The Royal Aberdeen Golf Club – One of Golf’s Greatest Organizations
Even novice duffers who occasionally confuse their nine irons with pitching wedges get glassy-eyed when people speak of Scotland. Scotland is recognized as the birthplace of golf and every club-swinger on the planet longs for the opportunity to play its famous courses. It’s been that way since the days when woods were really wood (shaft and all) and it will continue as equipment and strategy continue to become more technologically advanced. The Royal Aberdeen Golf Club is one of the game’s most famed institutions and is recognized everywhere as a living part of golf’s history.
Aberdeen golf was already flourishing when, in 1780, local linksmen formed a club known as the Society of Golfers at Aberdeen. By the early 1800s it was knows as the Aberdeen Golf Club and its members drove and putted their way through countless holes at the beautiful Queen’s Links and Broad Hill.
In the waning years of the nineteenth century, the club changed its official course, moving to the now-famed Blagownie just on the outskirts of Aberdeen. Less than twenty years later, in 1803, King Edward VII bestowed a “Royal” designation on the club, which hereafter has been known as the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club.
The Club still calls Blagownie home. The Simpson-designed course is set against the shore of the North Sea. The surrounding natural beauty provides a classic backdrop for a course that has stood the test of time. It’s a wonderfully diverse set of links that forces golfers to utilize their whole game. The Royal Aberdeen Golf Club’s course is considered an ideal example of the Scottish model, snaking over 6,400 to 6,800 total yards with a par score that varies between 70 and 71 depending upon its set up.
Club members are rightfully proud of Blagownie, but they don’t limit themselves exclusively to the course. Members also play the newer, yet still decidedly traditional, Silverburn course for variety.
The significance of Blagownie and the Aberdeen club to the golf world is hard to overestimate. It’s not just an old club that has stood the test of time. It’s more than a host to major tournaments including British Senior Open and an upcoming Walker Cup. It’s part of golf’s very fiber. Famed Bernard Darwin once argued that playing Blagownie closed a “huge gap in [his] golfing education” and referred to the course as “noble links.” Blagownie is more than eighteen holes, it’s one of golf’s great outdoor cathedrals and the members of the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club serve as its clergy.
Countless golfers have made the trip to northeast Scotland to play these courses and to enjoy the hospitality of one of the game’s oldest clubs. It’s nothing short of living history and a round there will often become part of a player’s greatest memories.