Pros:
A medium-short, fully-wooded course on a nice tract of land.
-Amenities: Concrete tees. Great next tee signage. Mediocre tee signs (see cons). Old, numbered Chainstars caught everything but weren't highly visible. Paths cleared between holes. Course map at start.
-Terrain: Probably the strongest boast of Heritage Point is its terrain. Thickly wooded throughout, the course plays up and down some very steep hills--the combination is both beautiful and engaging game-wise. Situated outside Dalton proper, it also has a secluded feel.
-Gameplay: Pretty good if you enjoy shorter technical courses. Most holes are in the 200'-300' range and have full tree cover, but well-defined fairways. A majority of the shapes are straightish, but there are some substantial s-curves and pockets. A lot of capacity for different shot choice--I mostly found a way to play each hole to my strengths, but I've played with other players who would only have done one or two holes the same as me. Heritage Point also forces you to play smart with elevation.
-Navigation: Almost flawless. Next tee signs are all over the place, and the only real problem was that some of the paths spat you out 80 feet up from the tee, which could be dangerous on a busy day.
-Scramble-ability: Good for a woods course. I always had a scramble opportunity, where "scramble" means putting it 20-30 feet from the basket for par, not necessarily putting it under the basket for par. In the same vein, I think straddle putters will have fun here because there are lots of obstacles inside the circle that make it pretty hard to get a stance for a conventional putter.
Cons:
-Drainage: Some serious drainage issues with the holes at the bottom of the course, like (4)-(7). Lots of mud when I played.
-Signage: The tee signs are pretty poor. They have maps, but the diagrams are either too vague to help or just plain misleading. The distances seemed sketchy to me as well. It's very difficult for a first-time player to know how to throw, a problem compounded by old grey baskets that blend right in.
-Hole Design: There are some holes that seemed pretty hokey to me. I didn't see a clear line on (5), though there's plenty of space to throw for an easy par. (14) had a dubious combination of tightness and strange shape. (16) had a pocket green that only looked reasonably accessible through a 4-foot window directly perpendicular to the fairway and pin-high. My biggest complaint is with (18), which plays over a valley then up a steep hill, but has a large horizontal branch blocking almost any shot high enough to reach the basket.
-Mowing: There was some serious need for a mower/weedwhacker when I played. This was mostly just a nuisance, but was so bad on (15) that I didn't feel like I could go for the pin without risking a loss. I haven't dropped points for this since I might have played the day before regular maintenance, but if it were the same next time I would deduct.
-Disc Search: Some holes with thicker spots of rough and high rollaway risk mean it could easily take longer than average to play due to searching for shots.
-Traversability: Steep hills could make this a no-go for those concerned about their knees.
-Multi-Tees/Pins: Despite the photos on DGCR, I didn't recall seeing multiple tees for any hole except (4) when I played. That could have been player error, and I don't think it's a huge con on a course this length anyway.
Other Thoughts:
For me, this is on the borderline between Typical and Good. I think it's fun to play all of these technical shots, and the beauty and steep hills are really nice. On the other hand, the unhelpful signage, bad drainage, and holes I thought were misdesigned position me unfavorably. In the end, I think I got a bad rap from the course due to a few unlucky breaks it threw my way, so I've gone with the slightly higher rating, since Heritage Point is slightly nicer than most of my 2.5s. I would drop it to Typical if the mowing weren't improved on my next visit.