Colonial Heritage Club

If you're going to play from the tips, you better bring your A game. This course was VERY difficult from the back, although there were several sets of tees that would more than likely make this an enjoyable track for most abilities. Course was in really good condition from tee to green. I snuck in as a single on a Saturday morning, and with the kindness of several groups of foursomes that let me through, was able to get a round in in about 3-1/2hrs. All of this was possible due to the professionalism of the staff. The tee time system made an error in booking my tee time, but the staff was happy to make it work and got me in. I would definitely recommend a stop here if you are in the area!

Great course, and a great deal through golf now.

Very pretty, but tough course to play.

A great GC to test your long and straight as well as short and tight. Recently punched greens took away the "putting for show" opportunities. 2 drivable par 4s made the total experience worth while.

I'll be back.

The course was okay but I just did not care for the layout. There are too many blind shots. When you just aim at a spot in front of you, there is no feedback. Then you have to locate the ball. Given the quirks in the layout, that is not an easy task. The rough or severe slopes into ravines make it slow going. The $6 yardage book is necessary. A laser is a big help.

Conditioning was fair to poor, but the time of year is a big contributor. I cannot offer an opinion on putting because the greens were aerated. That was not mentioned prior to booking or reflected in the rate. The bunkers were unfair in that the sand is so soft that the ball plugs deeply every time. The course was a mix of spotty overseed, weeds, and dormant Bermuda. That made it very clumpy. I am sure this will improve with time. There was evidence of weed control attempts.

Houses and OB are very close to the fairways although I did not get close to any. So it may be that the routing keeps this from being much of a problem. I think it would be impossible to walk the course. I don't know if it is allowed. There are some steep down slopes and hairpin curves on the cart paths. I would not let a teenager drive the cart.

There is a good mix of length in the holes, so you use all of your clubs. I like that. I guess if you played the course regularly, you might get used to the quirks. I just did not like it enough to go back.

This course is located in an upscale retirement community. It was not near fully booked at 8:30 on Saturday morning. I no longer live in the area but I guess that means there are better options. The folks I played with were not accomplished golfers and they had a tough time. Two of the three ran out of golf balls.

I have played nearly all of the courses in the area, from Tidewater to the west side of Richmond. All things considered, I rate this one in the middle in terms of enjoyment and value.

This is a very tuff course to play for your first time. Many blind shots. Would like to play it again, knowing where to go. The staff and starter were very helpful and friendly.

Don't come out here thinking this is a course for seniors just because it is in a retirement community. Challenging with tight landing areas and small greens. Well conditioned and friendly staff.

Very nice course with attentive staff. Good condition for the time of year.

Lost a number of balls as you could not find them in the rough especially on blind shots - this is what frustrates golfers & slows the pace of play - after 9 holes stopped at the snack shack & they were out of most everything including sandwiches - guess because of the time of year - otherwise it was a nice course to play & staff were pleasant

From layout to condition its just a joy to be on this course.

we started from the 10th hole, directed by the marshall. Unclear why, with the result that we had several groups in front of us when we started with the 2nd 9 (1st hole). It's a challenging golf course with elevated tees and greens with a couple of rough and ravines to cross. If you have a bad day, then this course doesn't help you. The course was in good shape with fast greens. Nevertheless, we would come back to this course to play it again. Hopefully with a good score.

I'm not sure why the reviews are as high as they are. The course is mostly good with a couple of weird holes, but overall, I don't see anything great about the course. It was in good condition and has lots of forced carries, but for a younger single digit player, this wasn't an issue, but for older low ball hitters it could be very frustrating. The real problem was the pace of play. In the middle of a friday I was expecting to play fairly quickly, but our round took over 5 hrs to complete, which is pretty unacceptable. I still had a decent experience, but if I knew how long it was going to take to play I would have gone elsewhere. Also, the course is in a retirement community, so it seems its mostly older residents that play here which could have contributed to the pace of play.

is course offers a great Virginia golfing experience. Many elevation changes fairways in excellent shape. Greens were a little rough due to recent aeration. Overall experience was extraordinary. It was so good we played a second round. much different than the Florida courses I'm used to playing

I've played Colonial Heritage many times over the past 8 years. The course by far is the best in Williamsburg. My only issues today were the ball marks not being fixed and we were behind a captain's choice outing where we had to wait on every shot over the last 5 holes as the foursomes in front of us had to discuss every shot. It is a beautiful and we'll maintained course. BRAVO :)

This is a great course! The only problem is the amount of un-repaired divots on the greens. The foursome in front of us left a lot of un-repaired divots making the putting game difficult. There were probably 10-15 un-repaired divots on every green. Got tired of fixing so many. Makes a great course miserable. Just cant get over golfers not cleaning up after themselves.

Very difficult course, with lots of forced carry and blind shots. Playing the correct tee is crucial otherwise its going to be a long day.

My wife surprised me and set up a tee time for me and my two buddies for my birthday. I have been meaning to play here for a while after reading the positive reviews. It was worth the drive from Richmond! I honestly think this could be my favorite course. The staff was very friendly from start to finish. Pace of play was excellent for a Saturday Morning. Conditions were top notch. Play from the correct tees to match your handicap and you will really love this course. It is challenging, but fair and that is what a "championship" level course should be. Greens were fast and true but held shots nicely. The course offers a lot of variety and I think I used every single club in my bag. You have to think your way through most holes and layup here and there to properly manage the course. For me, I prefer this to just hitting a driver, wedge over and over again. Get the yardage book too. I used it on almost every hole. It helps a lot with making decisions off the tee. Expect to score 5-10 higher than you would at a "weekenders" course but it is an enjoyable challenge. Not a frustrating challenge like some other "Championship" level courses I've played recently. Can't wait to play here again.

The fact that so many people gave this course good reviews has made me realize something about what people consider to be good courses. It seems that of a course is in really good condition and is challenging, the more people think it's a good course.

I disagree with these criteria. My metric for a god course is its playability and ability to cater to all levels of golfers and still provide a challenge to the low handicapper. Conditions are important too but not more so than playability.

With those metrics in mind, I would not recommend this course. There are far too many hazards, blind shots, and difficult holes for this to be playable and enjoyable for anyone other than the best single digit handicapper....and I'm a single digit handicap. I would never bring my children here if they wanted to learn to play golf.

In fact I came to the realization after playing this course that any course built in the 80s and later usually is not very playable and I'll be staying away from them in the future. My advice to everyone would be to find a course that was built prior to the 1980s when golf courses starting getting overly penal and architects started becoming a lot less picky about the sites they choose to build on - it seems like they thought more about how much money the location could potentially rake in and not how the difficulty of the terrain and course would drive people away from golf.

All in all if you base good courses just on good course conditions and difficulty, then yes, this is a fantastic course. But if you're looking for a course and round that can actually be enjoyed and not stressed over and is playable to everyone, this is not the course for you.

Lastly, the pro asked me how we enjoyed our round afterwards and I was honest with him - saying what I'm said above. He seemed to waive it off and disagree. The fact that he did that really summed up a big reason why golf is declining in popularity today - what other business asks a customer what they thought of their product/service and upon a receiving a negative review., just waives it off and doesn't think honestly if they should change their business? Instead it showed that the golf industry is not willing to change or even reflect on its business model. And yet many in the industry scratch their head on why golfers are leaving the game and blame it on millenials being lazy and wanting instant gratification...to that I say: well yeah that's part of it because you've made the courses so darn difficult that it's not fun and you won't listen to your customer and don't have any customer service!

Maybe one day I'll have an opportunity to help design a course. I may not understand agronomy and construction but I think I can definitely help with the playability of a course design.

I have played every course in the Williamsburg area over the past 25 years, best public course in the area.

Excellent and beautiful course in great condition. Challenging on many levels.