Colonial Heritage Club

Colonial Heritage Golf Club continues to be the most underrated course in all of Virginia and my most recent visit proves that even more. From exceptional playing conditions to a top-notch staff and everything in between, this course truly deserves to be considered one of the best courses anywhere that you can play for under $50.

The course conditions are the most improved aspect from my previous visit, though they’ve never been sub-standard. From tee to green, everything is superb, the greens especially are absolutely perfect with no bumps, grooves, patches or burnouts areas. Bunkers are ranked, the undulating fairways are well groomed and lush and the rough looks like it could host a U.S. Open.

I had previously only played this course on my own but I brought along some friends this time to show them around and it became clear pretty soon that I’ve been underestimating this course’s difficulty level. The rundown given by the starter is slightly sensationalized, but only slightly. We played from what we thought were reasonable tees for our skill levels at right about 6000 yards. We really should have played up a set because we admittedly took quite a long time to get around the course. Making sure you play the tees that match the slope rating your comfortable with will not only help you enjoy your round more but also speed up play for everyone. One last tip: spend as much time on the practice green before your round as you can.

Back to the course, the Arthur Hills design is as beautiful as it is challenging with well-crafted fairways and green complexes. Bunkers and hazards are in all the right places and really require you to think your way through your round. You’ll use driver less here than many courses but I feel that really adds to the experience. Challenges continue with heavily tiered or potato-chip-sculpted greens (running about 10.5 on the day I played) and sharp drop-offs on many of the greens and a few fairways as well. There’s quite a few blind shots as well so if you haven’t played here before, bring along someone who has or pony up the $6 for a yardage book.

The staff continues to impress here with professional and friendly service, we even had one of the maintenance crew pause her mowing to guide us towards a lost ball. If I have a complaint about my round it’s that the lack of a beverage cart for the 5 hours we were out there in the heat and humidity really seemed out of place.

The practice facilities (which I hadn’t really used before) are excellent here as well with grass driving range and separate chipping and putting greens. The food in the restaurant is a little pricey but you get what you pay for.

Speaking of value, it remains Colonial Heritage’s biggest asset. You can spend upwards of $100 at Spring Creek up in central VA (which is routinely rated as the best in the state) and not feel like you’re getting a better golfing experience as you do here for as little as $35. To me that’s a huge difference and with both courses just over an hour from me, I know I’ll be choosing Colonial Heritage far more often.

Second time playing this course and really enjoyed the layout and the variety of holes. You really have to think your way around the course and in some cases knowing the holes is a big help as there are some blind shots or your tee shot has to be placed to prepare for your next shot. The cllubhouse and starter staff were very friendly and helpful.
Will definitely play this course again next time we're in the Williamsburg area.

Had a great time, course in great shape and very challenging. Will definitely be back.

This course will make you think on every shot. Great layout with some beautiful holes. Course plays long so be prepared to club up. I'm a 17-20 handicap but was able to birdie a few holes so this always brings me back to a course. Some construction was going on which created some dust and noise but still enjoyed the course. Will play again.

Can’t believe this course was built in a retirement community!
You need to be 10 or under handicap to play this course!
Lots of topography change which is vusually atttactive but adds considerable degree of difficulty.

Everything first class here. Presentation, greeting, hospitality, course layout, difficulty and condition. Beautiful and difficult track that was enjoyed by all of us. A must play when in Williamsburg.

Course conditions were very nice. Greens were almost 100 % healed Whole facility is super with an abundant and courteous staff of PRO’S
Practice area was a nice surprise

We teed off at 2 and finished at 7. We called and asked for a nine-hole raincheck when we were 3 hours to the 11th but were told that because we had finished 10 to forget the raincheck even though we complained at 9. When we finished at 7 the clubhouse was locked. with players on the course. We never saw a marshal on the course, the only person we saw from the course was at the 17th and it was the same person who checked us in. We travel to Williamsburg every year to begin our golf season and have played this course many times before; it would be hard to recommend this place to any of our friends.
We finished the back nine in 2 hours because people in front of us and behind us left.
The course is fun, the layout is great but not respecting pace of play and our time is not acceptable. Management, realize the public has choices

This picturesque course was a challenge as it was the first time I had played here. Checking each hole layout and attention to management of same is essential for good scores. A good healthy walk when conditions are cart path only! All in all, It was a thoroughly enjoyable round!

Definitely not enjoyable. Course layout definitely needs signage, yardage markers, maps and more information on trap locations and water hazards. Uphill, downhill, side-hill lies galore makes the course a difficult one for anyone that sits 90+. The back nine features a dust bowl housing subdivision construction zone that on a windy day puts you in an area that feels like an open pit coal mine.
With a choice of great courses in the area this is not on my list for the future.

I love this course because of the challenge. Even if I am a 14 handicap golfer, that course make you think. I played there 9 times in the last 4 years. In April the green at little brown, but you don't play there for that.
Please ask for the track map if not you would not like it.
There is also a great chipping range.

*This is an updated review. For more thoughts on this course, see my full review from 6/02/17*

This has been one of my favorite course in the state due to the great layout, consistently good playing conditions, friendly staff and great value. Most of that has been retained for 2018 but there’s one change that you should know about if you’ve played here before.

First and foremost, they have aerified all the greens, and not with the pin-sized holes I had witnessed last summer which didn’t affect play at all. This time the putting surface is largely altered by larger holes and sand and putting was a challenge all day. Since this only happens a couple times a year, I won’t focus too much on it and my overall rating doesn’t reflect the temporary degradation in playing conditions. It is worth noting that despite heavy rains the night before, the course had drained very well, though cart path-only was still warranted.

To me the biggest change that has impacted this beautiful course is the expansion of housing development, particularly on the back nine. My favorite par-3 on the course used to be tucked away in a secluded corner of the course, surrounded by woodlands. Fast forward 8 months and the trees are all gone and soon the only backdrop will be a row of gated-community houses. I admit this is more a personal letdown and may not affect anyone who hasn’t played here before, but it struck me how much change had been made to the hole’s character by simply changing the backdrop. The construction continues on to the next few holes but to me, that par-3 was impacted the most.

Scenic backdrops notwithstanding, this course remains a great layout with challenging and varied holes that will have you using different clubs and different shots on every hole. The fluffy bunkers (even after a lot of rain) take some time to get used to and the elevation changes are pretty incredible for this area.

The staff remains top-notch with friendly and helpful service, they even guided me to the back-nine first to avoid getting held up by a large group on the front nine. Talk about pace-of-play, I breezed through the whole course (cart path only too) in well under 3 hours!

For $30 for an early afternoon tee time, you cannot beat the value of this course. Iit remains my highest ranked course in the state for that category. Once the course fully recuperates from winter and aerification I will be back again and again.

This course was a great experience. We enjoyed wonderful weather for April. The course was in great shape for the time of year. It was very challenging. The bermuda grass was still dormant, as was the case at all courses in the area at this time of year. The roughs were overseeded so they were green, making it more visibly appealing. The course was quite challenging with several forced carries over deep gorges. We found it to be a challenging, but fair design. The greens had been aerated recently, but had almost finished growing in so they were not 100% perfect condition. Long story short, we had a great time. The staff was quite friendly and extremely helpful.

Except for two holes on the front nine and two on the back nine the course is a good layout.

extremely windy round. great course set up. 5 different tee boxes to give the player the test he/she would like. on course restrooms left a little to be desired but other than that it was a great experience

The course does have a nice layout. Pretty much each hole you will have a playable second shot as is an open layout which is nice. The staff was very nice and the snack bar was good. To start, a small bucket of range balls was $8 which is quite over priced as I have played nicer more ritzy courses where a small token is $4-$5. The driving range was nice. Fairways were not grown in yet due to the weather which I can understand. The biggest issue were the greens. If i could rate them a negative five I would. For the price of my round, I expect immaculate greens not greens covered in sand, holes all over the place some as big as a quarter and overall just 100% inconsistent. My group was giving gimmies from 5 feet in because no green would role without hops, skips and jumps. We were all super frustrated to pay a large amount for such poor greens. The round was worth $40, but round total plus the range balls was $65. Really feel like the course owes me some change.

Slightly over-priced paid $50.00 per man should have been $35.00
GPS does not take you to proper entrance this made for quite a last minute run-around.