I'd heard of the Robert Trent Jones Trail for years, a string of golf courses in a southern state where you can swing away all winter long.
I imagined country courses in pastoral farmland here and there -- inexpensive and nice, but nothing special. I'd always thought Alabama was ... well, kind of flat.
The Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa, near Birmingham, has 259 guest rooms with balconies overlooking the third-longest golf course in the world.
What a jolt!
These courses, 432 holes at 10 sites spread across the state, will startle you with their natual beauty, again and again. Many are in the foothills of the Apalachian Mountains. That makes not just for great scenery, but fairways that rise and roll, fall, and rise again. It means standing on a tee and looking at a landing area 200 feet below. I'm about a 20 handicap, and I just missed breaking 100 the first day. After that, I learned to work with the elevation, the big-shouldered fairways, and the short Bermuda rough that can eat a golf ball, and shot in the 90s. Not bad for a prairie duffer.
Winnipeg-Denver -- about two hours. Denver-Birmingham -- another two hours. It's that easy. My twin brother Mike, my golf buddy on the trip, came down from Ancaster just outside Hamilton. His wife and daughter dropped him off at the airport in Buffalo, (they then went on a massive Christmas spending spree there) and he made a connection in New York, arriving about 4 p.m., two hours after me, in north-central Alabama. We rented an SUV at Birmingham airport and we were on our way.
But first, a quick history of The Trail. In the late 1980s, Alabamians got tired of watching tourists motor through their state on the way to golf destinations in Florida and South Carolina. So the state -- specifically the Retirement Systems of Alabama (teachers and state employees), under the direction of former Minnesotan Dr. David Bronner -- decided to gamble hundreds of millions of dollars on a network of spectacular golf courses to not just expand tourism, but attract the industry it draws as well.
The result is the Robert Trent Jones Trail, which -- according to state officials -- "stretches from the rolling hills of northern and central Alabama to the wetlands and woods near the Gulf Coast. Each of the eight stops on The Trail is within a two-hour drive of the course closest to it, and each is within 15 minutes of a major interstate.''
View from a suite balcony overlooking Ross Bridge's pool and tennis areas.
The Robert Trent Jones Trail has been described as the largest golf course construction project in history. The New York Times has called it "some of the best public golf on Earth.'' From the Boston Globe: "In Alabama, a genius in course design created (26) jewels for everyone to enjoy at one-third the rate of comparable facilities.''
To put it into perspective, I often drop between $50 and $60 playing golf in or just outside Winnipeg (cart included). Most green fees on The Trail are about $50( with cart). No offense, Manitoba.
Bill Lang, a spokesman for the chain of premier hotels along The Trail, said The Trail has been a strong contributor to Alabama's economy. In the past six years, Alabama's tourism dollars have increased from less than $2.5 billion to about $7.3 billion. Not a bad gamble.
Lang said The Trail and its resorts employ about 2,700 people. Of the 500,000 Trail visitors yearly, most are from outside Alabama. (But only 3.6 per cent from Canada. Too bad for us).
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One of the many blessings for the golfer doing The Trail is the fabulous highway system and signage in Alabama. Robert Trent Jones Trail signs are everywhere
The Ross Bridge course, in Hoover 15 minutes from Birmingham, is the third-longest in the world -- 8,191 yards 'from the tips.' Scratch golfers can play it from the black tees, but the mammoth course, which covers 330 acres, has four other teeing areas (we played from the whites). The longest hole is the 13th, but at 698 yards from the back (519 from the white) it is only the course's second-toughest.
Jim Newton, head golf professional at Ross Bridge, describes the layout as a "stadium course'' designed for PGA tournament play with thousands of spectators. It doesn't have a 'signature' hole, he says -- it has 18. The 18th hole is the best; it's 358 yards from the whites, and dog-legs over a 1,000- yard cascading waterfall connecting two lakes, between the ninth and 18th holes, which keep the course wonderfully green year-round, "even in a drought."
Like all The Trail's courses, Ross Bridge is inviting to average golfers, says Newton.
"We've made it as user-friendly as possible, with five teeing areas from 5,500 yards to 8,200, and with generous landing areas.''
Newton extended an invitation to Manitobans. "We don't get a lot of travellers from November to March so we absolutely welcome you -- it's a great time to golf in Alabama. Come on down."
The Ross Bridge Resort is a sophisticated must-see and must-stay destination. It has 259 guest rooms (ours was about 1,200 square feet, had two plasma TVs, two bathrooms, and a huge balcony overlooking the course, pool and tennis areas). And how's this for a Canadian touch? It was patterened after "the great hotels spawned by the Canadian Pacific Railroad, -- Banff Springs and Lake Louise.''
All the resorts where we stayed were smoke-free, but three of our rooms had balconies with chairs and ashtrays.
The nicest touch at Ross Bridge? Every late afternoon you'll hear a bagpiper work his or her way around the grounds of the resort, saluting the golfers at sunset. Bagpipes in Alabama? "It's a sweet gig,'' one of them told me.
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Grand National at Auburn/Opelika offers 54 holes -- the Lake Course, The Links and the Short Course (a par-three layout). It was built around 600-acre Lake Saugahatchee, and 32 of the 54 holes are along the lake.
We played the Lake Course, every bit as stunning as Ross Bridge but with a more natural beauty. It's signature hole is the 230-yard, par-three 15th to an island green (160 from the whites). I made the green with a six iron, then four-putted. (Many of the putting services during our week had front pin placements making approaches slightly more difficult).
After a beer at the clubhouse, it was a short drive to the Auburn Marriott Hotel and Conference Centre (114 rooms, 15 luxury suites, most overlooking the courses and the lake).
Next stop - Capitol Hill in Pratville, another 54-hole layout (The Senator, The Judge and The Legislator). We played The Judge, a gorgeous track along the backwaters of the Alabama River. The first hole is a 200-foot drop to the fairway and overlooks the river and Montgomery's skyline. More than the others, this is a course where hole-after-hole, you'll want to stop just to enjoy its natural beauty.
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For me, The Trail saved the best for last. It was Friday and we were off to Cambrian Ridge near Greenville (green fees $40 to $62), three nine-hole courses plus the Short Course. We played The Sherling and The Canyon nines. And we pretty much had the 18 holes to ourselves.
The Canyon nine, "carved from former hunting grounds where deer blinds remain nailed to the hardwood, is a thrilling stretch of target-style golf beginning with the first hole, a 501-yard par four that drops 200 feet from tee to fairway,'' a course handout states. I played target golf -- on every tee, I looked for the 250- or 150-yard markers, in the middle of the fairways, and went at them. Broke a hundred easily.
(Here's another reason to like Bama golf. At the turn at Cambrian Ridge, I popped into the clubhouse lounge to buy a couple of beers. "Five dollars,'' said the barman. "No, I wanted two," I replied. "It's only $5 for both. And ya'll enjoy.")
The Sherling is said to be the best nine holes on the trail, but I preferred The Canyon, although a choice is difficult.
And picture this: We've finished 18, we're on the clubhouse verandah with a beer, and we're at the highest point in the county with a 30-mile view of the surrounding hills and forests. The fairways spread in every direction below us, and we are totally alone. How cool is that?
A postcript from Alabama:
I am not hugely well-travelled. But I have never met friendlier people than Alabamians. Why I don't know, but I somewhat expected folks who might be indifferent to the comings and goings of strangers. I have never felt more at home in a new and unknown place. Until I'm back, which I hope is soon, I will miss that most-southern of greetings: "How ya'll doing today?" from somebody -- welcoming you to their hotel or golf course, helping with your clubs, preparing your food -- who leaves you with no doubt at all that they really mean it. Thanks, Bama.
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