Since opening in 1992, the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail has boosted Alabama’s sports tourism industry while simultaneously celebrating the state’s natural beauty. Across its 11 locations, the trail offers a series of championship-quality courses that can be enjoyed by pros and beginners while being an economic backbone for communities across the state.

The trail was the brainchild of David Bronner, the CEO of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, who formulated a plan in the late 1980s to diversify the state pension fund assets and boost the state’s tourism industry. A series of golf courses would attract tourists, he reasoned, particularly those passing through Alabama on their way to the Gulf Coast.

Bronner reached out to a slew of respected architects, most of whom balked at his plan to construct seven courses at once. “Everybody thought he was crazy,” says Mike Beverly, CEO of Sunbelt Golf Corporation, which owns and operates the trail. But the semiretired Robert Trent Jones Sr. – not to be confused with similarly named golfing legend Bobby Jones – decided he was up to the challenge.

Taken as a whole, the trail presents a sweeping survey of the Alabama landscape, from the northern regions in the Appalachian foothills (Huntsville’s Hampton Cove) to areas near the Gulf Coast (Mobile’s Magnolia Grove). “Alabama is such a topographically unique state,” Beverly says. “It’s just completely different north to south. … The communities are different, the golf courses are different, but the commitment to the product and the service is still there at every site.”

The Grand National in Opelika is one of 11 Alabama locations on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, which showcases the state’s unusually diverse landscape. (Bernard Troncale / Alabama News Center)

Courses along the trail are “difficult overall,” Beverly says, in part because of Alabama’s naturally undulating landscape. The courses “require you to play the ball up in the air a little bit, which is tougher for a beginner.” But each hole features six or seven tee boxes, making them more accessible for casual players. Several sites on the trail have introduced “short courses,” which offer a more casual experience.

The trail has bolstered the economies of smaller cities in the middle of the state. Beverly points to Prattville, where he moved in 2006, as a key example of the trail’s impact.

“When I got here, as the course was being built, we got off the interstate and there was nothing here,” he says. “There was the Walmart, the Howard Johnson’s, a McDonald’s and a Holiday Inn, and that was about it. Over the following six or seven years, it was remarkable how much the Prattville exit changed because of this golf course, the hotels and retail development. … It’s been great for the local economies and has provided a lot of jobs.

“The whole vision was to change the image of the state, invest in Alabama and increase tourism, get people to spend more time in Alabama and see what we have to offer,” Beverly says. “And I think it’s done all of those things and more.”

This story previously was published by This is Alabama. Want to read more good news about Alabama? Sign up for the This is Alabama newsletter here.