Woodlands Golf Course, Glencoe: the course built around a Bronze Age burial mound

Most golfers who play Woodlands, near Glencoe, walk straight past something much older than the game. The estate says the course was built around a Bronze Age burial mound, about 3,000 years old, and that it has been left untouched since the course opened in 2002. It is a scheduled monument, and most people playing past it never notice.

That is the kind of place we look for at Best Scottish Cottages: somewhere with a story you won’t get from a booking site. Here are seven things to know before you go, whether you play golf or not.

Last reviewed: 10/09/2026.

1. The course was built around a Bronze Age burial mound

Historic Environment Scotland records the site as a scheduled monument: a burial mound, probably from the middle Bronze Age, about 1200 to 1000 BC. A burial cist, a stone-lined grave that is now empty, is exposed at one edge. The estate says construction took the mound into account and left it untouched, and that the layout keeps it out of most golfers’ sight. The estate doesn’t mark it on the course, and we haven’t marked it on a map for this page. As a scheduled monument it is legally protected, so treat it as you would any burial place. See Historic Environment Scotland’s record.

2. It wraps around a house with a long memory

The fairways surround Ballachulish House, which the estate describes as a 250 year old country house with connections to the Glencoe massacre of 1692 and the Appin Murder of 1752. The victim of the Appin Murder, Colin Campbell of Glenure, was known as the Red Fox, and Robert Louis Stevenson built Kidnapped around the case. The estate says the house was a country house hotel and is now a private home.

3. Locals call it the Dragon’s Tooth

The nickname comes from the dragon said to live on Beinn a’ Bheithir, the mountain behind the course, which the estate calls the Dragon’s Mountain. The course was the idea of the MacLaughlin family, who owned the farm and had used the ground for grazing cattle. It opened on 8 June 2002, designed by Robin Hiseman.

4. Nine holes, par 34

The yardages in the estate’s FAQ add up to 2,545 yards, with five par 4s, three par 3s and one par 5. The 8th is the longest at 495 yards and the 7th the shortest at 140. Bunkered singles out the par-3 2nd, where the green sits on a naturally elevated rock formation. Nine holes suit a Highland trip, because a round fits between the weather, lunch and the sauna, and a day pass lets you play as many rounds as you like.

5. You can turn up and play

There are no tee times, no handicap certificate and no dress code beyond coming dressed. Clubs and trolleys can be hired, and so can electric buggies for drivers who are over 18 and hold a licence. Dogs are welcome on a lead and off the greens. The course is open all year, and rain doesn’t stop play, though buggies are kept off wet ground. In Highland weather that flexibility is the point: you decide on the day. Woodlands says its sloping, sand-based course is “something of a self-draining marvel”, with underground pipes, gravel beds and drainage channels beneath the fairways, so you can keep playing through the winter. The Clubhouse Bar is there to thaw out in afterwards. For rates and conditions, see the Woodlands golf page.

6. You can join from a long way away

The Dragon’s Circle membership is for golfers who live at least 35 miles from the course. Members play as often as they like when visiting, with club hire included, and get a certificate and a native Scottish tree planted in their name and recorded on the estate’s tree map. The Overseas Membership adds Scottish Golf affiliation and an official World Handicap System handicap. Details are on the estate’s overseas membership page.

7. The rankings, and how to read them

According to the estate, Golf.com’s first ranking of the world’s best standalone nine-hole courses, published on 1 September 2020, placed it 49th of 50. Bunkered’s course guide mentions that listing and calls the course one of the most highly regarded nine-hole courses in the country. National Club Golfer’s list of Scotland’s top nine-hole courses says it is “widely regarded as one of Scotland’s best nine-hole courses”, in a 2023 update. The estate’s own page also says Bunkered named it the best 9-hole course in Scotland, but we couldn’t find that article, so we haven’t repeated the claim. We wouldn’t book on a ranking. Lists of nine-hole courses are opinion, and none of them tells you what the evening is like.

Where to stay on the estate

Woodlands has three places to stay: RiverBeds Luxury Wee Lodges, SeaBeds Luxury Lookouts and the Forest Corner Luxury Hideaway. The Wilderness Sauna looks across the course, and the Clubhouse bar has a wood-burning stove.

You don’t need to play golf to stay. The estate also has e-bike hire, Segway, archery, axe throwing, and massage and treatments. Because you book direct through the listing, you can ask the owners before you go: how dogs and golf work together, what the course is like in winter, or which lodge suits a group.

For more Highland places with a story, browse Lochaber, or let Match pick one for you.