance, tough tee shot that is to an angled fairway, and then a tough uphill long second shot.

[Bill McKinley]

That place looks awesome!  I can't wait to go back to Scotland someday!!

[David_Tepper]

Thanks for the pics.

I played RA once in 2000 and re-visited the course last month to attend day 1 of the Walker Cup. It is a very impressive course and, to my eye, belongs in the very top tier of those in GB&I.

[Peter Sayegh]

Peter,
STUNNING pictures. Thank you. Keep 'em coming.

[Gary Slatter]

Peter, thanks for the great pictures!
 the initial view of RA's first hole, from the visitor's side of the bar, through the window, is one of my favourite memories!

[Frank M]

Love the tours Peter....just how I like em.

Great stuff.

[Peter Ferlicca]

Ok, now for the back nine, though this gets a lot of credit for being less inspiring.  I thought it still held up with many good golf holes.  You are also a little higher up in the dunes, so you see the north sea from pretty much everywhere on the back nine.

#10 Par 4 (354 yards)  The first blind tee shot.  It looks tough, but it is actually pretty wide open, then the approach is into the wind over a burn down below.




Hole 11 Par 3  (165 yards) Plays uphill and into the wind.  If you get on the green, you are left with a tricky two putt, definitely one of the more undulating greens on the course.



Hole 12 Par 5 (534 yards)  I actually liked this hole, it seems real tight off the tee, but it opens up to right past the gorse, and the approach to the green is somewhat infinity like. 






Hole 13 Par 4 (436 yards)  You hit a tee shot to a plateau, then the approach is way downhill usually a blind approach.





Hole 14 Par 4  (441 yards)  Tough golf hole into the wind.  This hole not only has a burn that is right in the middle of the landing zone, you then have to fly it all the way onto the green, because there is an old dyke covered by thick rough.






Hole 15 Par 4 (367 yards)  Once you are in the fairway, all you see is the green, but a couple steps father down you notice a HUGE deep bunker right in front of the green.




Hole 16 Par 4 (394 yards)  Tight drive, but then are faced with an approach to a steeply back to front green.







Hole 17 Par 3 (181 yards)  My favorite par 3 on the course.  A great looking golf hole.  You hit to a 3 tier green back to front, surrounded by pot bunkers with the dunes and sea in the background.





Hole 18 Par 4 (440 yards)  Great stern finishing golf hole.  Tightest drive on the course, the fairway has a cool saddle right around the landing zone that might give you drive an extra 20 yards, but then you are blind down below for the approach.








Here is the panoramic view from the clubhouse  (pretty good)



I absolutely loved this course.  I thought it was a  great out and back routing.  Very good set of par 4’s.  One of my favorite set of par 3’s, and some pretty exciting par 5s. 

[jeffwarne]

I played RA years ago and enjoyed the course a lot.

Dare I say it looks a bit too manicured and defined for my taste ?
I remember enjoying Murcar a bit more for this reason.

Please tell me they've had an unusual amount of rain... (I know it's fall and a great time to grow grass)

Great pictures

[David_Tepper]

"Dare I say it looks a bit too manicured and defined for my taste ?"
"Please tell me they've had an unusual amount of rain... (I know it's fall and a great time to grow grass)"

Jeff -

When I was at the Walker Cup last month, I could not help thinking that RA was the "cleanest" looking links course I had ever seen. If someone had told me the edges of all the bunkers had been trimmed by hand with finger-nail scissors, I would have believed them. It appears, for better or worse, that is a new standard of maintenance is expected at the top courses in Scotland, especially when those courses are hosting international events.

Northern Scotland & the Highlands have likely had the wettest summer in decades. I was there for 3 weeks in September and have never seen the courses so green. I also have never seen & repaired so many pitchmarks on & around the greens as I did last month.   

DT

[jeffwarne]

"Dare I say it looks a bit too manicured and defined for my taste ?"
"Please tell me they've had an unusual amount of rain... (I know it's fall and a great time to grow grass)"

Jeff -

When I was at the Walker Cup last month, I could not help thinking that RA was the "cleanest" looking links course I had ever seen. If someone had told me the edges of all the bunkers had been trimmed by hand with finger-nail scissors, I would have believed them. It appears, for better or worse, that is a new standard of maintenance is expected at the top courses in Scotland, especially when those courses are hosting international events.

Northern Scotland & the Highlands have likely had the wettest summer in decades. I was there for 3 weeks in September and have never seen the courses so green. I also have never seen & repaired so many pitchmarks on & around the greens as I did last month.   

DT

Well David,
I guess they can't control the weather.
Clean is definitely a good description.

[David_Tepper]

Jeff -

Here is an example of the kind of weather northern Scotland had this summer:

http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/heavy-rainfall-in-scotland-6-11-august-2011/

Over the first 11 days in August, Aberdeenshire had anywhere from 150% to 200% of the average rainfall it usually gets for the entire month.  

DT

[Jim Eder]

Peter,

Just fantastic.  Excellent photography!!  Such a terrific golf course, one of my faves. Thanks for posting such a wonderful photographic pleasure!!

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

Peter,

Thanks for the lovely photos. Is the 9th fairway as narrow as it appears in the photos?

I get the impression that RA is too reliant on it bunkers. Would that be a fair comment?

Everytime I see a photo of the 8th, I just wonder if the person responsible for all those bunkers, ran out of ideas. I would be so much more interesting if there were some hollows instead of 4-5 of those bunkers.

I played RA years ago and enjoyed the course a lot.

Dare I say it looks a bit too manicured and defined for my taste ?
I remember enjoying Murcar a bit more for this reason.

Please tell me they've had an unusual amount of rain... (I know it's fall and a great time to grow grass)

Great pictures

I was thinking the same thing as I scrolled down through the holes. The bunkers are just too cleanly presented.

[Randy Thompson]

Wow...bunkers that are real hazards...fantastic pictures!