“It is a Supreme Pleasure to have you as a guest at Gleneagles,” said the greeter, a stately gentleman wearing, of course, a plaid kilt. I immediately assured him that it really was my pleasure to be his guest at one of the world's great golf resorts. There are hundreds of classic links courses in the British Isles — some of which are explored in this month's cover story — and I was eager to experience the inland terrain for which Gleneagles is famous.

Situated 50 miles north of Edinburgh in Perthshire, Scotland, the 850-acre Gleneagles Resort is also known for its chateau-style 232-room hotel, which is framed by a classic, colorful British garden. With Michelin-starred restaurants, a world-class spa, championship golf courses, and opulent designer boutiques, the resort is the embodiment of international sophistication with a distinctly Scottish ambience.

Elegant Meetings

Gleneagles' self-contained, amenity-rich environment and superb meeting facilities are the reason the resort hosted the leaders of the world's most powerful economies in 2005 for the G8 Summit. With 20,000 square feet of function space and several outdoor areas, the property can accommodate small meetings and incentives as well as groups of up to 350 attendees. One of its most famous meeting spaces is the 2,530-square-foot Glendevon, a semicircular room with a large bay window and chandeliers. For an out-of-the-ordinary venue, the resort's 1,022-square-foot shooting lodge is set in woods just a five-minute drive from the hotel. The walls of the lodge are dotted with photos of its celebrity guests: legendary Formula One race-car driver Jackie Stewart, who founded the lodge; actor Sean Connery; and well-known golfer Colin Montgomerie.

Dining options at Gleneagles include Andrew Fairlie, a two-Michelin Star restaurant offering French cuisine with a Scottish flair; Strathearn, a classic Scottish restaurant; and less formal dining at the Club Restaurant and Dormy Clubhouse Restaurant and Bar.

Ryder Cup Golf

While many Americans are familiar with Scotland's stunning seaside courses, Gleneagles' three courses were carved out of heavily wooded wilderness. With wildly undulating fairways framed by trees, gorse, and other shrubs, the courses demand accuracy off the tee and strategic approaches to the greens.

The most challenging — and I have the double bogeys on my scorecard to prove it — is the PGA Centenary Course, an American-style layout with rolling greens, bold bunkering, and several high-risk and high-reward holes. Designed by Jack Nicklaus, the Centenary will host the 2014 Ryder Cup matches and serves as the annual venue for the Scottish PGA Championships and the Johnnie Walker Championship.

The other two courses on the Gleneagles menu are classic gems built in 1919 and designed by James Braid, a five-time winner of the British Open. Set on a verdant canvas of hills and valleys, ridges and plateaus, with fairways edged by hardwoods, evergreens, heather, and gorse, the King's is a magnificent inland golf experience. I found the Queen's course to be a kinder, gentler version of the King's and a much better layout for midhandicappers who want to post a respectable score.