Gleneagles (King's)

Overview: At Gleneagles (King's), the moorland profile for Gleneagles (King's) is listed at 6471 yards and par 70. The course moves over rolling ground with heather, gorse, streams and elevated views across the Strathearn landscape. Braid's design uses named holes and natural contours to create variety: some shots are exposed across open ground while others are framed by rough and vegetation. The King’s is not the same course as the PGA Centenary or Queen's layouts at Gleneagles, and its character comes from the older landform, smaller targets and the need to shape shots around the contours.

History: Donald Matheson of the Caledonian Railway Company engaged James Braid to create the King's and Queen's courses as part of the Gleneagles hotel project. Work was interrupted by the First World War, but the courses were ready for the resort era that began when the hotel opened in 1924. The King's Course has retained its Braid identity through later maintenance and selective improvements, while the separate PGA Centenary Course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and hosted the 2014 Ryder Cup. The distinction matters because Gleneagles is a multi-course estate: the tournament history of one routing should not be copied onto another.

Did You Know? The King's and Queen's courses reached their centenary in 2019, five years after the PGA Centenary Course hosted the Ryder Cup. Many King's holes also carry traditional Scots names, so the scorecard functions as a small guide to the landscape and local language as well as a measure of distance.