This is a gem of a golf course hidden away in a beautiful hilly setting. Well maintained and a course beyond our expectations for the area.

Fairways and greens are in great shape. Pace of play was good. A hidden gym in Cartersville.

To me, Woodland Hills Golf Club is a solid 4-star golf facility. I really enjoyed our round here (even though I played poorly) and I think this course is worth the nearly 1-hour drive from the city to play. Generally, the course was in good condition, from tee to green, and it had great architecture and landscaping. Also, at $41.25 (tax included) for a Saturday morning daily-fee round, this place was a real bargain. Woodland Hills opened in 2012. For many years, the club was known as Royal Oaks Golf Club and then Plantation Golf Club until it foreclosed (https://patch.com/georgia/cartersville/golf-club-to-reopen-after-foreclosure). Atlanta-based Futren Hospitality owns and operates Woodland Hills and I believe it's the only public (or semi-private) course in their portfolio which includes Indian Hills Country Club in Marietta and The Orchard Golf & Country Club in Clarkesville. While Woodland is lacking in many of the amenities a private club might offer, it does exude a little bit of a private club feel (I believe this club was fully private in the past). Woodland Hills is one of the most remote courses I've played in Georgia to date. My T-Mobile cell service went in and out throughout our round. The course is located in a sprawling, recession-struck residential community known as Carter Grove on the southwest side of Cartersville. It's almost a 2.5-mile drive from the entrance of the community to the golf course. The two-story clubhouse is modestly sized, simple, and fairly no frills, though there are some nice touches like a stone fireplace and hunting trophies in the grill's dining room. The clubhouse was remodeled for the 2012 course reopening. The grill has a covered deck with excellent views of the course. The lower level has a room to play cards. There's a pro shop too, of course, primarily stocked with Woodland Hills branded shirts and pullovers, hats, and balls. The driving range is small. During our visit, we hit off grass, but I saw about a half-dozen mats as well. A small bucket of balls (roughly 45 balls) cost $7 (tax included). These were retrieved by inserting a token into a range ball dispensing machine. The range balls were yellow and average quality. The range has limited yardages, only three: 94, 176, and 245 yards. There are two practice putting greens. Both the range and the practice greens were in good shape. The course has four sets of tees. From the tips (blues), the course measures 6,420 yards with a 69.4/124 rating/slope. We played from the white tees where the course measures 6,013 yards with a 67.8/117 rating. I think these numbers indicate that this course's difficulty is slightly below average, but my friends and I experienced the opposite. However, it was also our first time playing this course and we weren't familiar with its layout. There are several blind shots. Hole layouts are printed on the scorecard, but they only help so much. The hole markers on this course are the simplest I've seen. They're simply just the hole number. Aside from a sign that says, "165 yards to end of fairway," on the 2nd tee and the 150-yard sticks, there aren't many, if any, yardage markers to help you. There's no GPS on the carts either so if you really care about your yardages, you should bring a rangefinder, your own GPS, or use an app. This is a par-71 course with an unconventional hole setup. The front nine is loaded with 6 par-4s while the back nine has 3 par-3s and 3 par-5s (typically, a nine will have 2 par-3s, 5 par-4s, and 2 par-5s). Overall, I found the design of the course to be interesting and fun. There is a good mix of holes with varying difficulties, hazards, and elevation changes. The greens are big and flat, for the most part, and there aren't a whole lot of bunkers. Many of the holes do feel narrow and not as "wide open" as a lot of holes in Georgia. The rough can get thick. The par-3s on the back nine are quite challenging. Nos. 12 and 16 are 183 and 175 yards, respectively, from the white tees (225 and 193 from the blues). No. 14 is a 155/174 (white/blue) yard carry over water. If you overhit it, you'll end up on private property that is heavily guarded with barbed wire. Along with 14, scenic holes include 8 (beautiful downhill, creekside par-3), 13 (tee shot over water), and 18, a short par-5 that dog-legs heavily to the left by the clubhouse. Nos. 12, 13, and 18 border a picturesque lake with a fountain. Fully built-out men's and women's restrooms are located by the 5th and 14th tees. However, there was no water on the course nor was there a food and beverage cart or marshall. Luckily, our pace of play was fine, but not for the groups behind the slow group behind us. The golf carts are fuel-injected Yamaha golf carts. I booked our tee time by calling the club directly. I like using GolfNow, but Woodland Hills is one of those examples where booking through GolfNow can actually cost you more money than by booking through the pro shop. read more

Great course in good condition considering the harsh weather. One of the best deals in the area

This place is starting to grow on me. The first couple times I went I didn't care for the course but now I'm liking it more and more.

Woodland Hills is an absolute STEAL for the price! I've golfed here over 10 times now and love it every time, no matter the weather. I highly recommend using GolfNow for the hot deal if that time slot fits your needs (if you book day-of on a weekday, it gets down to $16 for the full 18 with a cart). I moved about 30 minutes away almost 2 years ago and I'm not sure I've even tried any other courses once I tried Woodland Hills. Too good for the price! I usually hit around 100-105 on 18 holes, so I'm not trying to spend over $50 (or even $35 if I can avoid it) for a round of golf; I'm just not that good lol. But this course makes sure you're not playing off those typically cheap sandy greens you get at your usual cheap $30 course Pros: Price. Unique layout (I don't use my driver until hole 4, but use a 5 iron or greater off the tee of 2 of the par 3s) Beauty. My wife was stopping to take pictures of the scenery about once every 3 holes because the holes even have their own unique beauty too (water, flowers, white rocks, bushes, stone wall, etc). Staff is always 100% inviting. Greens are always a good brisk pace. Good balance of super tough holes and "give back" holes. Cons: Driving range. It's there, it works, but it's pretty lacking besides just "somewhere to smack balls into one of 3 distance markers" Location. This isn't a problem, really, but it's pretty far out from most civilization haha. Cell service is usually fine, but not on some holes. The only problems with course quality in my 10+ rounds is the sand traps and lead up to the green on hole 1, the tee box on hole 3 sometimes needs work, anything off the green on hole 14 is muddy (but it's a par 3 over water, so I guess that's your own problem lol). A couple notes to help you on your round: Don't need a drive off the tee of the first hole (about 220 to the back of the fairway) The green on hole 3 slopes wayyy more to the front than it seems. Avoid the rocks on the right of holes 6 and 7, your ball will blend in. There's water on hole 11 from about 350-400 yards from the tee. Consider laying up unless you can hit a good wood off a good drive. Club up on hole 14. Idk how else to sell it. This hole has something weird about it. I've golfed with probably 6 other people who completely agree. Idk if it's something with the density of the air over the water, but this hole is different (or cursed lol). That's it! Enjoy your round! read more

Woodland Hills is an interesting course, quite challenging for high handicappers like those in our group. If you can keep the ball in the fairway and hit the greens, you'll do well. - Club selection off the tee came into play quite often for my big hitting partners (not so much for me). You can't just take a driver and rip it on every par 4 and 5. - The course has couple of long par 3's, including a long water carry on 14. A couple of long par 4's, too. - Greens are in good shape and roll true. Some have a bit of contour but most putting lines were fairly straight. However, the pin placement on #3 was in a ridiculous position on a slope, making a putt almost impossible to stop from any direction but upslope. - Fairways are fairly good but some were scruffy. It's December, so perhaps the grass was not its best. However, missing the fairway is punitive, more so than at most courses I've played. Winter leaves on the ground make it much worse but you'll have that anywhere. - Missing the green is also punitive. A lot of the greenside areas have lumpy, tufted grass that swallows balls and catches clubs. So that approach shot you thought was going to give you a chance at a nice up and down may well result in a double or triple bogey after you chunk the first attempt and send the ball off the other side of the green on the next. This actually was the worst aspect of the course for me and one I grumbled about several times during the round. I do not like being penalized after hitting a decent shot and it happened too often. For example, on the challenging (for me) par 3 14th, I hit a good tee shot that landed on the green but was a bit hot so it ended up several yards behind the green in a large flat area. Two of us searched for a couple of minutes to find the ball because it was buried in this awful grass. I only found it by lining up the ball mark with the tee and walking the line until I about stepped on the ball. Sure, there is always luck involved with getting a poor lie but this green-side grass just isn't right. I don't know my grasses so I don't know what kind it is or whether this is a seasonal issue. - No course layout information other than the small, inadequate diagrams on the scorecard (which is not found on their website but should be). Perhaps course managers are thinking most people have GPS golf watches? Perhaps I need to buy one. In any case, beware of blind shots. - No beverage cart service. We played on a very nice, warm day in early December and I could have used a Powerade. Perhaps they have a cart service during warmer months. No water on the course that I saw, either, which is somewhat unforgivable. - Very small driving range that can accommodate maybe only eight players. No short game practice area and no practice bunker. Two nice practice greens near #1 tee. - Carts are gas-powered, no GPS. - No marshall on the course. We were not held up but a couple of guys two groups behind drove up to us on the back nine asking if they could play behind us (we actually let them play through). They decided to skip a hole to get past the group immediately behind us who were playing painfully slow. Sure enough, we watched after that and even on one hole where a couple of us had adventures looking for our balls, that group didn't come into sight. They need a marshall on the course to maintain pace of play. - Inexpensive. A bargain, actually. This is a relatively new course and so maybe they're still working things out. Plus, being December, things like cart service and a course marshall might not be a priority. Overall, Woodland Hills is A-OK and I'd be happy to play it again. And I'd upgrade to 4 stars were it not for that awful greenside grass. I'm holding a grudge against that evil stuff. read more

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Terrible communication from the pro shop. Marshall forced me to give up my cart. Worst golf experience I've had in several years.

Had a very bad experience there. As a former member I was used to better courtesy when I went there regularly in the past. Today the marshall harrassed us the whole time about playing faster. We were playing best ball, not praying over putts or spending hardly any time looking for errant balls. When I pointed out that we had people in front of us at times that we had to wait for and that we were on pace to finish in the four hours expected, he still said play faster. When I asked him how, he replied he didn't know. When I pressed further and said he had been watching us like a hawk for 5 holes and to tell us what he observed us doing wrong, he had no answer. So I asked him then how we were supposed to play faster and his response was "Hit the f****** ball!" I said I wouldn't play there again and he said he didn't care and to take it up with the manager. The manager was less than useless. Never will I play here again. read more

I would give a 5/5 but one of the course rangers tried to tell us that we weren't playing up to pace except there was no one behind us and we have not been rushed all day we were a pair playing aside another pair. However the fact that he went out of his way to discipline us when we were playing great golf really killed my experience. He needs to chill out we are good golfers and we paid $125 just like everyone else so ease off buddy read more

The course and the people that work there are amazing. I highly recommend Woodland Hills for a difficult but fair golf experience.