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Aberdeen

Murcar Links Golf Club

Links golf since 1909, par 71 over 6,462 yards. The front nine runs north along the shore.

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Welcome

There’s something about links golf on high ground above the sea, and Murcar has plenty of it.

The course sits at Bridge of Don, just north of Aberdeen, with dunes, gorse and the North Sea all around you. Archie Simpson designed it in 1909, James Braid refined it in the 1930s, and it plays much the same today. The signature hole is the 7th, Serpentine, played from a high tee over a burn and round a big gorse-covered dune. Royal Aberdeen is next door and Cruden Bay is twenty minutes up the coast, so it’s an easy one to add to a few days of golf here.

Looking south over the links towards Aberdeen.Press a mark to look closer.
The card

18 holes. Par 71 and 6,462 yards from the black tees, down to 5,875 from the yellow.

Murcar Links Golf Club
Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
NameBothyPondIce HousePoolPlateauSeatonSerpentineParkhillBlack DogTarbothillRailwayStrabathiePointMundurnoFieldNipperHummocksHome
Black3224044014891764534233833233,3744003671553864863831723673723,0886,462
White3223674014891624474233833233,3174023381553864823671603673292,9866,303
Yellow3053423854271524334123662863,1083853221453654403511363123112,7675,875
Par444534444364434543443571
Stroke index121868162414103131711151579
Ladies' stroke index151729513371118144186161012
Score

The holes tinted yellow are the highlights below. Press one to read about it. The club publishes no card of its own. This is GolfPass’s, checked against the club’s 6,462 yards and par 71 and the 6th’s tee stone. The ladies’ par is 72; no source says which hole differs.

Hole highlights

The front nine runs north close to the shore, through the dunes, and the back nine turns inland and is a little shorter.

  1. 5

    Plateau

    Par 3 · 176 yards

    The first of three short holes, which the club likens to the Postage Stamp at Royal Troon, only longer. There’s no fairway between tee and green, and if you have to miss, the club’s advice is to miss right, into one of the three bunkers there.

  2. 6

    Seaton

    Par 4 · 453 yards

    A demanding two-shotter that doglegs left, and one of the hardest holes on the card. Seaton was one of the names put forward for the club in 1908, and it lost to Murcar only on the chairman’s casting vote.

  3. 7

    Serpentine

    Par 4 · 423 yards

    The signature hole. From the high tee the Serpentine burn runs below you towards the sea, a second burn crosses the fairway, and the hole swings round a giant gorse-covered dune to a raised green. The club says even a scratch golfer may be happy with a five here.

  4. 15

    Field

    Par 4 · 383 yards

    The club counts it among the finest holes on the course, especially in match play. The second shot is death or glory, over a burn to a well-protected raised green, and the view from the tee takes in all of Aberdeen and the coast north towards Peterhead.

  5. 16

    Nipper

    Par 3 · 172 yards

    Another short hole with no fairway from tee to green, like the 5th, and a pot bunker on each side of the green. Top 100 Golf Courses says it could be called a signature hole too.

Playing here

A links of 1909 on high ground at Bridge of Don, with the North Sea beside the front nine and Royal Aberdeen next door.

Holes
18
Par
71
Yards
6,462
Founded
1909

Booking

01224 704354

Visitor times change through the week. Players on their own are not joined up with other groups.

Green fees, 2026

  • Weekdays£170
  • Saturday and Sunday£195
  • Murcar and Strabathie, weekdays£205
  • Strabathie, nine holes£20 or £30

To hire

  • Caddie£60
  • Buggy, with a caddie to drive£40
  • Clubs£30
  • Electric trolley£30
  • Pull cart£6

The clubhouse

The clubhouse has a full bar and serves food all day from April to September.

A full-length driving range with covered bays, and a short game area.

Did you know

From 1909 until 1949 golfers rode out to Murcar on the Strabathie Light Railway, a brickworks line that ran right past the clubhouse.

When the brick company went into liquidation in 1924, the golf club bought the railway and ran it itself.

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Where it is

The club is at Bridge of Don, Aberdeen AB23 8BD, about five miles north of the city centre, with Royal Aberdeen next door to the south.

Aberdeen Airport is about 9 miles away, and Cruden Bay is twenty minutes north by car.

Directions
Loaded fries with blue cheese and spring onions beside a yellow drinks canRestaurantsSmoke and Soul0.7 miles
Links golf green surrounded by deep bunkers and grassy dunesGolf courseRoyal Aberdeen Golf Club1.7 miles as the crow flies
Driftwood on a sandy shoreline with waves lapping at duskAttractionsDonmouth Nature Reserve1.9 miles
Lit lamppost beside a cobbled bridge scattered with autumn leavesAttractionsBrig o' Balgownie2.0 miles
Battered fish with lime and sauce beside a Sea Salt + Sole boxRestaurantsSea Salt + Sole, Bridge of Don2.1 miles
Twin turreted gatehouse towers with crescent moon weathervanes among treesAttractionsOld Aberdeen2.3 miles
Circular flowerbeds line a park path, a spire visible through the treesAttractionsSeaton Park2.3 miles
PlaceCathedral Walk2.4 miles
Seal's head breaking the water's surface near a shorelineAttractionsSouth Donmouth Beach2.5 miles
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More golf

More courses in Aberdeenshire, and the collections this one is in.

A course · BallaterBallater Golf CourseA course · Cruden BayCruden Bay Golf ClubA course · FraserburghFraserburgh Golf ClubA course · BalmedieTrump International Golf Links Scotland
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For further reading, before you go.