One of metro Atlanta’s best daily fee courses may finally be in position to achieve the success expected after its opening in the mid-1990s.
Heritage Golf Links was considered to be a sure thing thanks to one of the area’s most interesting and challenging layouts, quality conditions in a development-free environment and a prime location just outside the perimeter on the DeKalb/Gwinnett border.
But the club gradually slipped out of the metro area’s golf spotlight under its original ownership, and fell even farther after it was acquired by NBA legend Julius Erving, who gave the course a new name but did little else other than lead it into foreclosure.
Once Erving was out of the picture, the club’s name and reputation were restored by Atlanta-based management company Affiniti Golf Partners until new owners could be found.
Heritage Golf Links now has the ownership that should be able to make the club one of the most successful in the Atlanta area, with an aggressive marketing plan already under way and improvements coming to both the course and overall facility.
The club was acquired by brothers Adam and Jim Owen, who both have long backgrounds in the golf industry. Adam, who is the club’s general manager, spent most of his career as a PGA club professional before moving into more of a managerial role in Las Vegas. Jim Owen has been a PGA professional for more than 50 years, predominantly in the Sarasota, Fla., area and has also been a course owner.
Jim Owen says he and his brother “recognized the opportunity” Heritage Golf Links presented, and the two have brought in veteran Atlanta area head professional Andreas Boberg to assist in the process of re-establishing the club as one of the premier daily fee facilities in Atlanta.
“We understand how important customer service is, and that’s part of our plan,” Jim Owen said.
Boberg has worked at both private clubs and a high end daily fee course, and stresses that his goal is to “make it a friendly environment” at Heritage Golf Links. “We want to provide a country club experience at a daily fee course.”
The club’s new ownership is looking to continue and increase the efforts made by Affiniti to return the course to its original status as one of the best among Atlanta daily fee facilities. They have initiated a “Players Club” program that combines golf and unlimited use of the club’s practice facility, which will be greatly improved after repairs are made to the building that houses a covered hitting area, along with a quality fitness center and meeting rooms.
Among the instructors based at the club is long-time Atlanta area teaching professional Jeanne Dooley, along with former UGA golfer Summer Sirmons. Boberg is looking to expand the teaching staff to include himself and his assistants, with the club’s convenient location making it an attractive site for group related instruction activities.
That location also makes Heritage Golf Links a potential favorite for area golfers. The club is just a few minutes outside “Spaghetti Junction” off Pleasantdale Rd.
Heritage Golf Links is a 27-hole facility, with an original 18 and nine holes that were added across the street in the following decade. Mike Young, who has designed almost 20 courses throughout Georgia, was the architect for the original 18, and it rates with his best work in the state.
Young’s list of courses includes Cateechee, Wolf Creek, Heritage Oaks (formerly Oak Grove Island), Lane Creek, Maple Ridge, Henderson GC, River Pointe, Southern Hills, the re-design of City Club Marietta and two excellent courses that have since closed after promising debuts – Gold Creek and Long Shadow.
The original 18 consists of the Legacy and Heritage nines, with the newer Tradition nine significantly shorter and less demanding. The original 18 is one of the most demanding daily fee courses around, rated at 74.3/146 from the gold tees and 72.2/141 from the blues.
It’s not the overall length that makes Heritage a tough test. The course measures a modest 6,875 yards from the tips and 6,450 from the blues, with the white tees sporting a fairly hefty slope of 131 despite its seemingly friendly yardage (5,750).
Heritage features several serious carries off the tee. With the considerable gap in yardage between the blues and whites (700 yards), tee selection is vital for players who typically shoot in the mid-to-high 80s and are accustomed to playing in the range of 6,200 to 6,400 yards.
One of the innovations Affiniti introduced was the addition of a combination set of “member” tees encompassing the blues and whites. The member tees include 13 holes played from the blues and five – a pair of 220-yard par 3s, a 420-yard par 4 and two other par 4s with lengthy carries – played from the whites. The 18th, which measures 409 from the blues with a 200-plus carry over water, may be more hole than some can handle from the blues, with the hole remaining a decent test from the whites despite being 85 yards shorter.
One of the main reasons for the high slope numbers is the challenge posed by Young’s large, undulating greens. You will encounter very few courses with greens that have as many tiers, ridges, slopes, humps and bumps as you’ll find at Heritage. Expect your share of three-putts if you wind up a decent distance from the hole on a different level of the putting surface.
Heritage’s greens are demanding but fair, with reasonable green speeds keeping them from becoming too difficult. Your green reading skills and ability to mesh speed and break will be tested, but it’s an extremely entertaining challenge, and one that will definitely make you think before you take a swipe with the putter.
The course was built on rolling terrain that adds to the character of the layout. There are a relatively small number of holes without elevation changes, which are not extreme but will impact play. Most of the greens are perched slightly above at least part of the surrounding area, and a deft vertical short game will come in handy, whether pitching over bunkers or inclines, or trying to escape from the sand, with some of the greenside bunkers reasonably deep.
Heritage Golf Links is relatively open off the tee, although some of the typically thin tree lines are well within reach of errant drives. Because of the natural roll of the property, which is among the prettiest you’ll come across in the metro area, you can expect an uneven lie or two in the fairways. But the terrain compensates with some mostly friendly mounds that can re-direct slightly errant tee shots back into the short grass.
Young’s design includes a wide array of holes in terms of length, difficulty and strategic challenge. There are two extremely long par 3s, both of which are listed at 220 from the blues, and two that are right at 115 from the same set.
The short, downhill third is highlighted by a pronounced ridge through the middle of the green that places considerable pressure on distance control, with a long, narrow green at the 16th stressing accuracy with fall-offs to inset bunkers on either side. The white tees on 5 and 11 measure 40 and 50 yards shorter than the blues, but both still require well-struck tee shots. The downhill fifth includes a carry over wetlands and a creek, with the slightly uphill 11th guarded short and right by bunkers that get plenty of play.
The par 5s are on the short side, averaging under 520 from the tips, with three of the four below 500 from the blues. The rolling opening hole features sand left and trees right, with the angled, two-tier green making for a tough target and a challenge to the short game thanks to bordering grass depressions.
The downhill eighth is reachable for longer hitters, who have to contend with a sharp drop-off to a hazard just behind the wide, relatively shallow green, which is hidden behind a bunker and mounds. Several bunkers dot the second shot landing area for shorter hitters, and have gobbled up many a well-hit but ill-fated lay-up.
The parallel par 5s on the back nine offer differing challenges. The downhill 14th will produce some long tee shots that will tempt efforts to reach in two, assuming you avoid a well-placed fairway bunker on the right. Water protects the left side of the green and wraps around behind, with a small strip of putting surface in between making for an extremely dicey shot, even from close range.
The main concern at the 15th is a deep front bunker that protects a wide, multi-tier green, with a bowl in the middle and a significantly higher level on the right, with sharp drop-offs short and right.
The difficulty of several par 4s contrasts with the vulnerable nature of a shorter group of two-shotters that will yield birdie opportunities after accurate tee shots and precise short iron approaches. Holes 2, 6, 10 and 13 average around 350 from the blues, but all are relatively narrow, with the differing but demanding natures of the putting surfaces turning potential birdies into three-putt bogeys if you wind up on in the wrong place relative to the pin position.
If you can handle the quartet of stout par 4s (4, 9, 12 and 18), you have solved the hardest part of Heritage’s puzzle. Each of the holes is markedly different from the blues and whites, with an average difference of 55 yards between the tees. Three require carries off the tee that can be quite intimidating for the distance-challenged, and all but the fourth don’t get much easier as you near the green.
The sharply uphill second to the ninth will treat slightly short approaches just as dismissively as the ninth at Augusta National, while the nearby green at the 18th sits uncomfortably close to the lake that is either in play or in view for most of the back (Heritage) nine. As with the 12th, you either hit it solidly off the tee or expect a splash, with the lake bordering the 18th also swallowing up drives (or approaches) that stray to the right.
For information, call 770-493-4653 or visit www.heritagegolflinks.com.