
The Highlands Course
The Highlands Golf Course
About this course
The Highlands Golf Course in Bella Vista, Arkansas, represents a collaborative design effort by Ed Ault, Tom Clark, and Bill Love. Bella Vista, located in the northwest corner of Arkansas near the Missouri border, developed as a planned retirement and resort community beginning in the 1960s, and The Highlands emerged as part of this broader recreational infrastructure. The course sits within the Ozark Mountain foothills, where the rolling terrain and native hardwood forests provide natural elevation changes and wooded corridors that define the playing experience. The routing takes advantage of the property's topography, with holes moving through mature tree-lined fairways and incorporating the region's characteristic rock outcroppings and elevation shifts. The design reflects the practical, playable style typical of courses built to serve residential communities, balancing challenge for regular members with accessibility for a range of skill levels. Water features appear on several holes, and the green complexes vary in their demands for approach shot precision. Bella Vista's collection of golf courses has long served both residents and visitors to northwest Arkansas, a region that has grown considerably in recent decades. The Highlands functions as part of this network, offering a wooded, hilly contrast to flatter layouts elsewhere in the state. The course maintains its place within a community known for outdoor recreation, where golf integrates with the area's lakes, trails, and natural amenities.
Getting there
The journey to The Highlands Golf Course begins at Northwest Arkansas National Airport in Bentonville, a modern gateway less than thirty minutes north that has transformed access to this corner of the Ozarks. The drive south along Highway 71 traces the rolling contours of northwest Arkansas, where wooded ridges give way to glimpses of the region's signature limestone bluffs and clear-running streams. As you enter Bella Vista - a planned community carved into the highlands above the Illinois River valley - the road winds through dense hardwood forest before delivering you to The Highlands, where the first tee sits perched above a landscape that feels far removed from the interstate corridor just minutes behind.

FAQ
Common questions about The Highlands
Ratings, design, and course details pulled from Course Vaults.
The Highlands has a Course Vaults score of 7.2 out of 10 based on 7 logged golfers.
The Highlands was designed by Ed Ault, Tom Clark, and Bill Love.
Yes. The Highlands is listed as welcoming public or guest play on Course Vaults.
Par at The Highlands is 72.
The Highlands plays 7,040 yards from the back tees on Course Vaults.
The slope rating at The Highlands is 144.


