Royal Deeside – Peachtree Golfer

Update: Ownership was returned to Inchmarlo Land Company in May 2018. You can read more in this article from local newspaper. Website for Inchmarlo Golf Centre is now https://www.inchmarlogolf.co.uk. I have played since and the course is in great shape.

Owned by 1999 Open Champion Paul Lawrie since May 2016, the Inchmarlo Golf Centre in the town of Banchory about 20 miles west of Aberdeen has had an interesting life since it opened as a driving range in 1994. The 9 hole Queen’s course designed by Graeme Webster was added in 1997 and then the fantastic 18 hole Lairds course, also designed by Webster, in 2001. The club was on the up and up. I was a member here for a couple of years before I moved to the US.

In 2010 there were plans to build a luxury hotel, restaurant and spa near the course but to date these have not materialized. Scottish celebrity chef Nick Nairn also planned to build a cookery school at Inchmarlo but eventually chose a location in Aberdeen city centre. The downturn in the economy at the time certainly didn’t help. Continue reading “Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Inchmarlo” →

For a change from Links golf I’d recommend a few days on Royal Deeside west of Aberdeen. Royal Deeside follows the River Dee up into the scenic Grampian Mountains and gained it’s ‘Royal’ title because of Balmoral Castle, the Royal Family’s summer home since the 1850’s.

Royal Deeside is a golf destination in in it’s own right and I’d be quite happy playing here all week with seven courses directly accessible from the main road on the 56 mile drive between Aberdeen and Braemar (there are more courses just a few miles off the main road too). You will find a mix of parkland and highland courses starting at Deeside Golf Club and Peterculter Golf Club in the Abredeen suburbs, through Banchory home to both Banchory Golf Club and Inchmarlo, and then on to Aboyne, Ballater and ending up at Braemar which is the highest 18 hole golf course in Scotland at 1,200 feet above sea level. Reviews of all these courses to come in the future. Continue reading “Aboyne Golf Club on Royal Deeside” →