With so many tremendous links challenges on offer it is sometimes difficult, even for the return visitor, to see any reason to head inland to play parkland or heath-land golf. There are however some wonderful inland golf courses in Scotland and last week saw Duncan from Executive Golf and Leisure test his driving skills on the tight tree lined fairways of one of our very favourite parkland courses - The Rosemount at Blairgowrie Golf Club in Perthshire.One of the things I remember as a child heading to the Angus Hotel in Blairgowrie for regular summer holidays was passing by the highest hedge in the world / in those days before Google I have no idea how that information came to be known but just before you arrive at the golf club turning you will indeed pass this record breaking piece of foliage. It is impressive!
The town is not far north of Perth and Gleneagles and if you are based in the world class hotel resort the short journey is well worth it for the golfer. Rosemount is the older of the two 18 hole courses that make up Blairgowrie Golf Club, the other being the championship Landsdowne which hosts a number of Scottish PGA and Scottish Golf events regularly.There is also 'The Wee Course', designed by the famed course architect Dr Alister MacKenzie (Augusta, Cypress Point), which in itself is probably one of the best nine hole layouts in the country.
Our play on the day was over the older James Braid designed layout of the Rosemount and then the Wee Course after a few refreshments... whilst the fairways are described as being more forgiving than the Landsdowne layout, that would depend on your driving skills on any given day! The greens are large and rolling as befits its age and status. Before James Braid's alterations and extensions, the course was originally laid out by Dr Alister MacKenzie. The current 17th hole is a brilliant reminder of his work and quite clearly to golf aficionados, is classic MacKenzie in design.
The location offers wonderful countryside views and seclusion and quite often the local wildlife will be your only other interaction, red squirrels and deer aplenty. It made us wonder why indeed we did not play a few more rounds on inland courses and indeed, the discussion moved to perhaps a trip over to Fife to sample Ladybank, another favourite of ours.Rosemount measures around 400 yards shorter than its neighbour at 6630 yards but offers a great challenge. We only managed single round on our visit but if you have the time a round on both would make for a challenging day our this wonderful parkland property.
It really is a great course complimented superbly with excellent practice facilities and a stunning clubhouse. It is a captivating golfing location and if you have a spare day we can certainly recommend it to you.
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