The Queen’s is a gorgeous layout on the higher ground of the Gleneagles estate whose test and challenge confound its modest yardage
Gleneagles Golf Resort Queen’s Course Review
Top 100 Ranking 2021/22 – 58
Previous Rankings
2019/20 – 55
2017/18 – 62
2015/16 – 63
2013/14 – 62
2011/12 – 61
2009/10 – 51
Summer Green Fees
Round: £140-£200; Day: £195-£300
Visitor Times: Every day
Medal Tee: Par 68 – 5,965 Yards
Website: www.gleneagles.com/golf/the-queens/
Changes since previous ranking
No significant changes since 2019 advised.
Gleneagles Golf Resort Queen’s Course Review
The three courses at Gleneagles are all very different, and although the King’s and Queen’s share the same designer in James Braid and a similarly rich heritage, the Queen’s has the distinction of enjoying perhaps the best views of all on this glorious Perthshire playground.
The Queen’s course plays over the higher ground on the Gleneagles estate (Photo: Getty Images)
It’s also the only course in our Top 100 where total yardage off the tips starts with a ‘5’ rather than a ‘6’ or ‘7’.
Related: Top 100 Courses UK and Ireland
The views out over the Perthshire Straths, to Ben Vorlich, the Ochil Hills and the Grampian Mountains are both serene and majestic.
And despite only stretching to 5,965 yards, the course plays over often narrow, rolling fairways to relatively small greens, guaranteeing a test that belies its length, especially when you factor in a solitary par 5 on the 7th, where the views are perhaps at their very finest.
Glorious views looking down the 7th – the only par 5 (Photo: Getty Images)
A challenge beyond its yardage
Indeed, there is no shortage of excellent, and indeed tough, holes, with the 5th and 6th before that really shining – first a longish par 3 to a green beautifully framed by pines, then the longest of the par 4s playing up to a raised green.
The 9th is a Braid risk-reward masterpiece, a 90˚ dogleg right, where taking on the corner represents a real risk if you’re not long enough. Get it right, and you’ll be left with a mere short iron in; get it wrong, or bail out too far left, and it will be almost everything you’ve got.
The 13th is one of back-to-back par 3s around a small loch (Photo: Getty Images)
The recent new teeing options on the memorable back-to-back par-3 duo around a small loch at 13 and 14 have added a new dimension to those two holes. The latter will test your putting to the limit if you find the wrong part of its steeply tiered green.
The par-3 14th now has a new back tee playing across the loch (Photo: Getty Images)
Much like Swinley Forest in Berkshire, the real beauty of the Queen’s course is that, despite its modest length, most handicap golfers will still need full mastery of their longer clubs to score well.
Assessor Feedback
Stunning, within and without! It’s hard to discern what has been created, shaped or manicured by man and machine and what has been done by God in the six days before he clocked off for a good rest.
Fun section of holes in the middle of the back nine with two par 3s and a short but challenging par 4.
The Queen’s is worthy of a trip to Gleneagles on its own
GM Verdict
The Queen’s is a gorgeous layout on the higher ground of the Gleneagles estate whose test and challenge confound its modest yardage.