Heron Lakes Golf Course

About
Heron Lakes makes for a fine weekend when you're looking to combine hacker-friendly golf with post-round horse race wagering. Located across the highway from the Sam Houston Racepark, Heron Lakes serves up 18 holes of relatively easy golf where length isn't required to score well.
Getting there : The course is located 5 minutes from Willowbrook Mall and just across the tollway from the Sam Houston Racepark.
Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
---|---|---|---|---|
Blue | 65 | 4979 yards | 69.0 | 113 |
White | 65 | 4604 yards | ||
Red (W) | 65 | 4106 yards | 68.5 | 109 |
Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blue M: 67.1/109 | 298 | 313 | 370 | 305 | 210 | 207 | 140 | 292 | 410 | 2545 | 242 | 350 | 202 | 375 | 120 | 279 | 185 | 360 | 348 | 2461 | 5006 |
White M: 66.1/101 | 277 | 290 | 313 | 287 | 167 | 186 | 120 | 277 | 340 | 2257 | 213 | 303 | 180 | 360 | 103 | 253 | 173 | 307 | 307 | 2199 | 4456 |
Red M: 66.0/100 W: 67.2/105 | 213 | 273 | 253 | 273 | 133 | 143 | 93 | 267 | 330 | 1978 | 183 | 280 | 157 | 347 | 97 | 233 | 150 | 273 | 263 | 1983 | 3961 |
Handicap | 14 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 18 | 16 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 13 | 9 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 15 | 5 | |||
Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 33 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 32 | 65 |
Handicap (W) | 16 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 17 | 15 | 7 |
Course Details
Rentals/Services
Practice/Instruction
Policies
Food & Beverage
Bar, GrillAvailable Facilities
Clubhouse, Banquet FacilitiesAccolades
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Golf Advisor: Top 25 Most Improved U.S. Golf Courses (2016 #14)
Reviews
Enjoyable Day
It is a great course if you would like to play a quick round of golf without any wait. The course was in overall good shape. The staff is friendly and got us on the course quick. I will go back.
Short but Challenging Course
This is the shortest course I've ever played, but definitely one of the tougher. The narrow fairways and considerable amount of rough patches/trees made tee shots meant there was little to no room for error. Otherwise, the conditions of the course were pretty good. We played a few days after it rained, so I'm sure some of the mud came as a result. Overall, the course has clearly turned around nicely since new management took over a few months back.
Nice Surprise..!
Have played Heron Lakes many times in the past... 1st time since the renovation... Biggest difference is the greens; they are smooth and fast, except #2... sad to see the par 5s go away, but overall, it was a very pleasant experience...

Hi Greg, thank you for taking the time to review us! We are so glad to hear that you had a great time at our course and that you notice our progress since renovating. We worked really hard on our greens and we're happy you are pleased with them. Thank you for the great review. We hope to see you again soon!
Short course but fun
I like most of the changes that they have made since they reopened it. They thinned out the trees and that allows for faster play. They changed the opening hole to a par 3 and changed the few par 5's to par 4's. They do a pretty good job of keeping up the course. The narrow fairways and the par 3's I think offer the biggest challenges .

Hi there, we are thrilled to hear that you like the changes we've made since we reopened. We worked really hard to make it more player-friendly as well as a quick pace of play. We're happy it doesn't go unnoticed! We'd like to thank you for taking the time to review us. We hope to see you again soon!
Good shape
I haven't played this course in years I had never went back because the terrible shape it was in. I was surprised when I played it was in good shape
Short game Gem
This course is great for short game work and it is challenging with narrow fairways. The fairways were in good shape. The greens need more work and it would be a better than average course. The layout is good making the pace of play faster than normal.

Hi, thank you for the review. We are happy to hear that you enjoy our course - from our nice fairways to our quick pace of play. We are constantly working to improve our course and appreciate your feedback. Thanks again. We hope to see you again soon!
Good course for working on short game and creativity of shot making
Went early in mornings and course was wide open pace of play was a 3 hour round. When leaving we saw the traffic starting to build with older golfers and couples. So would recommend playing early or late for quick pass. I knew was a short course so left my woods at home so I would not be tempted. Work on irons off the tee was left around 150 or less in on every par 4. Par 3 are long and the short par 3 are challenging with pin placement. Conditions were good and greens rolled true. Very good course to fine tune your iron game

Hi there, thank you for writing a wonderful review! We are thrilled to hear you had a great time while playing at our course. We are very proud of short, quaint and a little challenging course. We absolutely love the tip that you gave about leaving your woods at home - we hope it worked out well! Thanks again for the great review. We hope to see you again soon!
H L
Heron Lakes has been improved significantly under new ownership ....many positive changes throughout .... you surely have to be straight on this one .... it's a fun departure from 'standard' courses.

Thank you for the good review! We are happy to hear that you are pleased with our updates and appreciate are non-standard course. Thanks again and we hope to see you again soon!
Nice little course
First time I played Heron Lakes. It is a short course but it can be challenging. You need to stay in the fairways. You are rewarded for good shots but errant shots can cost you plenty. Very friendly staff. Great value for the money. I will play it again.

Thank you for coming out and playing at Heron Lakes! We are glad to see your first experience with us was enjoyable. We look forward to seeing you back out on the greens!
My new favorite course
Played Heron Lakes two weekends as part of a group of 3. Both games were very enjoyable and pace of play excellent with little pressure from other golfers. Course staff are very friendly and courteous, pro shop is well stocked and bathrooms are CLEAN!! Golf carts were in good shape. There is no driving range but they do have a chipping/putting green.
The course is all par 3 and 4 holes with no sand bunkers. There are some long holes in this layout and most holes have a ditch or water to play a hazard and keep it challenging. The tee boxes are in excellent shape and the greens very well maintained. The fairways are pretty narrow in several spots and if you hook or slice much, you will need to work your game to keep in the open. Both games we played, we found more balls than we lost.
The owners renovated the course this past winter and did a very nice job. There are enough woods and angles to the play that it challenged an experienced golfer in our group. He was very pleased with the course too.
Overall, enjoyed playing here very much the past two weekends and will play again soon. My only regret is if they keep getting good reviews like this they will get very busy. ;)

Thank you for all the kind words regarding our course! We are lucky to have great people like you leaving such positive feedback! Hope to see you back out at Heron Lakes soon!
Ignore reviews prior to 2016
The staff at Heron Lakes did a beautiful job over the winter of 2015-2016 rebuilding tee boxes,, improving greens and otherwise sprucing up the course. The greens are in great shape, a vast improvement from previous years. With the revisions, par has been lowered from 68 to 65 by changing the two former par 5s to par 4s, and the opening hole from a short par 4 to a long par 3.
Still a tight course that favors accuracy over distance, they've cleaned out a lot of brush that makes errant balls easier to find. The only drawback is the lack of a driving range, so play conservatively those first few holes until you're warmed up!

Hi Gary,
We worked very hard to improve the course over the Winter and it brings us joy reading great reviews like these! Thank you so much for taking time to leave a review! We are excited to help makes Heron Lakes a great course for all!

spot on.
Much improved
The course before was not that good in shape. But with new management (Josh), the course looks great and the staff is very friendly and courteous. I will be playing there again.

Thanks for the great review! We have been working extremely hard on improving the course and we are under new management! Thanks for taking notice! We look forward to seeing you back at Heron Lakes!
I'm loving it
I started playing this course 10 years ago and then stop playing all together for about 4 years. Now we purchased another house on the course and played with the improvements so far. Awesome job and now there's a CART GIRL. That has been missing for a long time. But I'm back living on the course and will be playing more Heron Lakes. Can't wait for it to be done to see how it turns out.
Rehabilitated course
The course just reopened after extensive rehabilitation. The tees have been replaced and improved, the greens have been cut lower and more consistent and the brush between the holes has been removed to allow you to find the errant balls. The new management has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to make the course more enjoyable. As the growing weather allows the improvements to mature the course, (especially the greens) is getting better every day. It used to be rough. Now it is a gem without the rough. Easy to get on and the best price in town.
Victors on the Green is opening soon. I am looking forward to a great 19th hole there.
What a waste of a beautiful day
If you like a par 68, 5400 yard course whose first par 5 is 400 yards long and is twenty yards wide and putting on shag carpet greens, then you have found your dream course. Awful.

Thank you for taking time to leave a review. We appreciate all feedback!
Great round of golf
Got this deal for 14$ and couldn't have been happier. Great dear for the price. Good course, good condition.

Thanks for coming out and playing a round at Heron Lakes! We're glad to hear you enjoyed our course!
Hi there, thank you for the good review! We're happy to hear that you appreciate our course conditions, despite the rain! We recently renovated and we are happy that you notice. It is a shorter and narrower than the average and, understandably, that can make it more challenging, which is the way we like it! Thank you for taking the time to review us. We hope to see you again soon!