The best courses you can play in Alabama

Appropriately named for its location just outside Alabama’s state capital, the Judge course at Capitol Hill opens with one of the more memorable holes on the Trail. The par-4 first lunges off a cliff nearly 100 feet straight down hill to a slender fairway that sneaks toward a green perched along the backwaters of the Alabama River. The majority of the course wanders the isolated low country near the river, slipping between meadows, forest and marshy bogs with water in play on 14 of 18 holes. Ranked seventh on our Best in Alabama list, The Judge is a strict sentencer demanding your best ball-striking, most notably on the island-green par-3 sixth.

Contrary to its name, the Links course at Grand National requires many forced carries over bunkers and marshes to often elevated, undulating greens. The layout features large greens with numerous tiers, placing a premium on precise iron play. Weaving through woodlands and playing along Sougahatchee Lake, the Links concludes with its signature par-4 18th, where both the tee and approach shots must carry water to reach an enormous green.

Though designed by Alabaman and 1976 U.S. Open winner Jerry Pate, Kiva Dunes looks like it came from the mind of an Australian Open champion. It occupies a tight, attractive property on a peninsula near Gulf Shores that's boxed in by the Gulf of Mexico to the south and Bon Secour Bay to the north. The east-west orientation of the holes means that the constant ocean winds gust across the fairways, often making it necessary to aim shots toward interior lagoons, canals and the low coastal border vegetation to trust they'll be guided back to safety. Pate's bunkering is Australian-inspired with sweeping edges and attractive capes, and when the turf is dry, shots can be chased onto and around the low putting surfaces. This longtime Q school host lost many trees in a storm a few years back, which has only enhanced its links qualities.

Situated between Birmingham and Montgomery, FarmLinks is a Michael Hurdzan/Dana Fry layout at Pursell Farms, a Golf Digest Editors’ Choice resort at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The FarmLinks layout continually switches scenes, moving from meadows to woods to rugged foothills and back into the meadows. The course is also an agronomist laboratory with spacious fairways, tees and wavy greens planted with different strains and combinations of Zoysia and Bermudagrass, so visiting turf managers can study how they grow across the site's different microclimates. But the fun is in the design and the journey through the vast, serene property, highlighted by an eccentric variety of par 3s that include the memorable fifth with one of the steepest drops in the U.S., a picturesque swan dive of almost 175 feet from tee to green.

The PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship was played on Grand National’s Lake course from 2015 through '17. Strategically placed bunkers and large multi-tiered greens defend this eastern Alabama layout. The track hugs the shore of Sougahatchee Lake, which comes into play on 12 of the 18 holes, often around the greens. The four par 3s each offer a stern test with water in play, most notably on the signature island-green 15th.

Near the Tennessee border in northwestern Alabama, the Fighting Joe layout at The Shoals can play upwards of 8,000 yards from the tips. Five sets of tees allows the course to accommodate all levels of players. This generally flat track offers wide landing areas, which are often framed by thick native grass. The finish is especially strong, with the winding risk-reward par-5 17th setting up a scenic par-3 finisher with beautiful views of the Tennessee River.

Towering pines and two large lakes frame many holes on this expansive layout just south of Birmingham. Significant elevation changes dictate a layout that plays up and down the banks that surround the two lakes, setting up several exciting cross-water risk-reward drives where players choose how much of the cove they want to cut off. With wide landing areas, large greens and sweeping vistas across the property Ross Bridge is the most majestic of the courses on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. The layout tips out over 8,000 yards, but there are five sets of tees to accommodate all players.

A far cry from the wide open links style at its sibling layout, the Schoolmaster course at The Shoals is a tree-lined design. Set beside the Tennessee River in northern Alabama, the track has a nice blend of doglegs that move in each direction, rewarding a variety of shot shapes. There are gradual elevation changes, including the climb up to the green on the par-4 18th, which sits atop a bluff overlooking the river.

Standing on the first tee looking down at the fairway below, golfers will get a sense of the dramatic elevation changes and undulating fairways in store for their round. The “roller-coaster” fairways are aesthetically appealing and create many shots from uneven lies. A heavily wooded track flanked by imposing pines, the Ridge course features several dramatic elevation changes, including at the downhill par-3 eighth. Given the topography, taking a cart is recommended.

Unlike its sibling Judge course, which is defended by water throughout, the Legislator is a more traditional tree-lined layout with water in play on just four holes. The front nine at this Montgomery-area track plays on a bluff over a lake, weaving in and out of dense forest. The back nine descends to play among a native cypress swamp, which provides a unique setting, especially on holes 11 through 13. More forgiving off the tee than the Judge, the Legislator is the more player-friendly option.

Ol’ Colony is home to the University of Alabama men’s and women’s golf teams and was designed by former Crimson Tide standout and 1976 U.S. Open champion Jerry Pate. This heavily wooded layout circles around 25 acres of lakes, which come into play on numerous holes. The landing areas are fairly narrow, with dense forest, water and tall native grass all lurking. Many of Golf Digest’s course-ranking panelists give the facility’s conditioning high marks for playing firm and fast.

The Crossings course hosted an LPGA event from 1999 through 2014, boasting notable champions such as Karrie Webb, Se Ri Pak, Lorena Ochoa and Paula Creamer. A relatively flat parkland design, the course offers wide landing areas and large, subtly undulating greens. Wooden bulkheads and impressively large bunkers enhance the course’s aesthetics and serve to both visually intimidate and punish wayward shots. More recently, the Crossings hosted the LPGA Q-Series in 2021 and will do so again in 2022.