RTJ Golf Trail - Grand National - Opelika

[woofelfin]

Heading down there in late March.

 

right now this organizer has it setup like this.

 

Thursday-Lake Course

Friday-Links then Lake

Saturday Links then Short course

Sunday-Lakes

 

We fly out Sunday out of ATL...I want to cancel Lakes Sunday and play somewhere maybe towards the ATL airport? Any recommendations?

 

Also any solid bars to check out? About 12 guys in there early/mid 30's.

 

 

 

Thanks!

Scott

[jholz]

I was a member at Grand National for five years and lived in Auburn for a long time. The Grand National is a great facility - although I was never the biggest fan of their range. Other than that, it was always top notch.

 

As far as bars are concerned

1. The War Eagle Supper Club is worth checking out just to say you have been, but definitely a college, beer swilling atmosphere.

2. Skybar downtown is also popular with the college kids, but a pretty run of the mill party bar.

3. The Mellow Mushroom in downtown Auburn has a good beer selection. Generally older crowd.

4. The Irish Bread Pub in downtown Opelika - a little more off the beaten path. Also generally older crowd.

5. Hamilton's - Just up Magnolia from Toomer's Corner, more upscale, older crowd.

 

Man, I hope you have a good time down there. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for that part of the country.

[ebrasmus21]

OP -

 

I've never been but the RTJ Trail is on my bucket list - at least I'd like to try and tackle some of it. Have fun!

[woofelfin]

I was a member at Grand National for five years and lived in Auburn for a long time. The Grand National is a great facility - although I was never the biggest fan of their range. Other than that, it was always top notch.

 

As far as bars are concerned

1. The War Eagle Supper Club is worth checking out just to say you have been, but definitely a college, beer swilling atmosphere.

2. Skybar downtown is also popular with the college kids, but a pretty run of the mill party bar.

3. The Mellow Mushroom in downtown Auburn has a good beer selection. Generally older crowd.

4. The Irish Bread Pub in downtown Opelika - a little more off the beaten path. Also generally older crowd.

5. Hamilton's - Just up Magnolia from Toomer's Corner, more upscale, older crowd.

 

Man, I hope you have a good time down there. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for that part of the country.

thanks for the bar recs, they sound great!

 

Any other courses to check out around there?

[SixSixGolf]

I was a member at Grand National for five years and lived in Auburn for a long time. The Grand National is a great facility - although I was never the biggest fan of their range. Other than that, it was always top notch.

 

As far as bars are concerned

1. The War Eagle Supper Club is worth checking out just to say you have been, but definitely a college, beer swilling atmosphere.

2. Skybar downtown is also popular with the college kids, but a pretty run of the mill party bar.

3. The Mellow Mushroom in downtown Auburn has a good beer selection. Generally older crowd.

4. The Irish Bread Pub in downtown Opelika - a little more off the beaten path. Also generally older crowd.

5. Hamilton's - Just up Magnolia from Toomer's Corner, more upscale, older crowd.

 

Man, I hope you have a good time down there. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for that part of the country.

 

Supper club was bulldozed years ago.

[jholz]

I was a member at Grand National for five years and lived in Auburn for a long time. The Grand National is a great facility - although I was never the biggest fan of their range. Other than that, it was always top notch.

 

As far as bars are concerned

1. The War Eagle Supper Club is worth checking out just to say you have been, but definitely a college, beer swilling atmosphere.

2. Skybar downtown is also popular with the college kids, but a pretty run of the mill party bar.

3. The Mellow Mushroom in downtown Auburn has a good beer selection. Generally older crowd.

4. The Irish Bread Pub in downtown Opelika - a little more off the beaten path. Also generally older crowd.

5. Hamilton's - Just up Magnolia from Toomer's Corner, more upscale, older crowd.

 

Man, I hope you have a good time down there. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for that part of the country.

 

Supper club was bulldozed years ago.

 

Well, that's certainly a shame. Things do keep a changin'.

[jholz]

I was a member at Grand National for five years and lived in Auburn for a long time. The Grand National is a great facility - although I was never the biggest fan of their range. Other than that, it was always top notch.

 

As far as bars are concerned

1. The War Eagle Supper Club is worth checking out just to say you have been, but definitely a college, beer swilling atmosphere.

2. Skybar downtown is also popular with the college kids, but a pretty run of the mill party bar.

3. The Mellow Mushroom in downtown Auburn has a good beer selection. Generally older crowd.

4. The Irish Bread Pub in downtown Opelika - a little more off the beaten path. Also generally older crowd.

5. Hamilton's - Just up Magnolia from Toomer's Corner, more upscale, older crowd.

 

Man, I hope you have a good time down there. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for that part of the country.

thanks for the bar recs, they sound great!

 

Any other courses to check out around there?

 

Farmlinks for sure. The courses over at Callaway Gardens are used for Q school qualifying rounds, as well as Moores Mill. If you can get on at the Auburn Club, that's a good course as well.

 

I'd definitely skip Auburn Links.

,

[woofelfin]

Farms links was def are number one choice- but then we realized it’s 1 hr and half or so in the complete opposite direction of the airport. So we were thinking callaway gardens. But Moore’s mill and auburn club look Great as well.

[jholz]

Farms links was def are number one choice- but then we realized it’s 1 hr and half or so in the complete opposite direction of the airport. So we were thinking callaway gardens. But Moore’s mill and auburn club look Great as well.

 

Yeah, Farmlinks is a bit off the beaten path to or from much of anywhere.

 

Callaway Gardens has some solid golf - although you will find some mixed reviews out there. As I mentioned, they've hosted Web.com Q School for several years. I think they've always played the Mountain View course.

 

Moore's Mill hosted the Pre-Qualifying stage in 2013 or something. Can't remember. It was a super cool tournament to watch, however.

 

In any event, hope you have a great time down there. Wish I could come with.

[The General]

Sky Bar in Auburn is phenomenal. 2001 grad here, I worked at RTJ all through college. That entire facility is amazing!!!!

 

Maybe you already have it booked, but did you check on the greens and if they are punched around that time? It really sucks when you have a great golf trip planned somewhere then show up and they purposefully didn't tell you about the greens being aerated. I've experienced it too many times.

[tiderider]

each sites' website lists the maintenance schedules for their greens ...

[Downtown_Brown_41]

Downtown Opelika has a brewery and distillery and is only about 10 minutes from the course

[thejuice]

Just posted on your other thread. I’ll summarize this post to mirror the other one. Try Wolf Creek for a course damn near at the airport but usually in really good shape or try Summer Grove, which is on the way to Atlanta from Opelika.

[Cottonseed.]

Acre Restaurant in Auburn has won best restaurant in Alabama for like the last 3 years.

 

Same owner as Acre (David Bancroft) has a new BBQ spot in Auburn called Bow & Arrow.

 

These two places are the absolute must try for eatin.

 

The Hound is also good.

 

SkyBar and 17-16 are the college kid bars but you wouldnt be completely out of place there.

They still get visited by all ages.

 

Moe's BBQ downtown is good for eating and drinking.

 

2009 Auburn grad here and frequent visitor.

[Ace Underhill]

I just played Grand National- Lakes yesterday. Great layout and would be amazing to see when its warmer and everything is green. I am staying in Columbus, GA for work this week which is 45-50min to the east of Opelika. You should check out Columbus Country Club. It's a Donald Ross course. I would give them a call and see if you could get on.

[woofelfin]

Thanks, I am gonna see if we can get on to moores mill then go from there. Thanks for the rec .

[NCLancer]

Thoughts and prayers go out to all those in the Lee County area who lost loved ones in the recent tornadoes.

 

We have a vacation planned for May in the area and the clean-up looks to be a very long term action.

[j.b.newton]

From what Ive HEARD (KEY WORD), RTJ Grand National is not too bad at all with the storm. Hampton Cove in Huntsville on the other hand....

 

Thoughts and prayers to those in and around Lee County with all of the damage.

[j.b.newton]

If you could get on Saugahatchee that would not be too bad - its come a long way over the years. AU Club is the team's home course.

 

I thought the supper club was no longer around..... Pours out a cheap beer in honor.

[tiderider]

From what Ive HEARD (KEY WORD), RTJ Grand National is not too bad at all with the storm. Hampton Cove in Huntsville on the other hand....

 

Thoughts and prayers to those in and around Lee County with all of the damage.

 

don't think there's any damage at all, other than the rain we/they've been getting since november ... the tornadoes were a bit south of auburn ... haven't heard anything about h'ville ...

[j.b.newton]

From what Ive HEARD (KEY WORD), RTJ Grand National is not too bad at all with the storm. Hampton Cove in Huntsville on the other hand....

 

Thoughts and prayers to those in and around Lee County with all of the damage.

 

don't think there's any damage at all, other than the rain we/they've been getting since november ... the tornadoes were a bit south of auburn ... haven't heard anything about h'ville ...

 

Looks more like a lake with a few islands instead of a golf course. There was an aerial photo floating around somewhere early this week...

[woofelfin]

Grand national wasn't effected at all they just got heavy rain, they said people were on the course the day after the tornado hit.

[Poor Posture]

I played at GN a few days ago, it's in fine shape.

[woofelfin]

I played at GN a few days ago, it's in fine shape.

Thanks Poor Posture-

 

When does it start turning green down there?

[Cottonseed.]

No damage on any of the courses in this area from what I've heard.

 

Expect to see the bermuda starting to green up end of March/April.

Stays green till late October.

[woofelfin]

Thanks

[Poor Posture]

> @woofelfin said:

> Thanks

 

How was your trip?

[woofelfin]

It was a great trip got in 6 rounds in 4 days. We did Links Thursdays, Lakes then links on Friday. Lakes and the short course and Saturday and finished at Moores Mill before heading to the airport.

 

Grand national is beautiful all the holes could be a "signature hole" imo. it was a little thin in most of the areas around the green which made it hard to chip or pitch off. We have some really low handicap guys that were thinning stuff like ive never seen before. Would love get back there in prime season. Staff was great and it was super convenient staying right there at the Marriott. Thought the courses was very challenging( slope was waaay to low) and the greens were crazy and little bit on the extreme side. Moores Mill was great and was in solid condition for the time of year. We lucked out with Auburn being in the NCAA tourney got to watch the games on campus and pretend we were back in college. We all took Auburn so we had a few greens fees on them! Can't beat the value down there.

[whynotgolf]

> @woofelfin said:

> It was a great trip got in 6 rounds in 4 days. We did Links Thursdays, Lakes then links on Friday. Lakes and the short course and Saturday and finished at Moores Mill before heading to the airport.

>

> Grand national is beautiful all the holes could be a "signature hole" imo. it was a little thin in most of the areas around the green which made it hard to chip or pitch off. We have some really low handicap guys that were thinning stuff like ive never seen before. Would love get back there in prime season. Staff was great and it was super convenient staying right there at the Marriott. Thought the courses was very challenging( slope was waaay to low) and the greens were crazy and little bit on the extreme side. Moores Mill was great and was in solid condition for the time of year. We lucked out with Auburn being in the NCAA tourney got to watch the games on campus and pretend we were back in college. We all took Auburn so we had a few greens fees on them! Can't beat the value down there.

 

We've been to the RTG Trail several times...Ross Bridge might be the nicest course, but the entire collection, imo it's hard to beat Opelika's trio, especially now that that they have a great hotel right on sight. They don't cut the greens the same way on the short course, but the one shot track was a lot of fun.