HAPPY TRAILS

A golfer for nearly 40 years with a 16 handicap, I’ve played eight of the 11 Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail courses in Alabama. I can’t wait to play the remaining three in my quest for my first hole in one.

It’s not just the sheer number of courses that Jones touched (designing and re-designing about 500 of them in his lifetime). His place among the triumvirate of course godfathers—Jack Nicklaus, Pete Dye and Jones—was made when he earned the nickname “The Open Doctor.” Major clubs made a point of recruiting Jones when
prepping for an Open. Professional level players respected Jones’ courses because there was nothing gimmicky about them. His design style was regarded as challenging, rewarding and 100 percent fair.  

Of all the courses Robert Trent Jones carved out of the earth, the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail www.rtjgolf.com in Alabama–yes, Alabama–is one of the top golf vacation values in the United States. 

Easily accessible from three Frontier Airlines destinations—Memphis, Nashville and Atlanta—the Trail features 468 holes of golf on 11 courses that span the entire state. Grand National in Opelika is less than an hour and a half from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Silver Lakes’ 36-hole course in Anniston-Gadsden is about the same distance. Huntsville’s Hampton Cove 54-hole facility in northern Alabama is just two hours south of Nashville. And Muscle Shoals’ massive 36-hole course and impressive Marriott hotel in Florence is 2 hours east of Memphis.

There’s plenty to see driving from course to course, too, from Helen Keller’s birthplace and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, both in Tuscumbia near Muscle Shoals, to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (adjacent to the Talladega Superspeedway) near Anniston-Gadsden.
The actual courses differ as much as the terrain they were built on. The Muscle Shoals two courses—Fighting Joe and Schoolmaster—overlook Wilson Lake on the Tennessee River and are two of the longest courses on the Trail; Fighting Joe at 8,092 from the tips, including a 716-yard, par-5 12th hole and Schoolmaster at 7,971 yards.

From the far south, in Point Clear, just south of Mobile, lies the Lakewood course, abutting the Gulf Coast and Mobile Bay. The Grand Hotel Marriott, one of the South’s oldest hotels (built in 1847), is home to the golf club. Both the hotel and courses underwent renovations in 2006 after being hit by hurricanes.

In Birmingham, Ross Bridge is the longest course at 8,192 yards, a parkland-style course with rolling terrain. In Huntsville, Hampton Cove’s River course has nary a bunker, while the Highlands is a true Scottish links facility under renovation until Thanksgiving 2008.

One thing you will discover is the courses’ similarities in price, service and amenities.

The similarities: bag-drop attendants greet you, take your bags and drive you to and from your car. Clubhouses feature huge wraparound porches, in the tradition of a grand Southern plantation. Inside, the pro shops and restaurants are identical right down to the golf apparel and bar-food menus. Warning: the club restaurants tend to close at 4 or 5 p.m., so plan accordingly when traveling to some of the smaller towns on the Trail—
Gadsden-Anniston, Dothan and Greenville.

The green fees range from $43 to $64 including carts and “may be the best bargain in the country,” according to the Wall Street Journal. The Lakewood and Ross Bridge courses, associated with two resort hotels with spa facilities, have higher greens fees.

“The greens fee are about 60 percent of the average fees that I have paid elsewhere at resort courses, not including Hawaii, which is outrageously expensive,” says Lenora Nearen, an Alabama native who works as a certified public accountant in Denver and who has played many courses in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area, Palm Springs, California, Florida and the Virgin Islands.

Angela Nash, a Birmingham architect, plays the Trail nearly 50 times a year, utilizing the annual pass for state residents. “I learned to play golf on the Oxmoor short course (in Birmingham),” she says. “I like them because of their difficulty level. A lot of country club people who play them don’t like it for that reason. I tend to be a better player because I have played tougher courses (on the Trail).”

By Greg Henry