Played by NCG: Royal Aberdeen

Reason for a Royal Aberdeen club review

We were in Aberdeen to do some filming and to research the upcoming Scotland Top 100, so a visit to the host of the 2018 Amateur Championship was a must.

Where is Royal Aberdeen

Just seven miles from Aberdeen airport and a stone’s throw away from Murcar Links with Trump Aberdeen a bit further up the road.

What to expect

A true test of links golf. Royal Aberdeen’s fast and undulating fairways make positional play from the tee so important.

You’ll face a few blind tee shots but nothing too extreme, and a really strong set of par 3s.

Favourite hole

A really difficult choice but the risk-reward par-4 5th hole is a gem. Playing 347 yards if you are playing downwind you can go for the green.

Bunkers guard the left hand side of the green with trouble to the right.

My best bit

It would have been on the par-5 2nd hole. After a good tee shot I had about 240 left and I decided to try a sort of stinger 3-iron shot. It came off the face a little lower and hit a bird. Luckily the bird seemed to come away unscathed.

It meant I had 200 left and I pulled my approach into the greenside bunker, short siding myself. I splashed it out to 20 feet and rolled the par putt in. It’s an easy game sometimes.

What to look out for

The wind. Don’t expect to hit many high shots. Keeping the ball low underneath the wind is a must around this course.

Blind tee shots. Although there aren’t too many to worry about there are a couple later on in the round that require an accurate tee shot t find the short stuff.