Highlands Falls Country Club

Highlands Falls Country Club occupies land that cousins Lloyd and Gordon Gibson bought in 1958 at about 4,000 feet in Macon County, outside Highlands. Nine public holes, designed by Bill Amick, opened in 1963 as Sky Lake Golf Estates; the club took its present name in 1972, when Dan Maples was hired to expand it to eighteen. Joe Lee drew the routing still in play in 1979. In 1997 the members bought out the GPI memberships and took control of the club, and a 1998 vote restricted use to members only.

Bergin Golf Designs rebuilt the course between 2019 and 2021, redoing every feature, adding tees and installing extensive drainage. The par-3 fifteenth green sits on a rock ledge almost beneath a 100-foot waterfall on the Cullasaja headwaters, and water is in play on thirteen holes. Off the course the club has added steadily: a fitness center in 2006, croquet in 2011 with lawns enlarged in 2017, pickleball expanded to eight courts in 2024, a relocated pool the same year, and a kitchen renovation finishing in 2026. Membership comes in full golf, social and junior categories, and the community is gated. The club season runs May through October.