We were in Scotland in August 2015 and had a great time. Our focus was the Highlands and getting away from it all. It's crazy to drive on one lane roads at 80 km/h while playing chicken with someone coming the other way on who uses the nearest pull out.
The Isle of Skye is absolutely amazing and at least a few days there is required. The Quiraing is great to just explore without much of an effort (get there early for parking). The Old Man of Storr was also a fantastic short hike. It's significantly cooler/windier up there than where you parked, so bring a jacket (as many didn't). The Fairy Pools is also a pretty nice area. I wish we had more time in the SW island for hiking, but the weather was getting nasty that day. We had supper at the Stein Inn which had a fantastic atmosphere as it is so old. The Sligachan Hotel has a bar with over 400 malts so that is a good place to try something unique (although they couldn't seem to find whatever I tried to order). We found that it was very hard to get into any restaurants in Portree without advanced reservations, but that was August.
As for the mainland Highlands, lots of people recommend Applecross but we never made it there. We headed all of the way up to Lochinver to hike Suilven which had been calling my name for years. It's a 10km hike in before you get to it, but the hike up isn't very difficult. There are lots of other similar hills/mountains in the area that are definitely more accessible. There are lots of great empty beaches in the far NW, but getting sunshine is another story. If you are looking for remote and off the beaten track, just keep going NW. You'll hopefully be going early enough so you don't have to deal with the midges. They really liked me.
The best part is just pulling over at random ruins everywhere. We could barely drive from Culloden to Elgin as there were constantly so many historical things to check out. GPS was a life saver.
Dunrobin Castle was actually a pretty cool castle to visit complete with daily falconry shows and miniature Versailles inspired gardens. It also leads you past both Glenmorangie and Dalmore (both easy to find just off the highway) on the way back to Inverness which may entice you. Inverness is also a pretty good base for Loch Ness as well. If you are around Fort William and have any Harry Potter fans, then timing your visit to the Glenfinnan Viaduct is fun.
Oban was really nice as well. The distillery tour is good, Kilchurn Castle is potentially on your route and is free and easy rest stop, and Castle Stalker is in the area (Monty Python). Our favorite area was probably Glencoe and taking the road down Glen Etive which is beautiful and used as a filming location for Skyfall.
My links golf experience was at Crail which gave me everything I could have asked for. The front 9 was calm and I was hitting irons close to the green from the tees. The back 9 had the wind and rain come in and I couldn't hit a driver more than 100 yards. The mini golf course at St. Andrews is unlike anything you'll ever see.
I can't get enough Brew Dog beer, so their bars (Edinburgh and Glasgow) are a lot of fun. Their brewery is just north of Aberdeen in Ellon.
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