Press release: First time winners at The Royal Deeside Golf Week

The ‘Royal Deeside Golf Week’ (RDGW) saw a sell-out field of 246 players from across the UK and overseas compete last week over the four Aberdeenshire courses of Aboyne, Banchory, Ballater and Braemar.

Playing off a 13-handicap, winner of the Men’s stableford competition was first time visitor Cameron Burt of Newmachar who posted a 4-round aggregate of 154 to win by 4 points in the 156 strong field.

Winner amongst the 90 Ladies vying for their title was newcomer Grace Hepburn of Muckhart GC with a stableford score of 149 playing off a 23 handicap. Grace won after a three-way tie on countback.

RDGW Co-Ordinator Nigel Bradburn said: “We were delighted to have welcomed golfers from across the UK and competitors from Holland, Italy, Spain, and the USA to beautiful Royal Deeside. It is a fabulous event allowing all four clubs to not only showcase the great golf courses situated on Royal Deeside but the wonderful accommodation options and other tourism attractions in the area”.

Winner Cameron Burt said: “Congratulations to the Royal Deeside organisers for a first-class run competition with everybody being so friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the hospitality at every golf course we played this week. Winning the Royal Deeside is my greatest golfing achievement to date, and I look forward to defending my title next year”.

Grace Hepburn commented: “I am really thrilled to have won the ladies section of the RDGW. This was my first visit to the event. I really enjoyed playing all the variety of courses which were very well presented. I was so impressed by the lovely surrounding scenery and by the condition of the courses themselves. I had some great playing partners over the four rounds and had a great laugh at the quiz night. Players and locals were so friendly and helpful; I had a wonderful time. I will definitely be coming back next year”.

Nigel added: “The successful running of the RDGW would not have been possible without the support of our partners: The Tor Na Coille Hotel, BRS, Club Systems International, The R&A, Red Evolution, Event Scotland and our primary sponsors Belhaven, The Fife Arms, Women & Golf and Deans of Huntly. In addition, we also received fantastic support from leading courses in Scotland who generously donated prizes including Royal Dornoch and Castle Stuart who will be hosting our winners. It is readily apparent Royal Deeside is becoming an established golfing destination and we are already seeing strong demand from players keen to return for the 2023 event”.

The Royal Deeside Golf Week

The RDGW was formerly known as ‘The Royal Deeside Golf Classic’ established in 2003 to attract golfers to Royal Deeside.

The format sees around 240 golfers playing each of the four Royal Deeside courses in late July.

Following the course of the river Dee, the four golf courses are mostly parkland with Banchory closest to Aberdeen and then Aboyne at the gateway of the Cairngorm National Park. The 40-mile corridor runs through Ballater with its close connections to the Royal Family and Queens residence at Balmoral and finishes at Braemar – the highest golf course in Scotland.

In the past four years the tournament was impacted by the ravages of ‘Storm Frank’ and the resulting flooding in Ballater which knocked out the golf course, surrounding properties and caravan park. In addition, the uptake of players had dwindled over recent years and the event needed a major overhaul which was planned in 2020 with grant support from Aberdeenshire Council, but the Coronavirus outbreak resulted in the competition being cancelled.

An approach to ‘Visit Scotland’ was made to gain some much-needed money to help relaunch the event in 2021. With a new on-line booking portal – courtesy of BRS – linked to the new look website www.royaldeesidegolfweek.co.uk we rapidly sold out the event in 2021. Such was the demand we increased the number of players this year. We hope to scale up the RDGW in 2023 again as it is readily apparent Royal Deeside is becoming an established golfing destination.