Aboyne Golf Club is the oldest golf course in Royal Deeside,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It lies southwest of the

Loch of Aboyne Loch of Aboyne is a shallow, artificial formed, freshwater loch in Grampian, Scotland. It lies northeast of Aboyne and west-southwest of Aberdeen. An earthen dam was constructed around 1834 to retain the loch. It also served as a reservoir for ...

. The golf club was originally a nine-hole course and existed as early as 1881. The golf course was designed by golfer and architect

Archie Simpson Archibald Simpson (14 March 1866 – January 1955) was an American professional golfer. He was also a golf course designer and a golf club maker. He was runner-up in The Open Championship in 1885 (won by Bob Martin), and 1890 (won by John Ball) ...

before being redesigned by

Martin Hawtree Martin Grant Hawtree is a golf course architect who designed or altered such golf courses as Royal Birkdale and Les Aisses golf . Hawtree is currently working with Donald Trump to create Trump International Golf Links in Scotland. He is director ...

. The new 18 hole course is around 6000 yards and opened in August 1991. The first nine holes are in wooded parkland with the ninth finishing near the Loch of Aboyne. The course then changes to heathland. There is also evidence of

ridge and Furrow Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges (Medieval Latin: ''sliones'') and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages, typical of the open-field system. It is also known as rig (or rigg) and fu ...

topography caused by medieval farming. The club is an affiliated member of Scottish Golf and hosts various national competitions on behalf of Scottish Golf and the R&A.

References

{{coord, 57.08399, N, 2.77022, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Golf clubs and courses in Aberdeenshire