Winter Rules: Heron Lakes Golf Course (Great Blue)

Welcome to Winter Rules, where we look at how our local courses are holding up during the winter months. This week, we take a look at Heron Lakes Golf Course, specifically Great Blue. Arguably the best of the city owned courses in both design and course maintenance, Great Blue is a very popular course in-season. But in the quiet winter months, when prices drop to $24 during the week and $30 on the weekends, there’s opportunity for value and enjoyment of a championship style course. Like most courses at this time, all carts must stay on the path should you choose to ride. We decided to hoof this December round in an effort to stay warm and relaxed for the sake of good swings.

Despite being located in a delta and having plenty of neighboring water sources, the course has remained rather dry thus far. Aside from a few plug areas in the rough, the course provided decent firmness for this time of year. The fairways are still providing some bounce (even before the “cold snap”!), thanks in part to relatively low rainfall, but also a sound drainage system. The greens are holding up well and running great; just a touch slower to putt on then their speedy summer time conditions.

For those that need their golf fix during the winter, you sacrifice very little in playing Great Blue during the winter. Other than the lack of tall grass, the course plays no different strategically than it does during the summer. Be sure to give a little extra on your putts, and play an extra club if you plan to run your ball to the pin. You can read our review of the Great Blue course at Heron Lakes HERE.