Blairgowrie Golf Club (Rosemount)

Blairgowrie Golf Club is charmingly situated at the feet of the Grampian Mountains amongst glorious pine, birch and heather. The club was founded in 1889 when a nine-hole course was laid out close to the Black Loch on land owned by the Marchioness of Lansdowne.

Dr Alister MacKenzie was commissioned to extend the course to 18 holes in 1914, but the Great War delayed the opening until 1927. Then, in the 1930s, James Braid was called in to add a further nine holes and create a new 18-hole layout. Today’s Rosemount is therefore a James Braid design with a sprinkling of Alister MacKenzie. The original nine-hole course remains and it’s a charming 2,327-yard heathland track called the Wee.

The Rosemount is definitely a very pretty and classy inland course, the crisp turf has a moorland feel to it with the fairways pitching and rolling through avenues of trees. Each hole is carved through the trees, which provide a natural amphitheatre for a calm and tranquil round of golf.

From start to finish the holes are good and varied, but the best holes are left until last. The 17th is especially noteworthy, a lovely par three called “Plateau” with a two-tiered green. The pro’s tip is to take plenty of club, to get on the right level and avoid three putts.

The Rosemount is regularly voted in the top fifty Scottish courses and it does deserve its plaudits for it is an excellent course. There is nothing dramatic or significantly difficult about this layout. You can open your shoulders, as the fairways are generously wide. The course is maintained to a very high standard and all this makes for a good, honest and enjoyable golf. Perhaps it’s a course to which you might want to retreat after you have had enough buffetting at the seaside... and the club's second 18-hole course, the Lansdowne, named after the Marchioness, is pretty good too.