It is normally a peaceful small town with a handful of shops and restaurants to cater for those tourists who make the short trip off the nearby A9.
Yesterday Auchterarder's tranquility was well and truly shattered by the noise and colour of 50,000 golf fans who were watching the opening day of the Ryder Cup, one of the world's greatest sporting events, at Gleneagles.
Almost 300 double decker buses have been shuttling fans from 96 countries from park-and-ride stations in Perth, Stirling and Balado, while a constant stream of trains have been stopping at Gleneagles railway station to let off some 8,000 fans.
They were there to see leading players from Europe and the US battle it out over the start of the three-day event.
Many of the fans who paid anything from £35 to £145 for tickets headed for the 2400 sq metre merchandising tent, where 80 checkouts worked furiously to shift memorabilia off the shelves.
Edward Kitson, match director, said former Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie "used to come to meetings and admit he never knew that so much work went on in the background, and it's been the same with the current European captain Paul McGinley."
At the crack of dawn, eager fans were queuing to get a glimpse of the opening salvos of this transatlantic tussle, which took place in bright but windy conditions.
By the end of the day, the huge operation to squeeze so many people into the Perthshire village without bringing their cars was dubbed a success.
The plan to stage a mainly "non-car" Ryder Cup event was a year in the making and swung into action early yesterday with thousands coming by rail, park-and-ride and bus to get in place for the daybreak start in the shadow of the Ochil Hills.
Spectators were shuttled to the course to see US and European champions such as Tom Watson, Paul McGinley and Scotland's Stephen Gallagher.
By 5.30am the crowd was 40 deep at the first hole, awaiting the nervous first Ryder Cup shot by US player Webb Simpson.
ScotRail said trains were full to capacity and 7,500 poured into Gleneagles station, compared to about 120 on a normal Friday, from all over the country.
About 1100 arrived from Glasgow Central, 1200 from Glasgow Queen Street, more than 3200 from Edinburgh, almost 1200 from Aberdeen and about 800 from Perth, Inverness and Dundee.
Thousands more came by bus and coach from all over the country, with many hotels in Glasgow and Edinburgh fully booked.
A spokesman for Ryder Cup Europe said the huge logistical challenge had been met.
He said: "The transport plan for The 2014 Ryder Cup has run very well, moving thousands of cars and people to and from Gleneagles today from a variety of locations. We have had some positive feedback around the park-and-ride stations."
A ScotRail spokeswoman said yesterday: "We've carried around 7,500 people to Gleneagles, including 23 who did the door-to-door journey from London on the Caledonian Sleeper.
"We expect some queuing for the return trains, but we've got plans in place and people on the ground to get everyone on to trains as quickly as possible."
Transport Scotland said the park-and-ride sites had been strategically located and local engagement with residents, businesses and councillors and MSPs and MPs over access issues had been ongoing.
Police Scotland has been in talks with British Transport Police, ScotRail, Stagecoach, Perth and Kinross and Stirling Councils since last year about the plans.
It is understood international agencies including the CIA and MI5 were involved in planning security for the tournament, for which more than 200 private jets flew VIPs to Scottish airports.
A Police Scotland spokesman said officers were satisfied with the operation, saying "everything has gone to plan".
Marshall Malcolm Logan, 47, of Crieff, was escorting stars and fans from the 17th to 18th holes as part of his volunteer role. He said ushering four players, four caddies, officials and about 150 media and players' families from hole to hole was "all good fun", adding: "There was plenty of banter."
Meanwhile, Alex Salmond and Sports Secretary Shona Robison presented a painting of the Gleneagles PGA course to officials from France, the next European hosts. In 2018 the tournament will be played at Le Golf National close to Versailles.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article