By Staff
Readers of the August issues of Golf Digest and Travel &Leisure Golf will find Alabama and the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail as the best places in the country to play golf.
Golf Digest ranked cities in the country for best golf. Based on a formula of access to golf, weather, quality of golf and value, Auburn/Opelika, Alabama was named the best city for golf in the country. Home to The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Grand National and the Auburn Marriott Opelika Hotel and conference Center at Grand National, Auburn/Opelika ranked at the top of the list of 330 cities rated in the US.
Gadsden, Alabama ranked in the top 10 cities in the US for golf. The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Silver Lakes is in Anniston/Gadsden. Other RTJ Trail cities ranked in the top third in the country for golf include Mobile, Florence, Birmingham, Dothan and Huntsville.
Alabama's Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail begins at the top of the state at Hampton Cove in Huntsville and meanders south to Magnolia Grove in Mobile. The Trail offers 432 holes of championship golf on 11 sites in the state.
The Trail's Resort Division Hotels, all bearing either the Marriott or Renaissance flags, include: The Grand Hotel Marriott, Golf Club and Spa at Point Clear; the Montgomery Marriott Prattville Hotel and Conference Center at Capitol Hill; the Auburn Marriott Opelika Hotel and Conference Center at Grand National, the Marriott Shoals Hotel and Spa in Muscle Shoals and the Riverview Plaza Hotel in Mobile (soon to undergo a $32 million renovation. Upon completion of the renovation the Riverview will become a Renaissance Hotel.) Also under construction is the historic Battle House, A Renaissance Hotel in Mobile, Alabama, soon to be returned to its former grandeur and reopening in 2006.