Round Four- Robert Trent Jones Trail

Grand National- The Lake – Opelika, Alabama

This was our last round in our ‘cut short’ holiday, we played it on Monday 16^th March. Having spent the last 36 hours organizing how to get home to NZ. With the escalation of risk attached to Covid 19 the decision to head home as quickly as possible was made.

With my mind on everything but Golf I thought this might be a particularly average day out, but as it happened it was very pretty and peaceful and a nice way to spend the day whilst we finalized our evacuation plans.

Being a Monday, we found that other than three other couples we had the Lake course to ourselves.

We’d left Prattville around 8.30am to drive to Opelika which is only just over an hour away. Our tee booking was for mid-day but they were very welcoming and casual and let us tee off around 10.30am. This gave us time for some brunch and a warm-up on their range. The range was reasonably busy but it looked like locals having lessons or just practicing. Grand National is surrounded by community living in the National Village.

We were told we might see Deer but we didn’t. I could imagine deer in this setting. We did see a Golden eagle circling overhead so that was exciting.

The Brunch was very good, I had eggs on a rye toast and Scott had the Grand Breakfast which was a plateful of everything. Still the coffee came in polystyrene buckets but by now we had worked out to just not drink it all.

When we came in after the round I discovered that this club did have wine available so I enjoyed a glass of Sauvignon Blanc from Portland. Not one worth noting the name of though. The staff were so very nice, which is something we have found everywhere.

Weather

Cooler than previous days with greyish skies & a light breeze. It was very pleasant.

The course

The outstanding feature is the dozen holes that skirt the banks of Lake Saugahatchee. The 15th is a par 3 to an island green and is considered the best one-shot hole on the RTJ Golf Trail.

This course was really really pretty, winding through the trees and around the lake. It was challenging but fair.

Of, course it’s a RTJ design so lot’s of bunkers but on this course there was more room to move around them, although bunker on one side and Lake on the other had me choosing bunker if I had too.

The greens were a bit quicker here, which is more to my liking, but the greens were also slightly smaller & narrower so where you landed really counted.

I played off the Teal tees, slope rating of 119. Distance 4,910yards or 4,490metres. Men’s orange tees, slope 122, distance 6,488yards or 5,933metres.

Best holes?

Visually possibly #7 as you look down the fairway to the lake, bunkers and trees. It almost feels like you’re hiking rather than golfing. I think the peace and quiet had something to do with the atmosphere we could feel.

The # 15 , par 3 onto the Island green was very challenging. It looks really easy from the tee but if you don’t land square on the top it’s a steep slope on all sides into the Lake. The orange tee, from where Scott was playing had a difficult angle and the two guys in front of us both missed the green to the left and had to play from the drop zone. I think Scott over thought this and he missed the green to the right! The teal tees are manageable if you are solid with your 7 or 6 iron. You need height and length. Low and you’ll plug straight into the bank and then roll into the lake but if you can get good loft and land on the top with very little roll you’re fine. This is the perfect shot for me. So I enjoyed success here scoring par.

It took me a few holes to focus on the golf and after the first 5 I got my golf game on and improved. Ending the round with a respectable 105, 48 on the back nine. Scott had 82, playing both nine consistently 41/41.

The summary – 46/50