Golfers and celebrities alike enjoy the elegance and solitude of Skibo Castle.

For golfers making a pilgrimage to the northern Highlands on their Scotland golf vacation, the most enchanting and exclusive place to stay is Skibo Castle.

Back in 1897, Scottish-born American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie purchased and renovated Skibo Castle, a 7,000-acre estate of natural woodlands, streams, lakes and magnificently tended gardens, as a summer home for his family and entertainment venue for esteemed guests.

Today, anyone on a Scotland golf vacation can stay there...once. To return, you must become a select member of the prestigious Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle, a private, residential sporting club (which includes an 18-hole golf course) created by its current owner Peter de Savary.

The castle itself is a marvel: a huge, lavish, 200-room palace decorated and operated to emulate how Carnegie’s guests would have experienced it.

For example, there is no reception desk and Carnegie family heirlooms fill every nook and cranny. The wood-carved ceilings, richly paneled rooms, and beautiful fireplaces and mantles are studies in intricate, turn-of-the-century craftsmanship. Most of the furnishings in the spacious bedrooms (all with picture windows and four-poster beds) belonged to Carnegie and de Savary continues to track down original pieces.

In addition to the luxurious accommodations, Skibo Castle offers those on a Scotland golf vacation peerless recreational opportunities and caters to their every whim. The staff far outnumbers the guests and service is extremely professional and attentive but not overbearing.

When you stay at Skibo Castle, you must abide by a few house customs that date back to Carnegie’s day. Each morning the estate bagpiper rouses everyone at 8 a.m. and dinner is served to all members and guests at a large, communal table, but not before everyone first joins in a toast to “Andrew.”

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