Heritage Park

UPDATE: The new holes and pin layout make for a challenging course. Better use of the facility on a few added holes. Seems there is a ton of space that could have been better utilized for hole layout. OB lines or island rules can be difficult especially on windy days. Pro: City of Cullman does a great job maintaining the course. Cons: Bathrooms on the back side near the dog park are closed due to vandalism. No tee pads yet on the new holes and a few roots that need to be removed or marked bette ...
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UPDATE: The new holes and pin layout make for a challenging course. Better use of the facility on a few added holes. Seems there is a ton of space that could have been better utilized for hole layout. OB lines or island rules can be difficult especially on windy days. Pro: City of Cullman does a great job maintaining the course. Cons: Bathrooms on the back side near the dog park are closed due to vandalism. No tee pads yet on the new holes and a few roots that need to be removed or marked better.

Old Review: Lots of Ace runs. Some holes cross the soccer fields and could see where it might be a problem if there are games or practices going on. Neat layout.
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Heritage is your typical city park set-up. PROS: + ACEABILITY + (15 and 16) are going to have rec players eyeing the chains. Both shot are sub 200 feet and are completely open. There is lots of OB on these two holes to add at least something to the thought process though. In addition to the before mentioned holes, there are lots of other short ace runs, and this course will probably produce 3 or 4 times more aces than an average course. + BEGINNER FRIENDLY + Ideal for beginners and those ...
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Heritage is your typical city park set-up.

PROS:
+ ACEABILITY + (15 and 16) are going to have rec players eyeing the chains. Both shot are sub 200 feet and are completely open. There is lots of OB on these two holes to add at least something to the thought process though. In addition to the before mentioned holes, there are lots of other short ace runs, and this course will probably produce 3 or 4 times more aces than an average course.
+ BEGINNER FRIENDLY + Ideal for beginners and those at the recreational skill level. Mostly open to lightly wooded shots and of shorter length. The wooden holes a generally much wider than what you'd see at an advanced level course, but there also a couple tighter challenging holes to push players to achieve more.
+ UNIQUENESS + About average. There are a bunch of short technical plays that bend in both directions. As mentioned earlier, several short wide open ace runs. There are a couple open bomb-it holes. There is a small creek that meanders through a couple holes and a few ditches in play that will impact your thought process on a hole or two. Hole (12) is a long technical play when in the long position. As for missing items, they include no elevation (see cons), no par 5 and no dogleg hole.
+ NAVIGATION + Solo, first time and no map, and I really didn't have many issues. I probably spent no more than 1 minute looking for a next tee on any one hole. I'll also add that the brand new hole signage looks great, appears accurate, gives hole distance, shows large font hole #, but... it's missing the next tee direction cue.
+ QUICK PLAY + It only took me 45 minutes to run this one. Figure a group of 4 should be able to knock this one out in 2 hours or less.
+ MAINTENANCE + I thought the course conditions were very good. There appears to be some disagreement on this in the reviews I've read. Grass was mowed throughout and trash was in check on my visit.
+ BONUS HOLES + I've seen online sources mention 4 bonus holes labeled A thru D. I only found hole (D) as it filled the gap between (16 and 17).
+ TEES + Adequately sized concrete tees.

CONS:
Heritage has a few of your typical issues that seem to almost always be associated with multi-use parks.
- DUEL-USE HAZARDS - Lots of walking pathways and a few roads in play. I had to stop several times during my round. I also had to alter my play on (8) with people sitting on a bench 300 feet down fairway. Lots of dog walkers in the park whom gave no care that they were in the middle of a fairway.
- LACK OF CHALLENGE - Way too easy for advanced players and above. I could see these players shooting 10 down or better on a regular basis. As mentioned, there are a few technical plays, but most are wide enough for skilled players to park it often. Hole (12) long basket placement and hole (D) were the only holes that made me struggle to make par as an intermediate level player.
- ELEVATION - About as flat as they come. Maybe hole (8) drops by about 10 feet with the tee on top of a mound. The amount of elevation on the remaining holes is not worth noting.
- CHARACTER - Amenities and comfort items were about average or a touch below. I didn't see a course map on site or community board or practice basket. I only saw one or two benches at the tees and there was no place to stow a bag. As for good things, new tee signs, lots of nearby shelters with picnic tables and restrooms nearby.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - I did not score Heritage well. Too many man-made structures in view, from chain link fences to sheds to parking lots and roads. Several of the woods holes have a bit of eye appeal to them but it's not substantial enough to bring the totality of the course back to average.

OTHER THOUGHTS:
From reading a bunch of reviews and looking at some online pics, this course definitely got an update in the last year or so. Heritage is the right size of course to support a club and to have league events. I'd happily call this place my home course if I lived in town. Not a destination course but worth checking out once you've hit 10 to 20 north Alabama courses.
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This is a park course with a variety of hole type. The first 4 are very short, wooded shots of about 200 feet or less. The course then opens up to a grassy field with a few long range shots alongside a creek and highway. From there you progress along the creek and get thrown in and out of the woods once more. The course finishes with 3 unobstructed shots over grass and finally 2 wooded shots reminiscent of the first 4. Overall the course flows well and is enjoyable to play. The main problem i ...
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This is a park course with a variety of hole type. The first 4 are very short, wooded shots of about 200 feet or less. The course then opens up to a grassy field with a few long range shots alongside a creek and highway. From there you progress along the creek and get thrown in and out of the woods once more. The course finishes with 3 unobstructed shots over grass and finally 2 wooded shots reminiscent of the first 4.

Overall the course flows well and is enjoyable to play. The main problem is some of the holes are too short or lack enough obstacles to make them intriguing. Particularly the stretches between 1-4 and 15-18 leave something to be desired. Conversely between holes 5-13 the course was great! That stretch forces you to pick a line off the teebox and commit to it.

I think a beginner would love this course. It's not going to punish someone too much for bad throws and the variety of shots will keep them entertained. If you want a great challenge and adventure you won't find it here, but if you're looking for an enjoyable afternoon in the park, look no further.
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