First stop on the Tennessee Golf Trail: Henry Horton State Park

Henry Hollis Horton was the 36th governor of Tennessee, serving from 1927-1933. Upon his death in 1934, the state procured a portion of his large estate with the intention of preserving it as a state park. The sprawling park opened in 1961, and in 1962 the park's Buford Ellington Championship Golf Course debuted. The 7,060-yard, par-72 Charles Graves design eventually became the first in the present-day, nine-course Tennessee Golf Trail.

The Buford Ellington Course at Henry Horton State Park is characterized by generous fairways that are densely lined with towering hardwoods and thick brush. The routing takes advantage of the rolling terrain, with several elevated tees and greens. Multiple holes also challenge yardage estimations and club selections with blind tee shots and putting surfaces that cannot be seen from approach areas. The greens themselves are generally huge, with several tiers that require precise distance control to leave realistically makable putts.

I've played the Henry Horton Park course over a dozen times across the past two decades, and I can say with certainty that its current conditioning (Spring 2026) is the best I've ever experienced. A few years ago, the greens were resodded with Champion Ultradwarf Bermuda, and now that they have grown in, they are pure, true, and surprisingly fast. Every time I play here, I am shocked that the slope rating from the championship tees is just 128 (and a measly 122 from the white tees!). It's certainly always played much harder than that for me.

Playing the Buford Ellington Championship Golf Course at Henry Horton State Park

The opening hole, a gently downhill, dead-straight par 4, plays shorter than the scorecard suggests, and along with holes 11 and 12, is one of the easiest on the course. The diametric opposites of these short holes are the par-5 6th (568 yards), par-4 10th (461 yards), par-4 13th (420 yards), par-3 14th (259 yards), par-4 17th (410 yards), and par-5 18th (611 yards) - all of which, if played from the tips, rank as some of the stoutest on the Tennessee Golf Trail.

There are four sets of tees, ranging down to 5,625 yards, with approximately 300 yards between each set. The exception is between the white tees and the green tees, with a difference of some 700 yards. The most notable advantage for players teeing from the more forward green tees is on Hole 6, where the white tees are separated from the greens by a forced carry of over 200 yards. This is a great hole for scrambles, as even bombs from the whites can be upstaged by worm-burners from the greens.

One of the more memorable holes is the 411-yard 9th, where the best tee shots are fades between trees left and right over a precipitous drop-off to a blind valley. Aided by gravity and the firm, fast fairway, well-positioned tee shots will leave less than 150 yards to the three-tiered green, playing 10-15 yards longer, though, as the top of the flag will be barely visible on the steeply elevated putting surface.

After the turn, you're smacked upside the head with the number-one handicap 10th hole, which plays severely downhill and back up again. The sheer length of the hole (461 yards from the tips) means most drives hit into the opposite hillside and stop dead, leaving all but the biggest hitters 200+ yards up to the lofty green.

The remainder of the backside is composed of impressively varied holes - uphill, downhill, short, long and doglegs in both directions. The par-4 13th is one of the most vexing, as a long draw from the tee can catch the corner of the right-to-left dogleg and potentially trundle downhill to within 150 yards of the green. However, over-draw it, and you end up in jail in thick woods; hit it straight, and you can run through the dogleg into more woods with well over 200 yards left for your second shot.

The long but mostly downhill par-5 18th is an excellent closer, with a natural amphitheater around the back of the green to allow larger groups to set up and wait for foursomes to come in - ideal for spectating, applauding, or heckling, whatever the circumstances call for.

Buford Ellington Championship Golf Course at Henry Horton State Park: The verdict

The Buford Ellington Course at Henry Horton State Park has the full collection of classic defenses: elevated greens that are both multi-tiered and steeply canted back-to-front, tree-lined fairways, and some serious length. It's wild to me that the course slope rating from the white tees is only 122 - it always plays much harder for me than my home course, which has a higher slope rating. And now that the newly-sodded greens have grown in, they are some of the truest on the Tennessee Golf Trail.

Speaking of the Trail, it consists of nine courses, including three Jack Nicklaus-designed "Bear Trace" state park courses (Bear Trace at Cumberland Mountain State Park, Bear Trace at Harrison Bay State Park, Bear Trace at Tims Ford State Park), which get most of the attention from out-of-state visitors. But don't sleep on the six other state park courses on the Trail, including Henry Horton, which all have lower greens fees: Fall Creek Falls State Park Course, Montgomery Bell State Park Course, Paris Landing State Park Course, Pickwick Landing State Park Course, and Warriors Path State Park Course. All state parks have cabins and lodges for golf getaways, many of which have been renovated and updated within the past 5-6 years.

Back at Henry Horton, those cabins, which are right across the road from the golf course and a short walk from the Horton-family cemetery plot, are joined by a completely renovated lodge (opening in late 2026). As for Chapel Hill itself, do yourself a favor and check out the Country Diner, just a few miles down the road from the park. The homestyle meals here are simply delicious and so reasonably priced, you almost feel guilty.