We played the red, white, and blue target golf adventure that is Heather Glen, in Little River, SC on Saturday, June 13, 2015. This golf course is tight off the tee, and coming from the wide open expanses of Shaftesbury Glen the previous day, required an urgent push of the mental reset button. If you are wild with your driver, expect a long day. I mixed in enough 3WDs and was thinking well, and while I didn’t hit many greens, managed to keep it in play and out of trouble.
What we loved about Heather Glen is the total seclusion you enjoy on all three of the nines. There are no houses on the property and none of the holes impose upon each other so you feel comfortable and spaced, even with the tightness of the layout. I have played the White nine several years ago, but on this day we traversed the Red/Blue combination.
The playing surfaces are Bermuda through the green, and the greens were in good condition albeit rolling smooth and medium slow. Big deep bunkers with good course sand adorn much of the course and since the greens are so small, unless you can thread it like Jim Furyk, you will be hitting your share of bunker shots and assorted wedges. The green-side sand texture was similar to the courses we play in Maryland and I had a good comfortable feel in them and played my sand shots with excellent spin and distance control.
When you arrive at the course, they set you up with range balls and you traverse the one-man wide wooden bridge out to the grass range. Some of the lies were a little bare on the range and a few of the fairways were a bit scratchy, but the course was in good condition overall.
Value (4.0 out of 5.0)
Playing on the Glens package with complimentary cart fees, lunch, range balls and replays was great. We thought we’d get out on the White nine for the afternoon round but didn’t/couldn’t and the value rating would go a bit higher if we could have played all 27 in one day.
Facilities (3.0 out of 5.0)
Heather Glen has an older modest sized club house, similar in size and stature to Glen Dornoch. The driving range can handle 15 golfers comfortably, but the practice chipping green (shown above in the first photo) is a single flag in a small area where the grass is allowed to grow. I’d like them to move this or redesign to something more inviting and accommodating. As it is now, it’s too close to the pathway to the range and you feel squeezed. The putting green is large and in good condition, and is located close to the staging area as well. On the course, we found an ample supply of drinking water every third hole, which was great considering how oppressive the summer heat was.
Customer Experience (2.25 out of 5.0)
The cart guy was helpful and very hard working and was there from dawn to dusk. We were visited by the beverage cart with great frequency which was appreciated, but where Heather Glen came up short is at the starter shack. There was no issue with our morning round but when I checked into the pro shop for our afternoon round, one of my playing partners confirmed with the starter outside that we could play the White nine and then switch to the Red or Blue at the turn. Excited at the prospect of playing all 27 holes, we drove to the 1st tee five minutes later only to find a group already waiting, and they were stuck behind a twosome waiting in the fairway. The starter was nowhere to be found and had made the critical mistake of losing control of his tee. With 27 holes and groups crossing over and replaying, the starter needed to be out in front controlling traffic and he wasn’t. After a brief dialog with the group on the tee, they said they would let us go first but we were both still waiting for the twosome in the fairway. We noticed the 1st tee was open on the Blue nine and elected to shoot over there and tee off. 10 minutes later, we noticed the twosome that was in front of us on the White, behind us on the Blue! They had gotten frustrated by the pace of play, quit the White and restarted on Blue as well.
On this day, we played the Red/Blue combination from the blue tees which measured 6,773 yards with a par of 72 and a course rating of 73.3/138. I shot a 79. Heather Glen is a quality play and is worth the trip but they need to manage the tee more proactively.
Overall Rating (3.25 out of 5.0)
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