138 - Aboyne

Location: Aboyne, Scotland

Rating: 7.8

Another beautiful course nestled in the Cairngorms. Aboyne is a short drive from Ballater where we’d played a few days before and arguably a slightly nicer course or a bit of a more interesting design but only marginally.

The first hole is a pretty long downhill par 3 at around 190 meters but the rest of the first 9 aren’t too tricky, with mainly tree lined fairways and not a huge amount of thick rough to contend with. The course starts to get super interesting and challenging on the back 9 as the fairways narrow, there’s fewer places to miss and it becomes a bit more hilly. The stretch from holes 10-16 really dictates how well your round can go, it’s the part of the course where you have to manage it really well. It really isn’t a long courses at 5,200 meters off the yellow tees so not sure you need to get your driver out too much but it is par 68 with plenty of par 3’s.

The course was in really good condition, nice lush fairways and very good greens and the views surrounding the course are special as with most courses in this area.

The practice facilities are a bit limited with only a putting green and a net but for £53 for a round on a Saturday I think it’s very good value for what you get.