Featured Stop: Primland Resort

Proper fall golf in the serene Virginia countryside, anyone?

Set among the Blue Ridge Mountains, the isolated surroundings at Primland, a 16-year-old resort added to the Auberge Collection in 2021, offer sprawling views whether you’re staying in the the lodge or at a range of cottages, treehouses, and residences spread across 12,000 acres. Do all the ritzy and relaxing things you might associate with a high-end mountain resort and some you may not: fly-fishing, ATV exploration, horseback riding, falconry, foraging, shooting, getting out on the water or melting at the spa.

The golf, as it’s wont to do, may be the only thing that could interrupt all that peace and serenity. The property’s Highland Course, a Donald Steel design, is “austere in its green contours and bunkering, as if not to overpower the setting,” yet all those “dense trees and deep gulleys are hazards enough,” Golf Digest writes. Tee times are in 15 minute intervals “to allow golfers time to soak up the serene setting while also dealing with Highland’s overt difficulty,” says GOLF, which, just two years ago, named Primland among the best 28 golf resorts in the U.S. and Canada.

If you do get your teeth kicked in, at least you’ll get to take in some singular and seriously beautiful views in the process. You’re maneuvering your golf ball along a ridgetop at 2,800 feet above sea level, encountering dramatic terrain and drop-shot par 3s.

Of course, for those who want to experience a golf course ranked Golf Digest‘s 29th-best public in America without paying top-dollar for luxury accommodations, you have the option. It’ll cost you $315 during peak season (May 1 – Oct. 31) to play Virginia’s finest.

This piece originally ran in the GTG newsletter. Subscribe here for free and get pricing details alongside the weekly featured stop—plus news on openings, redesigns, and more—in your inbox each Thursday afternoon.