The Crossings course at Magnolia Grove on the RTJ Golf Path has hosted LPGA and Korn Ferry Tour occasions.
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“The solar by no means units on a Robert Trent Jones Sr. course,” the architect himself was fond of claiming.
Little question about it. The man received round, designing upwards of 500 programs across the globe in a profession that spanned seven many years.
Within the early Nineteen Nineties, although, Jones. Sr. accepted an project that will preserve him in a single time zone for years.
The job provide got here by means of David G. Bronner, CEO of the Retirement Programs of Alabama, who was out to diversify the pension fund he ran whereas boosting the financial fortunes of his state. To name the plan formidable was an understatement. The blueprint known as for a constellation of programs, a multi-layout lallapalooza amounting to some 100 miles of golf. It was the most important golf-construction venture of all time, begging to have an architect with gravitas behind it.
By then, Jones Sr. was in his 80s however nonetheless spry in spirit, with vitality to match his famously strong ego. The dimensions of the endeavor was proper up his alley. It has his identify on it, actually. Rising from semi-retirement, the architect received busy. In 1992, he reduce the ribbon on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Path.
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Stretching the top-to-bottom size of the state, from Muscle Shoals within the northwest to Cell within the south, the Path started with 378 holes at eight websites however has since expanded to 468 gap at 11 places. It has grown in recognition, too, incomes a fame as a marquee vacation spot for inexpensive, accessible, championship-worthy golf. No property higher embodies these traits than one of many unique Path stops: Magnolia Grove.
Set on wooded land adorned with marshes, creeks and lakes, Magnolia Grove is dwelling to 54 holes of golf: two 18-hole programs and a par-3 course that routinely ranks among the many most interesting short-courses within the nation. Of the 2 championship tracks, the Crossings course, has loved extra TV time; its brawny parkland design has hosted occasions on each LPGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour. Its 18-hole sibling, the Falls course, which boasts ample, undulating greens and outsize cloverleaf bunkers, makes for a novel complement as the one par-71 course on the Path.
Given its location by the Gulf of Mexico, Magnolia Grove advantages from balmy climate and proximity to seashores. A slate of latest renovations have added to its shine. On the Crossings course, as an example, new water options and crushed-oyster shell waste areas have sharpened the strategic problem and amplified the visible enchantment. The Falls course, for it half, has had a number of holes modified to make them extra player-friendly with out compromising Jones’ unique design. The result’s golf that accommodates all comers: scenic, entertaining and suited to everybody from Tour professionals to leisure gamers, relying on the tees.
