Greater Joliet Golf Hole of the Month: No. 7 at Heritage Bluffs

At Heritage Bluffs Public Golf Club, the question of what is the signature hole comes with as many as 18 different answers.

"Every hole is the signature hole," said golf pro Brian Smith.

Smith was named pro at the Channahon Park District course last June after Mark Fehrenbacher retired. The two worked together during the infant days of the Dick Nugent-designed layout, which will be celebrating its 20-year anniversary on Aug. 4.

Smith then took a post at Coyote Run in Flossmoor. He spent eight years commuting from his home in Shorewood to the south suburbs before landing back at Heritage.

"Over the years, it's flucuated," Smith said of what is considered Heritage's top hole. "When I was here back in the '90s and the early 2000's as an assistant, it was hole No. 7. That was a unique hole.

"But, then, over the years, it's kind of evolved into No. 10 down here, which has more of that elevation dropoff with the water and an elevated green. The 18th hole has kind of been a signature hole for the golf course.

"So, we really have a bunch of holes—this is one of those golf courses where when you ask a guy, 'What hole do they remember?' They remember a number of them. It's not just one. And that's what is cool about this layout.

"It's not just a one-trick pony. There's multiple things that people remember about us. And that's why they like coming back down here."

Heritage Bluffs earned four stars (out of five) in a Golf Digest Places to Play survey and has been featured in Chicagoland Golf by "Two Guys Who Play Golf."

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