Golf in Perthshire

Gleneagles. Three fabulous courses, the Kings Course, Queens Course and Monarchs Course, highlight this beautiful place in the Ochil Hills which turns purple every August when the heather blooms. James Braid designed the Kings and Queens courses. Jack Nicklaus designed the Monarchs Course. Riding carts, or buggies, are available on the Monarchs Course. We once played the Kings Course with Ian Marchbank, Director Emeritus of Golf, who gave us the historical, hole-by-hole, tour. What a great experience!

Rosemount. Located in Blairgowrie, two courses remind us of Pinehurst with lots of trees lining the fairways.

Crieff. Crieff offers two parkland courses sitting on the slope of a hill, The Ferntower Course and the Donock Course. Both offer excellent views over Strathearn valley .

Muckhart. You better be in great shape as this course goes up and down a lot of hills. This is a traditional Scottish village course. Each tee has a different view with the Ochill Hills to the north and the Forth Valley to the south. This is a fun course to play at a great price.

Downfield. This is a top-20 course on the north side of Dundee. In a parkland setting, this course is usually not played by Americans. Downfield is the venue for the Scottish Amateur Championship and the Amateur International. Extensive practice areas.

Loch Lomond. Hey now! If you know a member (and we do), you can play this fantastic, beautiful, most difficult course designed by Tom Weiskopt for a mere $250. The course is a virtual arboretum covered in rhododendron as well as oak, birch, beech, maple, chestnut, larch, holly, Scotch pine and Douglas fir.

Is there any golf resort in the world better than Gleneagles? Probably not. World class hotel and three great golf courses set in some of the most beautiful country in the world. At the gateway to the highlands in Glen Devon, the eye takes in the beautiful Ochil Hills in the south and east and the foothills of the Grampian Mountains in the north and west. When the heather blooms in August, the views are simply breathtaking.

The Kings Course, designed by James Braid, plays 6,471 yards for hotel guests. There is not an easy hole on the course. Braid's Brawest, the 13th, is a 448-yard thrill ride requiring a stout drive to clear a ridge protected by a pair of brutal bunkers, a long 2nd shop to clear a vast depression and a cross bunker, and an accurate landing in a narrow area protected by sand on one side and a steep heathery cliff on the other.

No hole on the Queens Course is quite the equal of Kings #13, but the golf is fabulous nonetheless. Another James Braid design, the challenge begins with #1, a 409 yard dogleg left requiring a tee shot over a deep swale. The tee-shot landing zone of #3 is small, an area surrounded by a ditch on the right and a large bunker on the left. The 17th is a 204-yard par-3 requiring a tee shop from an elevated tee to a narrow green sloping right to a 12-foot deep bunker with a near vertical face.

The Monarch's Course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, is excellent. Here golfers can carry their bag, pull it on a trolley (pull cart), ride a buggy (golf cart) or hire a caddy. The first course in Scotland to offer paved cart paths, Scottish golfers have gotten used to the scars, while American golfers have never noticed anything amiss. The 3rd is a forced carry from an elevated tee over a pond to an upsloping fairway. The 5th is a killer with a blind drive over a ridge followed by 2nd shot through the trees to avoid the wetlands just short of the green. Water holes and 83 bunkers make this a fabulous course.