Inchmarlo

Few places in Scotland marry golf and countryside quite like Banchory, a Royal Deeside town sitting on the River Dee about 17 miles west of Aberdeen. The surrounding Aberdeenshire landscape — heather moorland, birch and pine woodland, and the long shadow of Cairngorms country to the west — gives courses here a distinctly Highland-edge character that you rarely find this close to a city. Inchmarlo sits within this setting as a resort property, meaning visitors can arrive, stay, and play without the logistics of a members' club.

What that resort context typically delivers is a well-maintained layout designed to be enjoyed at a measured pace, with presentation and accessibility taking priority over raw championship severity. Royal Deeside golf has a reputation for scenic reward alongside genuine strategic interest, and Inchmarlo's position within wooded estate grounds adds a sense of enclosure and calm that tighter parkland courses in more urban surroundings rarely match.

Aberdeen is close enough that the course draws a steady mix of local players and visitors passing through on a wider Scottish itinerary — perhaps combining Deeside with the links country of the Aberdeenshire coast, only an hour's drive east.