History

Golf is first documented as having been played at Fraserburgh,Aberdeenshire in 1613 when the Parish Kirk Session records refer to a young lad named John Burnett who was chastised for "playing at the gouff" on a Sunday instead of going to church. He was ordered by the Session to be sent to the "maister's stool for correction".

Following receipt of documents from the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh it has been firmly established that the Fraserburgh Golf Club was founded on 14th April 1777 and that the membership consisted of nineteen of the most prominent "landed gentry" in the north-east of Scotland.

According to the display boards in the British Golf Museum, StAndrews, Fraserburgh Golf Club is the 5th oldest club in Scotland and the 7th oldest in the World. Fraserburgh Golf Club would appear to be the oldest golf club in the World still operating under its original name. Fraserburgh Golf Club is the oldest club north of The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

Regular challenge matches were played throughout the 1800s against local rivals Inverallochy/Cairnbulg and inter club matches are documented between Fraserburgh and Peterhead in the 1850s.

The original course was nine holes played on the "public commonty" (Fraserburgh Links) but due to congestion, danger to the public and constant interruption the Club, thanks to the generosity of the then Lord Saltoun, moved approximately half a mile south to its present location at Philorth Links in 1891.

The course was redesigned in 1922 by the five times Open Champion James Braid and much of his design remains to this day. This redesign has left us with the legacy of being one of the most natural traditional scottish links layouts to compare favourably with neighbouring Cruden Bay Golf Club, Murcar Links Golf Club,Royal Aberdeen Golf Club and the present billion pound Donald Trump development "The Great Dunes of Scotland".

Following the disasterous fire in March 2004 the clubhouse was totally destroyed and with it all of the Club's past records and documentation. Work is in hand to replace some of these records but research is likely to take several years. It was only in 2006, that this research unearthed the documents of 1777 in the National Library of Scotland.

After two years of voluntary work by many of the members the new clubhouse opened in May 2006 by the Rt Hon. Alex Salmond MP the present First Minister for Scotland and recently elected Hon. Vice-President of Fraserburgh Golf Club. Being two storey, it offers panoramic views over both the 18 hole Corbiehill championship course and the comparatively new Rosehill course