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Greens excellent; staff said rolling at 10. Fairways very good. A couple of tees poor grass and no level spot. About 3 holes where your driver is too much and no way to know it for first-timer. Vacationing in this area, this is the best mid- priced course I have found. Recommended.

Greens were putting well. No grass growing yet in fairways. Many putts have a lot of break. Many holes are cut out of the north Georgia mountain ridges, leaving a narrow actual fairway with steep slopes, often on both sides, which often returns a slightly errant drive back down the hill to the fairway -- still overall driving landing areas are narrow. Several blind holes when driving that you don't know whether to hit a driver or not. On cart GPS and map is nice and provides some help for those situations. There is a dramatically steep par 3 (I think no. 15) which has an elevation drop of (I'm guessing 150 feet. My range finder said it was 165 yards, but a local told me to play the hole as if it were 125 yards and he was exactly right. If you use your map app on your phone/computer to get to this course, it might take you to the backside where you cannot get it. You must enter from the Helen, GA side.

As a peripatetic golfer I consider greens the most important thing not to be disappointed in. I was pleased that, in February, these greens are in good shape — evenly green, receptive, decent sized, medium speed, holes changed daily; in all, quite puttable.

The fairways were coming on. We played it down. The greens were good. This course will be aerating greens the next week, while many courses in the area aerated last week. This was a major factor in our choosing this course. Good variety of holes; a few tight with water or OB on both sides. I would definitely play here again the next time I visit the area if a convenient Hot Deal is available. Regular price of $85 might be a little high for the course.

Since pace of play is a review topic and because I see a number of reviews complaining of slow play, I want to put in my two cents worth. We played 18 holes in 4 hours, including about 10 minutes ordering and carrying a sandwich at the turn. The USGA is focusing on speeding up play. They report the current average round is 4.17 hours. This, of course, is reduced by the dew sweepers. Since we were a foursome I think our time was good; we were not slow. Given that, a threesome caught up with us at the end of the front nine, came into the clubhouse to get refreshments, then rushed out and teed off on 10 without saying a word to us about playing around. We had to wait on 10 to tee off. Then on about 16, another group caught us, and I'm wondering, "are we playing slow:" that didn't seem right. So I watched the following group as they approached 16 green. Two of the three carts were at the green and the two players there getting ready to putt when the third cart (with two more players about 100 yards back) were whistling loudly to get the attention of those lining up putts to beware of their incoming shots. Then the front guard putted while the others were riding forward. While the USGA gives tips to not waste time, it does not ask you to forego the farthest from the hole order of play. Those that are rushing around like these guys are not playing golf. They have invented some hybrid of a game that is primarily seeking speed rather than their best score. So, beware of those reviews that derate a course for not providing a course monitor nudging slow groups to speed up or let others pass. The "slow group" may be playing in under 4 hours and actually still playing golf, and the real nuisance may be the rabbits getting wind in their hair without any regard for the essence or real golf.

This is the hilliest course I've ever played on. I don't think anybody would ever enjoy walking it. That said, this made for some interesting views and shots, which I enjoyed. There are quite a few water holes but most of the time you can avoid the water by just laying up or swinging wide. The main negative was that the greens had been aerated recently. This is always a likelihood this time in the south, but I would have gone elsewhere if a review had warned me of this and I could have gone to an unaerated-greens course. In the end, though, my wife and I had fun playing here in spite of the bumpy putting.