Heron Bay Golf & Country Club Review

An Atlanta Golf Course Review

Reviewed on 12/19/2025 - Offseason

Heron Bay Golf & Country Club

Public

$40-$80

45mins South of Atlanta

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Upon walking in the door at Heron Bay, it felt like a course that wanted to attract members. Nice pro-shop and roomy restaurant/bar. The locker room featured wooden lockers and in general, felt like a step up from a typical public course.

That elevated experience continued to the practice facility. Grass range with club cleaning buckets, and a large putting/chipping green. Sometimes the putting green also being the chipping green can be troublesome, but it was a big enough area to where it was no issue. [range prices] I was a little bummed to not find a practice bunker because I knew the course had so many.

I really enjoyed the layout, but I played at 6500 yards. If I played from the tips at 7300+(!) I might have a different story! The par 5s provide the perfect amount of risk/reward on your 2nd shot - sometimes it's a water hazard like on 5 and 9, or it's fairway bunkers guarding the green like on 12 and 16 where a mishit can leave you with an awkward 50 yard bunker shot. The par 3s were also very fun - on the day I used a 7i, 50deg, 5i, and PW - love the variety. The par 4s also offered a lot of different looks - a great mixture of "birdie" holes (including the driveable par 4 - 6th), but also some brutes like the uphill 14th or 15 where even a great drive can leave you with a mid-iron over a hazard and onto a skinny green. That said, holes 1, 2, 7, 10, 11, and 18 are pretty bland.

Conditions were above expectations for the price point. Greens were excellent - especially for off-season conditions and the price. Great pace and very healthy. No rough, just fairway around the greens. Tee boxes in general were perfectly fine - cut short and plenty of grass, but there were a few that gave you some un-even stances - the par 3 13th in particular. The fairways were fine, but a little rough around the edges - definitely a few areas where the Georgia clay was poking through. The bunkers are hard to rate because the actual bunkering is impressive. There's SO MANY. But unfortunately, that just makes the condition of the bunkers stand out all the more. Many of them were puddled, washed out, had rocks/pebbles, etc, but there were also many that were in fine condition too. I understand bunkers are difficult/expensive to upkeep, but the bunkers are THE signature of the course, so the ones in poor condition stuck out all the more.

On another note, the pace of play was very good. Not sure what weekends look like, but on a beautiful Friday it wasn't very busy at all.

When I walked off the course, I felt like $70 would be the most I'd pay for prime weekend tee time, so the actual $45 rate for a Friday morning was a GREAT value. $40 for a weekday afternoon is crazy good. However, that does mean the $80 weekend morning rate is a touch too expensive, but at noon the price drops back to $60. I felt exactly the same about it's sister course, Crystal Lake, as well.

If you wanted to travel to play Heron Bay on a weekend, here would be my suggestion: Since Heron Bay is on the ATL Golfs Pass, book a weekend mid-day tee time, save 20% thanks to the Pass, and pay $48. That is an amazing bang for your buck for a weekend tee time.

If you live in the area, then you're probably already a Green Valley Golf member, and if you're not, then you should be. An amazing deal if you play regularly.

I would recommend playing Heron Bay.

Course video:

Front 9:

Back 9: