ProfessionalHacker

Chimneys is still the best value around. The course has greatly improved over the last few years. Though it isn't terribly difficult, the conditions are always good. Additionally, there is a woman who sells food in the cafe that is wonderful ( I particularly love her meatloaf sandwich!). Look forward to the next round.

I have played Chimney Oaks three times in five years, each time under different ownership. CO is in the best shape I've seen it. You can see a lot is going on around the course to make it better. Fairways, tee boxes in great shape. Sand in bunkers pretty good for this time of year. Were the there bunkers added? Deepened? I don't remember the bunkers surrounding most greens in a menacing way as they do now. The slope change indicates that something is tougher than it used to be. The greens were fair at best, but I can see they are working on them and they should be great come spring. I like the layout of the course. Cart paths have been repaired and are very smooth. Altogether I'm very impressed at the direction the course is going. My only complaint is I have to drive an hour fifteen minutes to get there! Will be back sooner next time.

Bear Creek is what it is an average course. The greens are usually its best feature as they are clean and fast. Tee boxes are not great, fairways have spots and crab grass, and sand traps need sand. We started out behind an extremely slow group and since this course has no marshals we were stuck till they let us play thru at seven. In the end the round was 4 3/4 hours due to the slow start. No beverage carts, no coolers allowed, yet no coolers built into the carts. This course used to be a budget course due to its lack of amenities and course condition. Now their rates rival better courses in the area but since we had a golfnow credit on a hot deal we played the course. I would not have payed the $45-$40 weekend morning rate for this course. Sorry, I do like the layout, should be better for the rates charged.

I have played Chimneys many times over the last five years, and this week it was by far in the best shape I have ever seen it. While many of the courses in the area that I play are struggling with bare spots in fairways, Chimneys has very nice, even, grassy fairways. The greens were also in great shape. The newly remodeled clubhouse looks much more contemporary than previously. For the price this is one of the best values in the area. The front nine has some challenging holes, the back is easier. This course would be good for the average golfer, as I am one. Highly recommended.

This was the second go round on Smokerise. The course was in great shape for the time of year. Greens were fabulous, clean and fast! Layout is challenging with elevation changes, blind shots, and other assorted obstacles. My one complaint was that the proshop did not start us on the back nine with a youth tournie going off the back which slowed us down at the end of our back nine. Otherwise everything was great.

Booked a 7:21 am time and blew through the course in 3 hours 45 minutes. The course was in excellent shape, particularly the greens. This is an older style course with many straight fairways, yet there was still plenty of challenge to make the round fun. Will be back...

Arrived a little early and the starter allowed us the option to go off and get in front of league...Thank you! Excellent service!

I was hesitant for a long time to play this course due to the ratings and reviews. Taking into account that this is winter golf I'd say the conditions were good. Greens excellent. Fairways good. Traps were inconsistent with some in good shape, others mud. Tee boxes a little bare in places but ok. Cart functioned properly.

Course did not look difficult when starting off, lots of wide open space. We soon found it was more difficult with water on a number of holes and traps surrounding almost every green. We played the white tees which was supposed to be 6,130 yards, but most had been moved up and it was most likely under 6,000 yards.

I will be back in the spring to play in greener conditions.

Pine Hills is a good course for working on your game. It is a short course with elevation changes and water hazards. The green are slow but have a good roll. The staff is friendly and it took just fours hours to play on a Saturday afternoon. Good value for the money.

Got a good hot deal through Golfnow. Weather was cold with 25 mph winds when we arrived. To no surprise the course was almost empty. Employee in the clubhouse was nice. After about three holes the sun came out and made things tolerable. The course was in good shape. Two tee boxes were under repair, but fairways, greens and other tee boxes were in good shape. The sand traps had lots of fluffy sand in them which I was unaccustomed too as most this time of year are very thin. Hole number nine destroyed my round yet again...very tough hole! Had a great time all things considered. Will keep coming back till I par number nine...therefore I will be back many, many times!

The layout of the course is above average for an executive course. The fairways were in good shape however the greens were not in good shape at all. If you are working on your iron play this is a good course to do so. Good value for the money.

I had wanted to play Summit Chase for a while but only recently did so thanks to its addition to Golf Now. My buddy for got his clubs so we were an hour late getting off. The folks in the clubhouse were very friendly, helpful, and accommodating. I went to the range and hit a few, the balls were provided on the range for no extra charge. The conditions were impeccable. The greens were fast and burnt spots or sand. The fairways were lush. The traps could have used more sand but we are going into the rainy season so I'm not surprised. We play from the whites which are a long 6311 yards which accounted for part of the reason the slope rating is 131. In addition to the length, there are many other challenging aspects. It seemed as though most greens had two to three sand traps surrounding them. The tenth hole is an uphill shot over water where the landing area seemed at least 180 yards away. Many tee shots are down very narrow fairways so a three wood would be a wise choice. This course is worth playing!

St. Marlo is a Denis Griffiths designed course that I had been wanting to play, but due to the price I have not until recently. We booked a late afternoon round for a good price, the pro shop and starter were both friendly and helpful. The course was visually beautiful with green fairways, perfect greens, waterfalls, and stone walls lining many holes. The design was challenging as all Denis Griffiths designs are...elevation changes, blind shots, deep challenging bunker positions, forced carries...it has it all! I don't remember which hole it was but the 400 yard par five up the mountainside was a real challenge. Had a great time and kicked my buddies butt too!

Played this course as Scales a few months ago. The course layout was a lot of fun, many different holes that make this course very interesting. Conditions of the course were fair at best. I'm hoping upon returning that the new ownership has improved the course making this back into the great course it was at one time.

Played this course with much anticipation. Greens were in great shape, fairways had bare areas due to the heavily wooded, narrow fairways. Maybe some thinning of the trees would help? Tee boxes were a bit beat up. Overall I enjoyed the track. The front side has water coming into play on the first six holes with great views of state mountain. The water holes require accuracy to stay dry! The backside was mainly narrow tree lined fairways with many elevation changes. The back seems to play longer than it actually is. The staff were all great. The clubhouse facilities were top notch. My only complaint is having to pay a $10.00 park entrance fee as well as the round which makes it a bit pricey for me.

Had the first tee time Saturday and staff was very friendly. I have played this course numerous times as I live close by. The best feature of this course has always been the bermuda greens which were always perfect. Unfortunately on this occasion they were not. There are a number of the greens were slow, bumpy, sandy, burnt and under repair. I think I will wait till next year to try again. The course layout is fun, challenging, and has some interesting holes...but I can't see paying $45 for the state of these greens.

The course was in good condition. Greens good, fairways had grass. The layout was ok...not any memorable holes. I was hoping there would be some nice views of Lake Lanier, but we only saw it briefly on only one. I will play again.

I played Chestatee for the first time sunday. I liked the course a lot, and played it because it is a Denis Griffith design. I am on a quest to play as many of his designs as possible. This course is 1 1/2 hours from home, but was worth the drive.

The clubhouse was nice and the staff was very friendly and helpful. The cart girl came around several times, and the turkey sandwich tasted homemade.

I would have scored it much higher, but was a bit dismayed that the greens had been punched that week...the Golfnow reservation did not show that this had occurred. Never the less, the course was in excellent shape. Grass on the fairways, traps had sand, and greens ran relatively quickly despite the punching.

The Denis Griffiths design did not disappoint! Lots of elevation changes, yet not as extreme as mountain golf. Creeks running through fairways, lakes touching many greens, elevated greens surrounded by traps all make for a challenging round!

I will be returning!

My buddy and I arrived for a 3:10pm tee time on a thursday, and went off the front nine. As we we playing the 12th hole, a tournament of carts began flying past us. One particular person stopped to give us a hard time which wasn't appreciated since the fault wasn't ours. We broke off and went back to the clubhouse and confronted the young man who sent us off. After realizing his mistake, he offered to give us a voucher for a return nine, which we declined and played the front a second time. This is the third time in the last year that I've experienced poor communication at various courses around town and been trapped in a tournament. Why can't these course get their act together?

Otherwise...the greens were lightning fast, which I like. The grass wasn't coming in yet so balls could easily roll off the fairways into the woods. Hope to play again after the grass comes in.

I had never played Trophy Apalachee though it is in my area of play. My playing partner refused to play there due to poor conditions, I should have listened to him!

The club house was nice, as was the personnel who were very friendly. The practice putting surface was excellent, the driving range was fair. Unfortunately when we hit the course the deteriorated conditions were very apparent. Some greens and tee boxes were in excellent shape, most were not.

The fairways were in winter mode, which as we all know means lots of roll which isn't bad. What is bad, is that there is no rough off the fairways, just hard ground, thus well placed shots on many slanted fairways just roll off into the woods.

There is a lot of trees that have been taken down laying about, and evidence of big equipment that has moved about tearing up the course. Hopefully this is evidence of an improvement plan in progress. I like the layout out, and with some TLC this could become a very nice course. Unfortunately, the cost of the round versus the conditions is a very bad value.

Let me start by saying that Sugar Hill is the hardest course I've ever played...and I loved it! The challenges never end. The first three holes lull you into a false sense that the 129 slope won't be so bad. Wrong! The fourth hole is a downhill dogleg left framed by a lake on one side and woods on the right. The second shot takes you uphill to a narrow landing area surrounded by traps. Though it is the #1 handicap hole, I think the next hole (#5) is harder. The fifth hole is a drive over a gulf with the lake on the left, woods on the right, and anything short of a 200 yard carry has no chance of being safe as the landing area is the side of the dam and will bounce into the woods. The sixth hole is another long drive to a narrow landing area and anything right is gone into deep woods. The seventh hole is a drive up the side of a mountain with a second shot to a very narrow landing area with anything left going off the mountain. The ninth hole is a double dogleg par five going downhill then climbing back uphill. The back nine again gives you a respite on the first few holes then...the fourteenth hole is a 200 yard slightly downhill drive to a large drop off. The fifteenth is another forced carry over a lake to a landing area above the bluff. Sixteen is not a simple par three followed by seventeen which is once again driving up the side of a mountain. The eighteenth finishing par five doesn't look bad till the green comes into view. It is quite a raised green surrounded by traps. The last five holes beat me up good. If you are looking for an easy golf experience this may not be the course fort you. If you are looking to challenge your game with every conceivable golf course hazard or design effect, this is your course! This was my first experience at Sugar Hill, and I hope to return soon. Conditions for winter golf were excellent and the staff was friendly.