A north-east golf club has hit a hole in one after being given the royal seal of approval.
Ballater Golf Club has revealed the Duke of Rothesay has become its first ever patron.
The duke has already been to walk the green and meet everyone involved at the picturesque Deeside course.
The club has said there could be no one more fitting than the prince, given his strong links to the village.
Club manager and secretary Colin Smith said: “Prince Charles obviously has a good connection to Ballater.
“We’ve never had a patron before, so we thought that given all he’s done for the community, we would write him a letter at the start of 2018 and ask if he would like to take on the position.
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“We got a response a few months later telling us that he’d be delighted to accept the patronage.
“He has now met all the committee members, greenkeepers and all the staff, and had a walk around the course.”
The duke was instrumental in bringing the village back to its feet after the devastating floods of 2016.
He established the Rothesay Rooms restaurant and the Highgrove shop in an effort to boost tourism to help it recover.
And Charles also helped to ensure the fire-hit Royal Station was re-built and renovated into a restaurant and tea rooms after it was destroyed by a huge blaze in 2015.
Mr Smith added: “He was particularly interested in the river and how it had changed shape since Storm Frank, and our shelter that we built on the course in memory of our club captain who died in 2017.
“Any connection with royalty is of course good for the club.
“We had a big photograph taken with him that he’s signed, that we’re going to get up on the main hall of the club once we’ve got it framed.
“Any day that royalty visits is a good day, but it really was special.”
