Primland Highland Course

The verdict

The Highland Course is mountain resort golf at its most dramatic, a Donald Steel design that opened in 2006 along a ridgeline of the Blue Ridge in Meadows of Dan. Steel, the British architect best known for his work on links and parkland in the United Kingdom, was given a spectacular mountaintop site and routed a course that plays along and across the ridge, with fairways perched above plunging drop offs and long views over the surrounding peaks. It has been rated the number one course in Virginia by both Golf Digest and Golfweek, and a round here is as much about the setting as the strategy.

For the traveling golfer this is the headline of a stay at Primland, an Auberge resort spread across thousands of acres of the Blue Ridge that pairs the golf with fine dining, an observatory and an air of genuine seclusion. The course is generous off the tee but demands precision into fast bentgrass greens, and the elevation changes complicate every club selection. Access is primarily for resort guests, so the Highland Course works best as the anchor of a Primland stay, an indulgent mountain golf trip with one of the great views in American golf.

The holes worth the trip

The Highland Course makes its name on the holes that play along the edge of the ridge, where the fairway falls away to nothing and the eye is drawn out across the Blue Ridge for miles. Steel used the terrain rather than fighting it, setting tees and greens to frame the long views and letting the elevation create natural drama. The par 3s in particular play into the void, downhill shots to greens cut into the hillside where judging the wind and the carry over the drop is the whole challenge.

The strategy is in the approach. The fairways are wide and forgiving off the tee, an invitation to swing freely, but the bentgrass greens are fast and full of subtle movement, so the premium is on distance control and holding the right portion of the surface. Get out of position and the slopes will run a ball away from the hole, leaving a testing recovery. The variety of stances and elevations means few shots are played from a flat lie, and the round asks for imagination as much as power.

From the back tees at about 7,053 yards the Highland Course is a full test for the strong player, yet the generous corridors and multiple tees make it a pleasure for every standard. The defense is the mountain, the wind, the fast greens and the sheer exposure of a course on top of a ridge, rather than narrow fairways or heavy rough. Play it on a clear day and the combination of strategic golf and Blue Ridge panorama is hard to match anywhere in the region.

Where to stay nearby

The natural base is Primland itself, the Auberge resort that surrounds the course with a lodge, mountain cottages and treehouses spread across thousands of acres of the Blue Ridge. A stay here is built around seclusion and service, pairing the golf with fine dining, stargazing at the resort observatory and outdoor pursuits, so the Highland Course folds into a wider mountain escape rather than a quick round.

Most visiting golfers treat Primland as a destination in its own right, given its remote ridgetop setting. For a wider Virginia mountain golf trip, pair it with the historic mountain golf of the Homestead Cascades Course to the north and, if access allows, the template holes of The Greenbrier Old White TPC across the state line in West Virginia.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts in the Blue Ridge.