About the course
The King’s is the original championship course at Gleneagles, laid out across moorland more than 500 feet above sea level in the Perthshire countryside. The ground is full of sandy ridges, rough hollows and sudden gullies, framed by pine, fir and bracken, and the course has the largest greens of the resort’s three layouts.
James Braid, five times Open champion, designed the King’s with C. K. Hutchison, and it opened on 1 May 1919 after construction had been held up by the First World War. Braid regarded it as some of his finest work. In 1921 it staged a match between British and American professionals, Walter Hagen among them, that is seen as a forerunner of the Ryder Cup. It later hosted the Scottish Open from 1987 to 1994 and the Senior Open in 2022, and the course has recently been renovated to bring back many of Braid’s original features.
The 4th is a long uphill par 4, and the 5th, Het Girdle, is a par 3 to a green shaped like an upturned frying pan with bunkers cut into its sides. The course also holds what is said to be the steepest bunker at Gleneagles. Modern equipment has made the 14th, Denty Den, drivable for long hitters, while the 17th tests accuracy with a narrow, wasp-waisted fairway.
As the hilliest of the three courses, the King’s makes distances hard to judge, and many shots play longer or shorter than the yardage suggests.
Why we recommend it
For most visitors the King’s is the heart of a Gleneagles stay. This is classic inland golf on rolling moorland, with heather, gorse and springy turf that plays almost like links, and views across to the Ochil Hills and the Grampians. Strategic bunkering and tricky, sloping greens reward thinking players more than big hitters. It works well as the main round of the day, with the gentler Queen’s as an afternoon option.
Photo gallery
| World ranking | – |
| Architect | James Braid |
| Year of foundation | 1919 |
| Par Course | 70 |
| Number of holes | 18 |