There are more than 50 clubs playing in the area of Scotland controlled by the North East District Scottish Golf Union. The most famous of these is Royal Aberdeen – the 6th oldest in the world – where members play on the wonderful Balgownie course.

In an area renowned for quality links courses like Cruden Bay, Murcar and Fraserburgh (Corbie Hill), many golfers are now enjoying the eagerly anticipated and much-publicised arrival of architect Martin Hawtree’s new layout on the Menie estate at Balmedie, which opened for play in July 2012. Surprisingly, one golf magazine (that claimed to be “definitive”) placed the new Trump International Golf Links at 8th position in their 2012 GB&I Top 100. This was the highest new entry ever in their rankings, which they published two months prior to the Trump course actually opening.

The North East District enjoyed recent success in the Scottish Area Team Championships when it won the event for the fourth time (after a gap of 18 years) at Kinross in 2010. Another SGU competition, the Scottish Club Championship was only inaugurated in 1986 and since then, two clubs from the North East have come out on top in this tournament – Turriff in 1998 and Cruden Bay in 2004 and 2006.

Our North East Scotland Best in Region rankings were last updated in November 2019. Click the link to read the story.