Born in England, Robert Trent Jones’ family moved to East Rochester, New York when he was five. As a young man, Jones attended Cornell University, where he designed his own course of study to become a professional golf course designer, taking courses in landscape architecture, agronomy, horticulture, hydraulics, surveying, public speaking, and economics. During his studies at Cornell, he designed the back nine of Cornell’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Course. Jones later returned in 1954 to complete the front nine.

After receiving his college degree, Jones formed a partnership with Canadian architect Stanley Thompson, and helped design several courses in Canada, including Capilano in Vancouver and Banff in the Canadian Rockies. In the late 1930’s he struck out on his own and began designing and building local golf courses in America. Shortly after World War II, Jones got his first big assignment designing the Peachtree Golf Club in Atlanta in collaboration with golf legend Bobby Jones. Despite the similarity of their names, the two men were not related. In fact, Robert began using the middle name “Trent” shortly afterward to avoid confusion.

Jones continued working well past retirement age, he died peacefully just a few days short of his 94th birthday. Jones received the 1987 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, GCSAA’s highest honor. He was also inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1987.

Playing the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is an experience you should consider when planning your next golf vacation. The Trail holds the accolade of the largest golf course construction project ever attempted—a collection of 26 courses on 11 different sites across the state of Alabama. This collection of public courses certainly confirms Jones’ reputation as one of the finest golf-course architects, the game of golf has seen.

My husband and I made arrangements to meet our golf friends who lived in Atlanta Georgia to go on a road trip playing the Trail from the north all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. The day before leaving Vancouver, hurricane weather shut down the Atlanta airport. Our friends reassured us the weather would be fine by the time we arrive the next day, and right they were. 

Our first stop Opelika, Alabama at the Grand National voted the #1 public golf facility in America by Golf World. Built around a 600-acre Lake, and host to LPGA and PGA championships we had the opportunity to be challenged by 3 differently designed courses. 

The Lake course a well treed, scenic course with 12 holes hugging the lake and a 230-yard island green with a reputation of being the prettiest single hole on the Trail was a challenge with so much water that came into play. The Links course is without a single weakness featured the very best greens and a definite must-play along the Trail. The Short course 18 holes, all Par 3’s and considered to be the finest anywhere in the country should have a sign posted at the first Tee “golfers beware”. It was long, it was challenging and no matter how good a golfer, it will beat you up. 

We spent the first two days here, and if you book through a golf travel expert, they will help you with accommodations and tee time packages. Our next stop Prattville or Montgomery Alabama known as the courses at Capitol Hill are worth the stay over. Allow yourself 2 to 3 days stay as they offer you 3 magnificent, yet drastically different courses built on 1,500 acres and ranked among the Top 10 new courses in the nation by Golf Magazine. 

The Judge course was built amongst the backwaters of the Alabama River with a first tee 200 feet above the fairway with water on both sides. Fourteen of the holes are affected by water and a bulkheaded island green with par 3’s that are a challenge even for the best golfers. There’s one hole that’s over 700 yards from tee to an elevated green and pretty impossible to achieve a par 5. The reviews on this course—beautiful views but, everyone should play from the front tees (it’s that difficult). 

There’s a personal story connected to this course. The four of us played The Judge in the morning stopped for lunch and the guys decided they had to replay the course while my girlfriend and I relaxed by the pool. When we figured they should be coming up the eighteen fairway, we noticed they were playing with one golf ball taking alternative shots. When they finished putting out using one ball puzzled, we asked “what’s going on”. They sheepishly admitted the course got the better of them, they lost all their golf balls and on the 18th tee, they were left with one ball. So, the reviews you read about The Judge are true.  

The Legislator course is a traditional course that plays in and out of pine trees and along a bluff overlooking the Alabama River. But the thing I remember the most is the “eerie drive” through the cypress swamp between the holes, it reminded me of the creepy movies like Creature From The Black Lagoon. 

The third course was The Senator, a Scottish-Links style course which I’m not a fan of. The Senator course was exhausting with its 160 pot-hole bunkers 20 to 40 feet in depth hiding the green and the fairway from view. It will give you a good idea of how tough St. Andrews’ golf course in Scotland is.

The one thing about the Robert Trent Jones Trail was the Pro shops were aware of our trip plans and were so good to keep us updated on the weather for our next stop. Our plan was to continue our road trip south to Mobile, Alabama. When we finished playing The Senator the Pro Shop notified us there was a weather warning. Another hurricane was travelling across the Gulf of Mexico and Mobile was in its path, so at the recommendation of the Pro shop they booked us to play the two golf courses at Birmingham, Alabama so we packed up and headed north. 

In Birmingham, we played The Ridge course first, which offered numerous elevation changes, heavy tree cover and incredible scenery. As a tribute to the area’s mining past, the green at the Par 5, third hole is supported by a shelf of exposed shale rock. When we putted out on the 18th green, the Pro was waiting for us. He advised that the Hurricane was heading in land and they were shutting down the golf courses. With that in mind, we knew we had about a three-hour drive to Atlanta so we went on the internet to check out flights to Vancouver. We were cutting our trip a little short but felt it was wise to fly out before the storm hit Atlanta airport again. We were so fortunate to find a window of blue sky between two storms enabling us to have a wonderful journey with friends that we cherished. In the last publication, I mentioned the friends and memories you make along the way through the love of golf and this is one of many stories.