If I gave Country Land Golf Course three stars (by the hair of its chinny chin chin, by the way), then I have to give neighbor Hampton Golf Village four stars. It would be an injustice, otherwise. It took me over 16 years to make it back out here. I'd completely forgotten everything about this course, so revisiting it was like playing a new course again. I think I first played this course circa 2001-02. However, unlike my previous round here in 2005, which I had recorded for handicap purposes at the time, I have no evidence of that first round.
Hampton Golf Village opened in 2000. Off the top of my head, I can't think of many public or semi-private 18-hole courses in metro Atlanta that opened in the 2000s or later. Echelon and The Frog, two of my favorites (especially The Frog), come to mind.
For most metro Atlantans, unless you live in/around Alpharetta and north, Hampton Golf Village in Cumming is a hike. From my home in Midtown, in light traffic, this course was a solid 50-minute drive each way. Is the drive worth it? Sure, every once in a while, I wouldn't mind playing this course. However, in the same price tier, there are plenty of other courses I'd rather play that are within a 50-minute drive of my home. Unlike Country Land, though, Hampton Golf Village is "worthy" of being put in my golf rotation.
We were charged $64 per person for our weekend morning tee time. I also paid $4.67 for a small bucket of range balls. After 7% tax, the total was $73.48 for a round and range balls. For the quality of course, service, clubhouse, and amenities, I thought this was "par for the course" and reasonable.
Medium and large buckets of range balls were available too. For the range, you could either pay in the clubhouse where they give you a pin number or swipe your card at the range ball dispenser. During my visit, the range was mats only. The range balls were a grab bag of range ball brands. In general, the balls were pretty worn out and are probably due for replacement soon (if it hasn't happened already). There was a large practice putting green (good size) and a separate chipping green. There is not a practice bunker.
If you're booking a tee time here, I would call the golf shop to book. If you book online via Hampton Golf Village's website, you'll have to pay a nonrefundable fee. When I looked, the nonrefundable fee was $2.49 per golfer. So yeah, definitely call to book and that way, you won't be charged any booking or convenience fee. Scott took my reservation over the phone and he was nice. Shaun checked us in. Good service from those guys.
Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the food and beverage cart girl. Out of the hundreds of rounds I've played in my lifetime, I can't say I've ever encountered a cart girl like the one I last had here. She had a bad attitude and didn't seem to be interested in her job. Maybe she was having a bad day and/or getting turned down by group after group. Some times she drove by, literally paid no attention to us, and kept on trucking. After the first time that happened, we didn't want to buy anything from her for the rest of the round. I realize this was probably a one-off experience, but I had to mention it.
The clubhouse has a spacious dining room as well as an upper level patio that overlooks part of the 18th hole, the pond ("Reservoir 59") in the distance, practice green, and driving range. The golf shop is small, but gets the job done. The men's restroom - and clubhouse, in general - have a "nicer" feel to it, but this is by no means a fancy country club or anything like that. I don't think there are any locker rooms. I think the cart barn is underneath the clubhouse. During our visit, the cart fleet consisted of basic Yamaha EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) carts. They did have simple GPS old-school LCD screens attached to the steering columns. They provided accurate front, middle, and back yardage distances to greens, so that was definitely a plus.
As for the course itself, I thought the layout/design and fun factor were decent. This is a very hilly course with lots of bridges, some neighborhood snaking (but not much), and zero water hazards. The lack of water contributes to this not being the most scenic course, but there are a few nice mountain/hill views and the tree-lined Hampton Park Drive, that runs parallel to hole 11, is beautiful too. The par is 71 with yardage and rating/slope 6,903 yards and 72.8/137 from the tips. We played from the whites: 6,051 yards, 67.9/128. The conditions were fair for a daily fee course in this price tier. There were lots of ball marks on the greens, which was disappointing. Some of the tee boxes were pretty beat up, but the fairways and bunkers were in good shape, overall. There were no sand bottles on the carts, but there were sand buckets with shovels on the par-3 tee boxes (which probably most golfers here do not use; I did). On a busy Sunday with a stacked tee sheet, our pace of play was brisk at 4 hours 20 minutes. read more