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Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeen

will_i_dream

will_i_dream

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2011
Messages
439
Reaction score
1
Location
Dundee, Scotland
Handicap
CONGU 8.4
I have heard very good things about the course and wanted the opportunity to play a round on the course. I am not the man's biggest fan but I am willing to stretch my own convictions to get on the course. The green fee's are not what I would consider reasonable so I have been keeping an eye out for the cheapest way to play.

So, all being well I will be playing in the rescheduled 2015 Men's Handicap Amateur Competition, Sunday 3rd April 2016

I have no expectations for the actual competition, my only hopes are that the weather is playable and I get close to my playing handicap of 9. As the competition is open for anyone with an 8hcp or worse I would expect several people who have maybe played the course before to shoot to their handicap or better. I believe there are 80+ names down for the competition so I am looking forward to getting confirmation of my ballot and find out who my playing partners will be.

Aberdeen is around 1hr north of where I live and I'll probably allow another 1hr travel time to get through Aberdeen and out to the course. I should take advantage of the putting/warm up/practise area so that's at least another hour. I am hoping my ballot is not too early so I can get some sleep the night before.

http://www.trumpgolfscotland.com/Course-Tour

I have all fingers and toes crossed in the hope that the weather on the day is dry and not too windy. I can handle most weather conditions but I generally avoid heavy rain and winds above 25mph, golf is not fun.

I will try and get as many pictures as I can and I will include a full 18 hole post mortem after the round.

Thanks for reading thus far
 
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Looking forward to your review.
 
Good luck. Have heard it is a great course, but quite hard. Hope the wind is down for ya. Look forward to the review/pictures.
 
Good luck & looking forward to your recap
 
Have fun, can't wait to hear what you think and check out the pics
 
Hey Ian, long time no speak - hope to catch up later in the year when we have our annual event - how long before we give Stu a nudge to get it organised.... :D

I have to say I am a little bit jealous of you getting to play in that, but good luck and I can't wait to see how it goes for you - if I hadn't been going to The Belfry a couple weeks earlier I would have been very tempted to make that journey myself
 
This will be interesting, have fun and then tell us all about it!
 
TheDoctor said:
I have to say I am a little bit jealous of you getting to play in that, but good luck and I can't wait to see how it goes for you - if I hadn't been going to The Belfry a couple weeks earlier I would have been very tempted to make that journey myself
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Evening, I hope you are well. Enjoy the Belfry, I'll be keeping an eye on your thread.

If you check their website they will be announcing a date for the 2016 comp. Then there is also an open comp in Sept if you can get that hcp of yours down to a 12. I suspect that one might fill up pretty quick even if the closing date is set for August.

Depending on my impression of the course and how I play, I might enter another one of those comps to have a second crack at the course.
 
will_i_dream said:
Evening, I hope you are well. Enjoy the Belfry, I'll be keeping an eye on your thread.

If you check their website they will be announcing a date for the 2016 comp. Then there is also an open comp in Sept if you can get that hcp of yours down to a 12. I suspect that one might fill up pretty quick even if the closing date is set for August.

Depending on my impression of the course and how I play, I might enter another one of those comps to have a second crack at the course.
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All good here thanks, and looking forward to getting back to The Belfry for a couple rounds

I will keep an eye on the website, but knowing my luck it will end up being the week we are already away
 
Hope you have a dry and enjoyable round. I've still never played courses anywhere that I've enjoyed as much as Scottish courses, although I've never played that far north. Looking forward to your feedback.
 
Living in Aberdeen, you'd have thought I'd have found my way there already....but no! Even with the local residents discount it still falls a little bit out of my price range - still hanging on for that corporate invite although with the local economy here everyone is tightening belts. Have heard wonderful things about the course, and apparently if you choose the right tees it's incredible. Even when there are a lot of people on the course it still feels like you're the only one there as the dunes tend to isolate you. Just hope the wind isn't blowing too hard that day as well....
Definitely give it an extra hour, dependent on the time of day it's an absolute ballache getting through the centre of Aberdeen and onto the Ellon road. Looking forward to following along and seeing the pictures!
 
Have fun, enjoy the course. I have read a lot of good things....a lot coming from people who didn't really want to like it. Looking forward to your review.
 
LordByron said:
Have fun, enjoy the course. I have read a lot of good things....a lot coming from people who didn't really want to like it. Looking forward to your review.
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I'm probably in that camp too, but enough guys at my club have said good things to pique my interest.
 
HarlettoScara said:
Living in Aberdeen, you'd have thought I'd have found my way there already....but no! Even with the local residents discount it still falls a little bit out of my price range - still hanging on for that corporate invite although with the local economy here everyone is tightening belts. Have heard wonderful things about the course, and apparently if you choose the right tees it's incredible. Even when there are a lot of people on the course it still feels like you're the only one there as the dunes tend to isolate you. Just hope the wind isn't blowing too hard that day as well....
Definitely give it an extra hour, dependent on the time of day it's an absolute ballache getting through the centre of Aberdeen and onto the Ellon road. Looking forward to following along and seeing the pictures!
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I totally understand your view, i'm in the same camp but the price and timing were right for me on this occasion.
I'm hoping it'll be blue or gold tees as its a comp :0)
 
A quick update on my preparations for the upcoming tournament;

We are lucky in this area of the country, a sort of micro climate, the weather very rarely hits any extremes. So I have been able to play most Sundays over the winter on my course, taking part in a winter league competition. There is a league for 10 best scores, best eclectic and a main cup & consolation cup.

I missed the first couple of weeks due to a back muscle injury at the end of the golf season in September. My first couple of outings in the winter league were 16 and 19 stableford points so I didn't have a high enough score for the cup. I was put into the consolation cup and was put out recently in the semi-final with my best qualifying score being a 37.

My last five rounds have been 35pts(7 hcp), 35pts(7), 31pts(7), 37pts(7) and 35pts(8) so I am very pleased with my consistency. And I have left lots of shots on the course, 4 putts left an inch short of the hole in my last round, I had a putt for birdie on each of the par 3's.
The first 4 were on a shortened course with 3/4 hcp. Back up to a full course for the most recent round. Still only playing off the shorter yellow tees. I believe I am in the top 5 for the league competition, 344pts total with a chance to go top if I can improve on my worst score of 31pts.

My golf is in good shape, with room for improvement in time for the 3rd, just keeping an eye on those weather reports now.
 
A quick update on the past weekends golf, a score of 33pts, improving my worst score by 2pts, but still 6pts behind the leader. So to close the gap I need to score at least 39pts in the final round and hope the two guys above me don't improve.
I am torn as I am carrying a slight leg injury and thinking two weeks rest might be the better option rather than play in the final week ..... painkillers it is :0)

Looks like there are now 87 players in the field for the HCP Open, the registration is open until 17:00pm this evening, I'll hopefully receive confirmation of my ballot within the next couple of days.
 
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Played a round of golf today, i would have been better just walking.

I received notification tonight, white tees and i'll be in one of the last groups to tee off on Sunday 3rd. So i should get a good sleep and then a leisurely drive up to just north of Aberdeen.
 
I have just made the mistake of checking the 10 day forecast for Balmedie/Aberdeen. So Wed through Sat of next week are around 10 deg and 10 mph winds. What are my chances that those conditions will continue for 5 days in a row??? Golfing gods, please make it so!
 
Well the 10 day forecast for Sunday 3rd April is encouraging, scattered showers and 13mph winds. That's not going to cause me any problems. I expect the weather to change, but as a baseline i'll take that all day long.
 
Checking the forecast again and its looking overcast, 10% rain and 15mph wind which drops down to around 11mph as the day progresses
Weather : check
I won't be able to get out for a counting round before Sunday so this competition will be my first handicap qualifying round of the year. Up by 0.1 then :act-up:. I'll get out on Saturday for a practice round and I'll get out a couple of times this week for putting practice. I've been playing steady and I'm looking forward to further reducing my handicap, 8.8 is the lowest I have been since I started playing golf seriously (club member and maintaining a handicap).
Golf : check

So just in case it isn't already obvious I am really looking forward to trampling all over Trump's course. Everyone I have spoken to who has played it has sung its praises. As things stand it's going to be a good afternoon.
 
Sorry for the delay in getting back here and posting. I have saved lots of pictures in my profile, feel free to fire me any questions

Summary : Beautiful course and excellent facilities, pity about the weather and the standard of my golf on the day

You drive through the entrance off the main road and it is surprisingly underwhelming, just a long drive towards a tree break and grass either side. On reflection I believe this has been done so that the land can be used for spectator car parking in the future. You continue driving and the road turns and you see some landscape features and you come to the MacLeod House & Lodge Hotel. Follow the signs past this and more grass for parking, another tree break and then the road turns left up a small rise and then down to your right. You are then presented with the view out over the practise area and the course and then out to the North Sea. From this observation point, the course runs 1-9 from the centre out to you far right, 10-18 are far off to your left.
 
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The clubhouse and bag drop to the right. The reception and pro shop are front and centre with a long bar at the back of the building

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I got there a couple of hours before my tee time, walked into the reception area and signed into the comp, received my complimentary tee bag strokesaver etc. Back to the card to unload all the toys including the waterproof bag cover as it was raining a bit, but the forecast was for it to brighten up as the afternoon progressed.
I headed across to the driving range, picked a bay and proceeded to blade several irons

They had barrels of bright yellow Taylormade balls and the staff were constantly replenishing the pyramids at each bay

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After hitting a couple of drives I decided to make my way back to the practice area which was a multi-tiered green complex with lots of bunkers around it. This was at the car park side of the clubhouse and off to the left. Again a barrel of balls was waiting for me to fill up a small basket to blade around. Staff were on hand to pick up all of the loose balls and place them back in the barrel

I could get used to that!

I had a good session trying out lots of shots. Green complex was immaculate, the turf around the green was very hard wearing, it took real effort to create any sort of divot with my normal swing.

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