Members of one of Aberdeenshire’s most scenic golf courses are facing a race against time to reopen for this year’s season following the devastation wreaked by Storm Frank.
These images show the destruction at Ballater Golf Club – which has been left with a huge bill to repair the damage caused by recent flooding.
Insurers are unable to cover much of the cost as the course is on a flood plain.
However, members have turned up in their droves to offer their help to bring the club back up to scratch in time for the beginning of the new season, which starts in late March.
The path network around the course is now “no more” after the River Dee consumed much of the grounds – hitting the first, fourth and 18th holes most severely.
The water also tore a new path through the fourth hole, where volunteers and local contractors are attempting to reroute it.
Bunkers have been washed away, while debris has been left scattered across the course.
But the club’s new ladies bridge – the result of a £12,000 fundraiser to mark 100 years of women golfers on the 18-hole Royal Deeside course – survived the carnage.
The clubhouse was also hit, but luckily the damage was less serious than first thought.
Golf club secretary, Colin Smith, said members were “getting there”, but that progress was worryingly slow.
He said: “Once the storm passed it was a case of ‘right, how are we going to get this up and running?’. The whole of Ballater was devastated. The whole village was feeling down and depressed.
“We put out the call for volunteers and members of the club to come and help out.
“Major restoration work needs carrying out in a lot of places and, hopefully, by the start of season there will be a full recovery.
“Being on the flood plain we couldn’t get any insurance to cover us. We have just got on with it ourselves.”
Mr Smith said that he hopes some holes might be open by February.
“We are very grateful to our members for their assistance,” he added.
Ballater Golf Club committee member and Aboyne, Upper Deeside and Donside councillor Katrina Farquhar said the club may have to seek funding for repair work from external bodies due to council budget restraints.
She said: “Because it is a private members’ club it is very difficult to get funding. It is proving to be an uphill struggle.
“During the floods I kept thinking it was just a bad dream some mornings, and then it would start all over again.
“There is a bit on the seventh hole where you would actually think someone had come and rolled up the grass like a carpet.
“The volunteers are doing a fantastic job clearing up. The support has been great.”
The path network around the course falls under the remit of the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA), which is now in the process of assessing the damage.
Convener of the organisation and local councillor, Peter Argyle, said the destruction caused was “astonishing”.
“It is completely astonishing the power of water and the complete devastation to the path network, which I appreciate pales in significance certainly next to the damage to properties,” he said.
“The path network around Ballater is very important. There will need to be a debate with the community about what will go back because clearly the floods could happen again.”
He added: “It is really impressive to see people that have turned out to help. I am not a golfer myself but I know golfing is a hugely important part of people’s lives.”