Club profile: Blairgowrie Golf Club

The Perthshire club has been shaped by some of the most famous names in golf course architecture – and they are now recognised via commemorative plaques and tee box photographs across its three golf courses.

Three of the most famous and celebrated golf course architects of all time have all had an input on and left an indelible mark at Blairgowrie Golf Club in Perthshire. Old Tom Morris, Dr Alister MacKenzie and James Braid – all born in Scotland in the 19th century – created a legacy that golfers from around the world still enjoy today.

Now, the club has recognised the key roles played by the famous triumvirate, along with the late Peter Alliss and contemporary architect Graeme Webster, by installing commemorative plaques and tee box photographs on the Rosemount and Lansdowne Championship courses and the popular nine-hole Wee Course.

The Rosemount Course welcomed the 2014 Junior Ryder Cup and hosted the Junior Vagliano and Jacques Leglise Trophy matches this summer.

Club historian and former captain Robin Duncan has painstakingly unravelled a complex web of changes which have taken place since the original course opened in 1889.

“It has become clear to me that Blairgowrie owes a huge debt to the various celebrated architects who have been involved over more than 130 years,” said Robin.

“Who did what and where and why has created a confusing puzzle. There have been so many changes to the lay-outs over the decades.

“It has become muddied with the passing of the years but Alister MacKenzie, who is forever associated with courses like Augusta National, Cypress Point and Royal Melbourne, created what is the heart of the contemporary Rosemount course in the 1920s.

“MacKenzie has been hugely influential in golf course design in the UK and America.

From left to right: Blairgowrie’s staff, suppliers or historians, Robin Duncan, Terry Whyte, Stuart Wilson (managing secretary) and Pauline Edmonds

“He was the man who highlighted the double tiered green – like the 17th on Rosemount – run-offs and drivable par fours fraught with danger.

“His legacy is here for everyone to appreciate. He created holes 2 and 11 through to 17 on Rosemount, along with the short par three 7th on the Wee Course.

“There can’t be many golf clubs which can claim to have been influenced by three of the most famous Scots golf courses architects of all time.”