Aberdeenshire dunes · Which to play
Royal Aberdeen (Balgownie Links) vs Trump International (MacLeod Course)
The sixth-oldest golf club in the world against a 2012 course built on the biggest dunes on the coast, twenty minutes apart.
| Royal Aberdeen (Balgownie Links) | Trump International (MacLeod Course) | |
|---|---|---|
| Green fee (2026) | £175–£265 | £195–£435 |
| Location | Aberdeen | Balmedie, Aberdeenshire |
| Region | Aberdeenshire | Aberdeenshire |
| Type | Links | Links |
| Holes / par | 18 · par 71 | 18 · par 72 |
| Designer | Robert Simpson 1888; Archie Simpson and Tom Simpson revisions | Martin Hawtree, 2012 |
The verdict
Which should you play?
Royal Aberdeen's Balgownie Links is the historic choice: the club dates to 1780, Robert Simpson laid the course out in 1888 and both Archie and Tom Simpson revised it, and the front nine runs out through dunes as good as any in Scotland before the back nine comes home along higher ground. At 6,916 yards off the whites it is a proper championship test, and it is the cheaper of the two at every point in the season.
Trump International at Balmedie is Martin Hawtree's 2012 course on what is genuinely a spectacular dune system north of the city. The scale is the selling point and it is not overstated — the dunes are enormous, the conditioning is immaculate, and the course is long at par 72. The development was and remains controversial, which is a fact about the place a visitor may or may not want to weigh.
On golf alone this is closer than the price gap suggests. Royal Aberdeen has the better front nine and two centuries more history; Trump has the more dramatic landscape and the newer everything. The peak rate at Balmedie runs well above Royal Aberdeen's, so if you are pricing a round rather than buying an occasion, Balgownie is the value play — and the two are twenty minutes apart on the same coast road if you want both.
Pick this one if…
Royal Aberdeen (Balgownie Links)
You want history, the best front nine on the coast, and the lower fee — and 1780 means something to you.
Pick this one if…
Trump International (MacLeod Course)
You want the biggest dunes and the most modern conditioning in Aberdeenshire, and the peak price is not the deciding factor.
Green fees are the clubs' published 2026 visitor rates, shown as a range from the cheapest to the dearest tee time. They change; always confirm on the course profile before you book. We don't take a cut of your green fee — the verdict above is ours, not the pro shop's.
More: which should you play?