If you love the rustic outdoors, but still want style and elegance in your next golf vacation, you will find the two play well together at Stonewall Golf Resort in West Virginia. (Click here for map of all our travels.)

Stonewall, a 4 Diamond-rated Benchmark Hospitality Resort, and home to The Arnold Palmer Course located in Roanoke, West Virginia, was the second stop on our whirlwind golf media tour. Traveling a few hundred miles from our last location, we golf writers arrived in the late afternoon, a bit rumpled but eager to see what this resort had to offer.

First impressions always count, and mine were all positive. The lobby of the resort was expansive. Built of modern wood timbers and glass, it simply glowed.

We had just enough time to get settled, meet for a cocktail and then, were treated to a sunset cruise on Stonewall Jackson Lake before dinner in the resort’s signature restaurant, Stillwaters.

Food is always a key ingredient to a great golf vacation, and the chefs at Stillwater did not disappoint. We each had the choice of the grand buffet, or selecting from the menu. Several of the golf writers decided to walk the buffet line, but I’ve discovered that for me, buffets can be dangerous. Everything is so beautifully prepared, the temptation is to overindulge, and I was already feeling my waistline expanding. I decided to stick with the menu and chose the Angus Beef Short Rib. It was perfect. Of course we couldn’t pass up their fabu deserts and a few of us at my end of the table shared several decadent choices between us. There’s always room for chocolate lava cake, after all!

Next morning, it was up early, breakfast at the Stillwater and off to the Palmer Golf Course by 7:30 a.m.

I’m not a pro at analyzing golf courses for their special and challenging elements. I just know the Palmer Course is just beautiful and, of course, a real treat to play. The course has won several awards. Here is what the experts say about it:

The 7,149 yard layout with a slope rating of 143 tests golfers with accuracy, elevation changes and lengthy carries. Ranked consistently among the top 100 resort and public courses in America, the Palmer Course at Stonewall Resort has become one of the best-regarded courses in the Arnold Palmer design portfolio. In 2011 it was named one of the Top 10 Arnold Palmer courses you can play in the US and UK at #3 by Links Magazine.

I played with the other half of America’s Golfing Couple, Danny Scott. I didn’t play well—it’s hard for me to do so when I’m playing a course for the first time, but Danny was most supportive and he truly celebrated when I actually made a par on the Par-3 16th. I tried my best to ignore the water on the right of the green and mumbled a prayer of thanks as I improbably sank a 20 foot putt. Great feeling watching that little ball fall in the cup. If you play golf, you know what I mean.

That’s why I keep playing golf. For that once in a while feeling that I’m doing it all right. That putt set me up for the rest of the week.

There are so many other things to explore and do at Stonewall.

• The Lake offers lots of activities for families to enjoy: swimming, boating, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, paddle boats
• Mountain Laurel Spa offers massage therapies, facials and a wide variety of salon services
• The Activity Plaza includes rock climbing wall, miniature golf, basketball courts and two playgrounds
• plus much more… find out at the Resort Website

This is one place I would like to visit again. If you are in search of an all inclusive golf resort for you and your friends or family, Stonewall is your answer.