USA

Every course has its unique attributes that define the character of the course. In the case of Southern Pines, there is a unique history worthy of a course review. Southern Pines has the privilege of being one of the earliest Donald Ross designs in the South. For almost a century, the Southern Pines Elks owned this property.

When an American golfer hears you’re traveling to the Sandhills of North Carolina, they automatically think of Pinehurst. Most golf enthusiasts are both surprised and impressed when they hear you’ve played Mid Pines. For me, that fascination perfectly encapsulates the culture of golf that exists beyond Pinehurst in the Sandhills.

After the pasting I took at No. 2 on day one, the idea of another Pinehurst round felt slightly ominous. I had a quiet expectation that every course at this resort was going to be a dressed-up version of the same experience — tight lies, crowned greens, sandy waste, and slow erosion of my self-respect. By the time we got to Pinehurst No.10 on day three, I was mentally braced for another walk through the pines wearing a defeated grin.

Pinehurst nr 2 deserves to be played in summer. I made a mistake playing it in March and all i got was brown fairways.

Robert Trent Jones Sr. supposedly said that Grand National was the single greatest natural site for golf he had ever seen. Now I don't know if he actually said that or if it's one of those quotes that gets attached to a famous person after the fact to sell green fees. But having played both courses here I'll say this. If he did say it, I understand why.

There's a granite stone next to the first tee box. It says "You Will Be Judged." I stood there reading it and couldn't decide if it was cheesy or genius.

It sits just south of Birmingham on old U.S. Steel mining land, about two miles from Ross Bridge. Same part of town, completely different feel. Ross Bridge is the resort experience with the big hotel and the waterfall and the tournament pedigree. Oxmoor Valley is the workhorse. Two full 18-hole championship courses called the Ridge and the Valley, plus a short course called the Back Yard. No hotel attached. No spa. Just a clubhouse and 36 holes of serious golf carved out of A

Muscle Shoals. The name alone is great. It sounds like it should be a blues song or a dive bar or both. Turns out it's a small town of about 15,000 people in the far northwest corner of Alabama, sitting on the Tennessee River, and it's home to one of the more remote stops on the RTJ Trail. Getting here takes commitment. It's over an hour from Huntsville, about two and a half from Birmingham, and there is not a lot happening in between.

We played the Highlands course as part of our RTJ Trail trip and it was fine. Good golf, decent shape, nothing wrong with it. But when I sit down to write this a few weeks later there is no single hole or moment that jumps out and grabs me. And I think that says something. Not everything on a golf trip has to be a highlight. Sometimes a course is just a course.

Silver Lakes has 36 holes across three separate nines called the Heartbreaker, the Backbreaker, and the Mindbreaker. There's also a par-3 Short Course that wraps around Lee's Lake. Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Roger Rulewich designed it all in 1993. The names are not marketing fluff. They are warnings.

Alabama was not on my radar as a golf destination. I mean, when someone says Alabama, you think college football, barbecue, maybe country music. Not golf. But then you start reading about the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail and it changes your mind pretty quickly. Eleven sites, 26 courses, all public access, spread across the state. We played a bunch of them on our trip and Ross Bridge was the one that stuck with me.

Pebble Beach Golf Links is more than a golf course. It is a place of legend.