Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Magnolia Grove (Short)

Same as with the Short course at Oxmoor Valley, it is difficult to really talk about a par 3 course. All the holes on this course require the player hit an aerial shot to the green. All the greens are elevated. But there is reasonable variety. Holes play as long as 215 on the card from the back tees (and can play 5-7 yards longer than that from the far back of the teeing area) and as short as 70 yards from the forward tees. For those not insistent on playing a single set of tees, every club in the bag, except perhaps the 3 wood and driver, can be used on the course. Overall, this is a good, above average, course.

Holes to Note

For the first time on this site, a tour of the entire course will be posted. This is the writers home course and he has played it 50 or more times just this year. All pictures and yardages from the back tees.

Hole #1: 174 yards

Proper distance and line are important right from the opening shot. The green is separated into three distinctly different tiers: the front part of the green is sunken, the back right portion is sunken as well. The middle tier is rather flat and perhaps two feet above the front and back portions.

Hole #2: 180 yards
Playing downhill over a wetland area, this is a semi-scenic hole. The shot requirement is roughly the same as the first hole. This green is separated into two tiers, front and back.

From the tee, the shot needed is quite clear.

The well defined rise can be seen here.

Looking back at the tee from behind the green.

Hole #3: 189 yards

A virtual twin of the second, this hole again plays downhill, over the wetlands. This green has less movement than the 2nd, however. 

Hole #4: 215 yards
This hole is the longest on the the course and plays to a four-tiered green that is far too extreme for the shot required. The idea of the hole is good, but the green is not at all suited to the hole.

Hole #5: 137 yards
A break from the long holes that start off the round. This hole plays roughly a club uphill to a two-tiered green. Certainly a potential birdie hole if you can hit a decent shot off the tee.

The rise in the green can be seen here.

Hole #6: 135 yards

The shortest hole on the front nine plays to a green on the same level as the tee. This green, while also highly undulated, fits the shot required, unlike the 4th green. This hole, depending upon the pin position is likely the easiest hole on the course. When the hole is cut center left any shot within a 10 yard wide semi-circle right of the hole will funnel right down to the cup.

Today, the hole is cut center left, as described above. Beyond the bunker, the green is shaped like a bowl, feeding shots to the hole.

The shadowing from the trees gives definition to the rise that separates the front part of the green from the left-center. The mound just left of the prominent pine tree shows the location of the rear dividing tier.

Looking from the rear of the green, the bowl is more clearly seen.

Hole #7: 190 yards

This is one of the few holes on the course that might actually require the player to shape for ball from the tee, at least when playing from the back tees. When the hole is cut in the back portion of the green, as in this picture, a fade off the tee will give the player easiest access to the hole.

Hole #8: 178 yards
This hole has one of the largest greens on the course, if not the largest. This green would be far better suited on the 4th hole. There is perhaps 10 feet of rise from front to back with 4 distinct tiers. The back left portion of this green also acts as a funnel for shots. This hole, due to the fantastic green, is likely the best hole on the course.

From the tee, the tiers are visible to the player. Any shot on the wrong tier above the hole will leave a very difficult putt.

The tiers are well defined and severe.

Hole #9: 160 yards
This hole plays sharply uphill, roughly a club and a half. Prior to a renovation in 2011, there was a huge put bunker directly in front of the green. Shame it is no longer there. As with most greens, this one has several distinctive tiers.

Hole #10: 173 yards
From the back tees, this hole can either be simple or a real terror. To a front hole location, the shot is easy, the rise that separates the front and back tiers is roughly 3 feet high and serves as a major backstop. To the back location, however, there is no room for error. A miss short and left will roll down to the front tier. A miss short and center will go into the bunker. Any shots long or right will deflect down a steep hill and leave something of an impossible up and down.

This shot most certainly did not end up in an ideal location and anything other than an outstanding putt will likely result in three putts.

Hole #11: 192 yards

Just a standard hole here. Tee and green on the same level, green roughly flat. One of the few holes on the course that is simple and understated.

Hole #12: 195 yards
Tough hole playing long and over the fronting bunker. Another reasonably simple shot to a green with a lower tier.

The lower and upper tiers are visible in this image.

Hole #13: 205 yards

The second longest hole on the course has a green that fits the shot. Green has a simple tier, enough movement to give interest to the hole. Would be a much better hole if the green were lowered 3 to 4 feet to allow for a run-up shot.

A simple rise separates the front and back of the green.

Hole #14: 190 yards

Another of the few holes on the course that calls for working the golf ball off the tee. The shape of the hole actually resembles as Redan and a draw off the tee is favorable. But as with all holes, a run-up shot is out of the question.

Hole #15: 110 yards
The shortest hole on the golf course is also the easiest. The bunker is virtually meaningless and the mounds on the right provide a kick onto the green. This is the final birdie hole before the final difficult stretch.

Hole #16: 192 yards
This hole plays slightly uphill to a three tiered green and over the same marsh that came into play on holes 2, 3 and 4. And in reality, this hole is a virtual copy of 2 and 3. The deep green can prompt indecision in the player having to determine how much to add to or take off the posted yardage.

Hole #17: 155 yards
This hole plays sharply uphill and to a green that slopes sharply from back to front. When the hole is cut in the front, any shots left above the hole leave a very difficult putt. This green also has several different levels, but they are a bit more subtle than the levels on some other greens.

Here you can see the 4 tiers. This image is taken from the back of the green, the green has tiers back left and right, then two tiers falling down towards the front of the green.

Hole #18: 170 yards

The closing hole plays a club uphill to a green that is semi-blind from the tee. Regardless of where the hole is cut, the player is unable to see the bottom of the flagstick. This hole is a fair closing hole, but nothing spectacular.

The 18th green has some interest, bringing difficulty to the final hole.

Overall, this is a solid course. The yardages are varied and as said before, can be extremely varied for players who play from all different tees. But without the ability to play the ball on the ground at least a few times, the shots get slightly repetitive. That coupled with a couple of over the top greens, detracts from the course a bit. But this course is still solid. 4 out of 10

Hundred Hole Hike Recap

The long awaited, for me anyway, start of my Hundred Hole Hike came at 5:53am on Monday. This after two months of asking pretty much anyone I saw if they would be willing to donate to my cause, walking 36, sometimes 54, holes in a day to see how fast I could play, and generally working outside to get used to the high temps and humidity again after our cool season.

The Hike was done at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail site in Mobile, Magnolia Grove. Trying to walk a Trail course once, even one of the Short Courses, is tough enough, it's tough to imagine the difficulty in trying to walk the courses six times. Overall, I ended up walking about 23 miles in order to complete the Hike. My feet and legs were hurting in multiple places, as I suspect was the case for all Hikers. Magnolia Grove has three courses on site, the Short course, a handy little par 3 course, the Falls course, a nice out and back loop design, and the Crossings course, a very open course that hosts the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic. My route took me to the Short course first, then to the Crossings, Falls, and then back to short for the remainder of the day.

The day started off much like all the other rounds I have played on the Short course, rather steady, making some pars and such, it took until the 8th hole to make my first birdie of the day. It was a strange birdie to make. I had told myself prior to the day that I was not going to take too much time lining up putts over 10-12 feet and only then lining up the birdie putts. Anything inside that, I felt like I had a decent chance of making, and I had promised to donate an additional $2 for each birdie I made. So in reality, the only putts that mattered all day were the birdie putts. The putt on 8 was about 30 feet and had a significant break, probably 4 feet. I took a quick look and hit away; I was almost startled to see it go in the hole. Really poor 9th hole, but onto the back nine...I shot 28 on the back nine, one over par, no birdies, for a total score of 60 on the first eighteen holes.

57:26 for the first 18 on the Short Course, 

then 1:33 to get to the next tee on the Crossings.

Second eighteen was on the Crossings course. Very steady start, even par through 5 holes, went for the green in 2 on the par 5 6th hole, up and down from the greenside bunker for birdie. Now 2 birdies on the day, $4 extra. Bogey on 7, then two pars....even par on the front, pretty good scoring considering it took me about 52 minutes to play the front nine. As I was finishing up on the 9th hole, the lightning alarm sounded. I walked up to the clubhouse and was told it was a false alert...back to golf. Uneven start on the back, but I made a birdie on #12, 3 total, $6. The next hole is a short par 5, easily reachable in two shots with an iron in hand...I made par and was quite disappointed. But I made it up with birdie on #16, then a bogey and par coming in. Shot two over on the back. But two more birdies, so now $8 total in the birdie pool. Played the round in under two hours, which is quite quick on this course.

Third round started on the Falls course, after a wardrobe change. Played through a group after my 5th hole on this round, asked them if they'd be willing to give a couple bucks to the Ronald McDonald House, all 3 broke out their billfolds, boom, extra $20 raised that I wasn't anticipating. Made two birdies on the front nine en route to shooting even on the front. Six Birdies: $12 in the pool. The back nine was rather troublesome, my back started hurting quite a bit and the worse it hurt, the less I cared about making solid swings, sadly. But I still ended up tooling it around the back nine at 5 over par. I played the same golf ball for the first 52 holes...hit a shot slightly too far right on the 53rd and couldn't find it. I was quite sad. Spent 2-3 minutes looking for the ball and this kept me from playing my third round in under 2 hours. 

1:52:04 for 18 on the Crossings course, 12:07 freshening up,

2:02:48 for 18 on the Falls, I REALLY wanted to get this in under 2 hours,

27:25 for a bite to eat, then 31:19 for 7 holes on the short, plus the ride back to the clubhouse because of lightning

After I finished on the Falls, my wife was kind enough to be at the club with a Subway sandwich for lunch and I took a short break prior to going back out. It was getting very hot, so it was a good time to take a break off my feet and just generally rest a moment. Once I was done, it was back out onto the Short course. I was playing decent through 7 holes, but had made no birdies, when the lightning alarm went off again. Had my wife not been out there with me, riding in a cart with my son, I probably wouldn't have walked back in as 7 is a substantial distance from the clubhouse, especially walking. So, 61 holes down and back to the clubhouse in 6:04:45 as you can see above.

I figured this rain delay wouldn't be long and I had some family members and a co-worker coming out to help me in my afternoon rounds. Well, the delay kept going and going. I stuck it out in the clubhouse for the entire time and it ended up being around 4pm before we were able to get back out. My co-worker, TJ, had hung around and he came out with me and caddied for the final rounds. The difference in actually having someone out there walking the course with me, just someone to talk to, was pretty huge. The fifth round was completed very quickly, I did not time it, but I can't see it taking more than 50 minutes...but perhaps the time just passed faster with someone else out there. Nothing special, two birdies, though the birdie on 17 was interesting. My shot from the tee didn't look very close at all from the tee, looked to probably be over 25 feet away. TJ just took off for the 18th tee and I just said I'd take a rap at my putt with my wedge. I get up to the green, ball is about 10 feet away. I was rather irritated I didn't have my putter, but TJ was all ready near the 18th tee, probably 75 yards away, so I didn't call him back. Just bellied a wedge...right in the hole. Birdie, no big deal, we don't need any putters around here. Now 8 birdies, $16 extra. Shot 63 this round.

Played the final 18 of the day on the short course very quickly as well. Knocked in a long putt on the second hole for another birdie, played on quickly. Played very quickly on this side as well, probably finished in under an hour again, to be sure, and birdied 18 for #10 on the day. $20 in the birdie pool. 

After this, we were to 97 holes. I saw no need to try and play the last three on the Short course when the real courses were available, so we went off on the Falls course since there is a very easy three hole loop playing holes 1, 2, and 18. Made par on the first two, the I tried to go for to go for the green on 18 in two. I wanted to make one of those $20 bonus eagles to close out the round. Didn't work...ended up making bogey to close out the round. Wanted to finish on a high note, but it just didn't happen. So after about 9 total hours on the course, plus a 4+ hour rain delay, I'd finished 100 holes. 

There probably was time enough to play a few more holes, but the combination of having been at the course since 5:30 am and being pretty much the last person at the course holding up the staffers (having been in both the outside and inside staff positions, I know I'd have been irritated at someone staying all night playing like I was) I decided to call it a day once I got to 100. 

But this has been quite a rewarding experience. I've learned that in many things, I need to stop finding excuses not to do something, and find reasons TO do something. I've learned that some of the people you wouldn't figure to contribute anything, for any number of reasons, often become the ones who find reasons, and that the people you might think would "beat down the doors," so to speak, in order to contribute, wind up being the ones who find excuses. And I've learned that the feeling you get from knowing you've helped people is better than the awards that may come from it. 

This was very rewarding and I will certainly do it again next year.