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Aboyne Golf Club

Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Aboyne Golf Club is an 18-hole course located at Formaston Park in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, on Royal Deeside at the eastern edge of the Cairngorms National Park. It is the oldest golf club on Royal Deeside, with golf first recorded on the village green as early as 1874 and the club formally founded in 1883. The present site was leased from the Aboyne Castle estate in 1905, when nine holes were laid out beside the Loch of Aboyne. In 1908, Archie Simpson — professional at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club — extended the layout to 18 holes, and the course was lengthened further in 1913 to around 5,010 yards, a configuration that remained essentially unchanged until Martin Hawtree redesigned and extended five holes in 1990. The course reopened in August 1991 at just over 6,000 yards and plays to a par of 68, with a course rating of 69.0 and a slope of 117. The layout is widely described as a course of two distinct halves. The front nine is played over rolling parkland with tree-lined fairways, while the back nine rises onto elevated heathland with tighter corridors and a more exposed, links-like character. The Loch of Aboyne features as a significant natural hazard on several holes of the inward nine. A notable structural feature of the card is the presence of six par threes, two of which — the opening and closing holes — exceed 225 yards. There are only two par fives on the course, averaging 493 yards each, making the layout demanding in a way that relies more on precision than length. The land was bequeathed to the people of Aboyne in perpetuity as a golf course by benefactor James Mearns, who died in 1943. The club has a degree of historical distinction beyond golf: Prime Minister Asquith played the course in 1912 and the Duke of Windsor during the 1930s, both visiting from nearby Balmoral Castle. In competitive terms the club has hosted the R&A Ladies' Coronation Foursomes Area Finals, the Scottish Golf North-East District Men's Open in 2018 — a World Amateur Ranking qualifying event — and has staged a 36-hole open tournament annually since 1948.