Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail

A time of poignant reflections and discovery.

by Herschel Caldwell

Growing up as a child on a farm in Northeast Alabama’s cotton and Corn Belt, life was relegated to playing in the nearest swimming hole, climbing the backyard walnut tree, swinging on a muscadine vine and being overtaken by the smell of my mama’s pork chops cooking on the wood-burning stove.

To many of our readers, this may be a strange opening to a golf travel story but its relevancy will become readily apparent. Read on.

I was born in the year of the attack on Pearl Harbor, just outside the small farming town of Piedmont, Alabama, now located a very short drive from three of the nation’s premier courses along the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail: The Shoals, Hampton Grove, and Silver Lake.

Life in rural 40’s, wartime Alabama was very difficult, especially for African American families like mine. I need not go into the unique social and economic hardships minorities faced in the deep South at that time in our history, but I can tell you that golf was probably the furtherest thing from our minds. It was a rich (white) man’s sport and we were Black and poor. In all honesty, “poor” was a relative term back then. I never experienced hunger, child abuse or an overly dysfunctional home life. My childhood abundantly overflowed with joy, love and the richest of experiences one could imagine with playmates-both black and white–sharing countless hours of play and adventure. We were also “rich” in swimming ponds and countless trails used by hunters and loggers winding their way through dense foliage and heavily wooded hills of central and northern Alabama. Flat areas were filled with acre upon acre of beautifully nurtured cornfields, along with mile-after-mile of snowy-white, fine Alabama cotton. Read more

Jacksonville and Its Beaches: Florida’s First Coast of Golf and So Much More

Jacksonville may not be the first place you think of when contemplating a golf vacation in Florida but maybe the First Coast should be your first choice.

by Dana R. Butler

(excerpt)

Jacksonville sits nestled in the extreme northeast corner of a state known for its vacation destinations. It is a new southern city that traces its roots back to 1564. How is such a paradox possible? Northeast Florida was the first area of settlement by Europeans, hence the name ³First Coast,² and was one of the first battlegrounds for European control of North America. In 1901, the burgeoning city of Jacksonville was leveled by a devastating fire. Now, nearly 100 years later, the new city has developed into a jewel of the eastern coast, an area featuring 47 golf courses, rich dining and shopping experiences, a wide variety of leisure activities ranging from amusement parks to protected wilderness parks, a storied history, and more than 20 miles of white sand beaches.

They say that every day is a good day for golf in northeast Florida. Nearby Ponte Vedra Beach is the home of the PGA Tour and also features the well-known Marriott at Sawgrass Resort. The second largest golf resort in the U.S., the Marriott boasts five championship courses, including two TPC courses: the PGA’s TPC Stadium Course, Sawgrass Country Club, TPC Valley Course, Marsh Landing, and Oak Bridge. Each spring, The Players Championship is played here on the Stadium Course. Golf vacation packages are available which include lodging and play on the Oak Bridge course.
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