heritage hills golf course

If you are an avid and serious public links golfer and are in the vicinity of McCook, Nebraska, then a round at Heritage Hills is an absolute must.This golf course has received numerous accolades over the years and is still deserving of that high praise. The course is as beautiful as it challenging. Experienced golfers will appreciate the many nuances and subtleties of this course. The course is affordable and it is generally not difficult to get a tee time. I paid $50 for 18 and a cart the day I played. I have played the course many times over the years and have only grown in my appreciation and admiration of the facility. Unless you are in VERY good physical condition, this is not a walking golf course. I attempted to walk the course several years ago and gave up after nine holes and rented a golf cart for the back nine. You will have a much better experience driving this course as opposed to walking. I would strongly recommend playing the course early in the day before the heat and summer winds are up. I have played this course on windy, hot, days and it is a real bear of a facility under those conditions.Heritage Hills is built on the sand hills on the west side of McCook. Every hole has some degree of elevation change. In general, you tee off on some sort of elevated tee box and hit to a fairway landing zone below. The second shot on many of the par 4 holes is an uphill shot which will require careful club selection. Some of the approach shots are blind. Playing with a local can be a real asset when trying to negotiate this layout for the first time. Although there are a few trees on the course, Heritage Hills plays much more like a links style layout. There are some very nice and well-kept homes in proximity to the golf course, but none of them present any significant challenge or possibility of being hit. I always prefer golf courses which do not have houses lining the fairways.According to the clubhouse staff, the course has undergone some changes in recent years. Additional tee boxes have been added and/or relocated to accommodate long hitters and single handicap golfers as well as the weekend warriors. Heritage Hills plays to 7042 yards from the tips and 5068 yards from the forward tees. I noted that some of the more troublesome sand bunkers in the past were filled in and became grass bunkers and some of the fairways were cut differently and allowed a more generous landing zone than in previous years.On the day I played, I selected the gold tees which play to 5670 on the card. The rating was 69.0 and the slope was 120. So, still plenty tough enough - even at less than 6,000 yards. There were a couple of reasons I made this choice of tees; the first being that I wanted to leave the driver in the car and rely on my fairway woods and hybrids off the tee in order to keep the ball in the fairways and avoid trouble. The second reason was that the sight lines from the forward tees are less of a problem for a visiting golfer.The greens at Heritage Hills are huge and have significant undulations. Placement of the approach shot on the correct part of the green is essential to avoid three putts. The greens roll very fast and some practice reading greens is highly suggested. Many of the greens are well protected by sand bunkers. If you have a lengthy approach shot, you may wish to consider laying up to get a scoring wedge in your hand in order to get the ball on the right place of the green and give yourself a shot at a par putt. Bogie is an excellent score on many of the holes. Some practice on greenside bunker shots is likewise essential before playing Heritage Hills.The biggest hazard on the golf course is the native rough called “gorse.” An errant tee shot into this vegetation will generally be either irrevocably lost or unplayable. Like the greens, many of the fairways are sloped and you can end up watching your ball roll into the gorse - even if you actually hit the fairway grass. For that reason, it is also essentially to land your tee shots in the right area of the fairways in order to get a decent second shot. That is why I opted out of using the driver for my round. Visitors to the course will lose fewer balls and be less grumpy about their score if their driver is left in the trunk. The most difficult hole on the course is the par 5, 14th. The locals call this the “Culbertson Hole” because it looks like you have to drive the ball miles to Culbertson, the next town to the west of McCook on US 34. Although the hole measured just 475 yards off my tee box, it looked like about 800. If the west winds are up, it may actually play to that length! The hole requires three well executed shots to get on the green. I failed to make the green in three, but was able to land a lob wedge to about five feet and actually made the par putt. My best hole of the day!!Course composition is a traditional par 72 with four par 3’s, four par 5’s, and 10 par 4’s. I managed to shoot an 86 gross, and a 72 net with my 14 handicap. I played the course in 2 hours and 45 minutes. It was a very good day for me and I left far more satisfied with my play than in previous outings. This course must be played carefully and shown appropriate respect. Trying to overpower the course by blasting a driver off the tee will likely not work for any but the very best players.My guess is that beginners and infrequent players would probably really struggle on this golf course. This is not your typical park-style layout with straight fairways and flat greens. McCook used to have a little par 3 facility called Broken Tee at the Elks club in town that was a good haven for beginners. I understand that that facility has now closed, however.Heritage Hills has a nice clubhouse with typical food and drink, plus a proshop with a decent selection of clothing, balls, shoes, gloves, etc. They did not stock a great deal of clubs. The staff was friendly and welcoming. I played on a weekday morning, so there were not many people on the course other than a few locals. I suspect weekends would be crowded and pace of play would be more of an issue. More information about the course may be found at www.heritagehillsmccook.com. I urge you to not drive through town without stopping for a round at Heritage Hills. 5 Stars.