Robert Trent Jones Trail - Fighting Joe

[Bravo]

Here is the last hole on the other course - The Schoolmaster as it approaches the clubhouse....

 

[Bravo]

Hey B, how's it hanging?

Cool pics, but the burning question is "Howyd ya score?"

I am doing OK...been a little tied up lately...

I scored a 92 on this course. My current index is 8.8. I got in 10 bunkers on the first 12 holes. On three holes I hit my tee shot into a fairway bunker and hit my next shot 150 - 170 yards into a greenside bunker. I would then hit on and 3 putt..these are tough courses...

 

[Bravo]

Marriott Shoals Resort...a nice property with a first class spa. You can get a room for about $125 USD per night. A really good deal.

 

[Bravo]

Here is the hydroelectric dam that forms the lake. The RTJ Trail complex is about five miles to the left (east)...

 

[Bravo]

Here is a link to this course...

http://www.rtjgolf.com/courses/the%5Fshoals/

 

[bdcrowe]

Bravo, Bravo!

Nice pics B.

 

[DaveE]

Nice pics. 92 sounds like a decent score on that course.

 

[Bravo]

Nice pics. 92 sounds like a decent score on that course.

Dave:

I think they have about 10 complexes now with 2-3 championship courses and a Par 3 short course at each complex. I have played at four of the complexes on 1-2 courses each. So I have probably only played on about 15-20% of the total championship courses but that is enough for me to get some sort of feel for them.

Frankly I find them hard as hell...they are very penal. If you screw up, you really get the Sh** kicked out of you...and frankly I am surprised they are so popular as a result. I think you need to be a pretty good player to enjoy yourself on these because the only way you are going to play well on them is to play a given course several times.

It is hard to understand what the course is like from looking at the pictures. So many of the shots are visually intimidating from the tee, but when you get down to the landing area, you find that you had more room than you may have originally thought. I didn't hit the ball that badly but I found fairway bunker after fairway bunker...and many of the water hazards are hidden and you don't see them until you drive the cart right up to them. So the courses are indeed pretty fair but my guess is that you would have to play any given course about 5 times to really know with confidence which club you want to select in any given situation. And I think that is a design flaw on a course that frankly has so many tourists who only play there once and then go on to the next site.

The state has done a very good job in attracting local players though. If you present a state drivers license and pay $45 per year, you can play at all courses at a pretty deep discount. For example, I played there last Saturday and my total cost including greens fee, cart and tax was $36! That is pretty damn good for a course that is designed like that and in super condition. The greens are just about perfect. When you play with the locals, they have quite a bit more confidence because they have played the courses repeatedly and know where the hidden hazards are and where the visually indimidating shots are not as bad as they seem. But everytime I play one of these for the first time - I really get my butt handed to me....

 

[SiberianDVM]

If you screw up, you really get the Sh** kicked out of you

That's the way I felt after playing on the courses on Kiawah Island, and losing a dozen HX Tours in the process. A 20 handicapper like me has no business on courses like that.

 

[Bravo]

That's the way I felt after playing on the courses on Kiawah Island, and losing a dozen HX Tours in the process. A 20 handicapper like me has no business on courses like that.

I kind of agree and think that these courses are either:

A) Designed to be too hard/penalizing

OR

B) Played by players of all skill levels who don't mind getting the crap kicked out of themselves.

It is probably a bunch of B vs A though. I just hated going back to my bag to get another Pro-V1x out after not really hitting a terribly bad shot. Acres and acres of water and two foot high rough... sheesh.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Great Pictures. They have a couple Robert Trent Jones courses up here, among most of the other top designers. Although the Robert Trent Jones courses have been around longer than most of the others and are probably not kept up the way they should be, so they are probably not at the top of my list. However, had it not rained buckets today I would have played one of them because the local radio station runs specials on Tuesday. I could have played one for $9.35 cart included. Because of the rain, it is extended for the rest of the week. It is not my favorite and nothing compared to the pictures you showed, but for under $10 I will certainly not complain. My home course is the special next week.

 

[Bravo]

Great Pictures. They have a couple Robert Trent Jones courses up here, among most of the other top designers. Although the Robert Trent Jones courses have been around longer than most of the others and are probably not kept up the way they should be, so they are probably not at the top of my list.

You have a good point. Interestingly, when I played my round on Saturday, as I said in the post - I played with a group of 'locals' there, one of whom was a member of a private club - Turtle Point. He was playing the RTJ Trail because they had just aerated the greens at Turtle Point the previous Monday...

According to Golf Digest Places to Play, Turtle Point is currently ranked as the #8 course in Alabama. A pretty darn good ranking. It opened in 1960.

Here is where the trivia comes into play. Turtle Point was actually designed personally by Robert Trent Jones Sr. The man himself.

The Robert Trent Jones Trail is basically a big marketing ploy. Yes the courses are technically "RTJ" courses but the original Mr. Robert Trent Jones Sr., known to his friends and associates as "Trent" is long gone. His son has taken his place and has a big golf course design company that bears their name. It is this company that has designed "The Trail" as it is known around here.

The guy I played with said that while Turtle Point had a slope of 140 from the tips, it did not have acres of sand and water on hole after hole - like the Trail course we played. So it is likely a more "classic" design with good asthetics and shot values without having to load up the course with hazards surrounding every shot...

"Robert Trent Jones golf courses" exist all over the country. The one you referenced and Turtle Point are "real" Trent Jones courses personally designed by him and opened decades ago. It sounds like the one in your area has not been kept up as well as it could but the fact remains that it is an authentic Robert Trent Jones design - unlike the ones on this Alabama Trail here...

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Yeah, it was one of the Robert Trent Jones, Sr. courses from 1947. It is sad to see that it has reached the level of being unable to even attract enough people for proper upkeep. Although it is under new management, maybe it will turn around. I don't think I would blame prior management either, as it was more a matter of the fact that it was previously a resort that has since closed and they are currently demolishing the resort to build townhouses. It is kind of out of the way, and really up in the woods (or mountains as they would say up here), and there are so many courses around designed by top names that most people will not consider the 30-45 minute drive. They have signed a deal with one of the newer resorts, so hopefully between that and the townhouses it will come back to life.

I know the last time I played there prior to this year two of the greens were closed and they had pins in the fairway and did not even warn of this. I remember the first I checked the distance and hit it to the heart of the green only to find the pin was about 20 yards short. The new people seem interested in turning it around, so I guess in the mean time I will just have to take advantage of the $10 rounds courtesy of the radio station, and $40 prime season on the weekend. It is a long course, at least for me at about 6700 yards from the whites, however it is not terribly difficult outside of the length compared to most of the courses up here.

http://www.tamiment.com/

 

[Bravo]

Wow...I checked the website and it looks beautiful. Part of it I am sure is that you live in just a great-looking area...its probably hard to have an ugly course in that part of Pennsylvania.

I clicked on the first photo and saw what looked like a chair-lift at the top of the photo. Is the course used as a ski area in the winter??

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Wow...I checked the website and it looks beautiful. Part of it I am sure is that you live in just a great-looking area...its probably hard to have an ugly course in that part of Pennsylvania.

I clicked on the first photo and saw what looked like a chair-lift at the top of the photo. Is the course used as a ski area in the winter??

In comparison to where I came from, it may actually rank possibly as one of the better courses. In comparison to the courses up here, it would rank lower. There are in fact chair lifts by a couple holes, although I think the skiing has long since passed. The chair lifts are visible from a number of holes, and on the #2 uphill Par 3 - 121-130 yards, you actually hit over them. In all honesty, since moving up here I have only found 2 course that are just not very nice, and that I will no longer play at, this is not one of them and we go about once every month or two for variety. This is a great area for golf. Compared to most of the course at our old location, we would pay 50-60 for a weekend round. Up here it is 30-60, although the course you pay $60 for in this area would probably run $100-125 in our old area.

Tamiment is not really a bad course, it is just you have to consider that my home course is a Fazio course and is beautiful and one of my favorite courses. With the Golf Card it is $40 anytime. Going to Tamiment, you pass a Nicklaus course that is just over $50 on the weekend. We just figure it is long drive to get something that I do not like as well. A picture is worth 1000 words. Here is our home course. Kind of hard to drive 45 minutes over driving 1/2 mile to play here. Although there are definately courses we will drive 45 minutes for. (2 other pictures to follow)

16 from the Whites